Name
Arthur Croft
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/04/1917
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
260053
Yorkshire Regiment (Alexandra, Princess of Wales' Own)
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Ippolyts Church Roll of Honour, St Ippolyts, St Marys Church Lychgate, Great Wymondley, Not on the Royston memorials, Not on the Stevenage Old Town memorials
Pre War
Arthur was born in 1891, in Great Wymondley. The son of John Andrew Croft and Mary Ann Croft (nee Lake). He was Baptised on the 6th September 1891, in Great Wymondley. One of five children.
1901 Census records Arthur aged 10, living with his parents, brothers Herbert 22, Edward 20 and William 14, in Great Wymondley. 1911 Census records Arthur aged 19, living with his parents and brother William 24, in Great Wymondley. His occupation is given as a Builders Labourer.
Arthur married Florence Mable Webber in 1912. They had two children, Dorothy and Stanley. Arthur resided in Stevenage for some time.
Wartime Service
Arthur enlisted in Hitchin. He was posted to the Yorkshire Regiment, with the service number 260053. Arthur was killed in Action on the 25th April 1917.
The Hertfordshire Express reports on the 5th of July 1917:
"It is with regret we report the death in action on April 26, from a bursting shell, of Private Arthur Croft, Yorks. Regiment, youngest son of Mr. John Croft, the parish clerk of Wymondley. This is the second son lost so bravely in the war. Deceased was married, and leaves a wife and two children. As a boy he was a member of the choir the the Parish Church, and when the bells were installed he became a ringer. He formerly worked for Messrs. Openshaw, of Letchworth. He joined up last September and was sent to France in February. Of a cheery disposition, he made many friends, whose sympathy will go out to his family. His sergeant, in sending the painful news, states: "He will be greatly missed by his friends." He was 26 years of age. His two remaining brothers, Herbert and William, are both serving."
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the missing.
Additional Information
His personal inscription on the headstone reads: “Husband of Florence Mable Pratt (formerly Croft), of 9, Lankester Rd, Royston, Herts”. His brother L.Cpl. 17236 Edward Croft was Killed in Action on the 1st July 1916, (the first day of the battle of the Somme). Florence remarried in 1920 to a Mr Arthur E Pratt.
Acknowledgments
Derry Warners
Stuart Osborne
