Pte
John Henry Crompton

Informations sur naissance

Date de naissance:
04/11/1875
Lieu de naissance:
Lowthorpe, Yorkshire, Angleterre, Royaume-Uni

Informations générales

Profession:
Agriculteur

Informations service militaire

Pays:
Australia
Force armée:
Australian Imperial Force
Rang:
Private
Numéro de service:
73
Incorporation date:
06/12/1915
Incorporation nom de lieu:
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Unités:
 —  Australian Infantry, 42nd Bn.  (Dernière unité connue)

Informations sur décès

Date de décès:
04/10/1917
Lieu de décès:
Alma - Brigade Hof, Zonnebeke, Belgique
Cause du décès:
Killed in action (K.I.A.)
Âge:
41

Mémorial

Distinctions et médailles 3

1914-15 Star
Médaille
British War Medal
Médaille
Victory Medal
Médaille

Points d'intérêt 3

#1 Lieu de naissance
#2 Lieu d'enrôlement
#3 Lieu du décès (approximatif)

Mon histoire

John Henry Crompton was a 41-year-old farmer from Elimbah, Queensland who was killed during the Battle of Passchendeale. John was born in 1875 in England in the hamlet of Lowthorpe, East Riding of Yorkshire. With no hope of inheriting the family tenancy he immigrated to Canada in 1906, where he went homesteading in Alberta. Not even a decade later John worked and lived in Australia. Adventurous as he was John enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in late 1915. By the Battle of Passchendaele he served as a Private with the 42nd Battalion of the Australian Infantry, part of the 11th Brigade, of the 3rd Australian Division.

On 4 October 1917 the 42nd Battalion took part in the attack on the Broodseinde Ridge. Their assembly point was located between Hill 40 and the Zonnebeke station on the Ypres-Roulers railroad. The attack began at 6 a.m. John’s Battalion advanced behind the 43rd Australian Infantry. Forty minutes later the 42nd Battalion leapfrogged through the 43rd and moved towards Thames. The Germans were caught off guard and John’s Battalion captured the fortified positions at Alma and Thames without much fighting. After the line at Thames had been consolidated, the 44th Battalion moved through, continuing the attack on the ridge. Though the men didn’t met much resistance along the way, the German artillery heavily shelled the advance. Most casualties were sustained due to shell fire. Casualties were especially high when a barrage caught the advance in Thames Wood.

According to his Red Cross Wounded and Missing File, John was wounded near Thames, while consolidating the position. He was evacuated on a stretcher by two German prisoners. When the party reached a trench near Alma, a shell exploded nearby, killing John and one of the stretcher-bearers. The remains of both men remains were buried on the side of the railway. But John’s grave went lost in the later duration of the war and he is now remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Fichiers 2

Sources 8

AIF-Project
https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/index.html
Sources utilisées
Ancestry
https://www.ancestry.com/
Autre référence
Australian War Memorial
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10330341
Sources utilisées
CWGC
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1598580/crompton,-john-henry/
Sources utilisées
John Henry Crompton
http://www.rgcrompton.info/crompton/1805info8.html
Sources utilisées
State Library of Queensland.
https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/
Sources utilisées
The Long, Long Trail
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/
Sources utilisées
War Diary King's Australian Infantry, 42nd Bn.
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583
Sources utilisées