Name
Andrew Cranstoun Brown*1
9 Nov 1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/07/1916
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
South Staffordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
'C' Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DANTZIG ALLEY BRITISH CEMETERY, MAMETZ
V. N. 9.
France
Headstone Inscription
"REJOICE IN THE LORD"
UK & Other Memorials
Tring Town Memorial,
St Peter & St Paul Church Roll of Honour, Tring,
Individual Plaque, St John the Baptist Church, Aldbury
Pre War
Andrew Cranston Brown was born in on 4 Nov 1894 (baptised on 6 Dec 1894 in Tring) to Doctor James Brown, physician and surgeon, and Katharine Ann (nee Fulton).
On the 1901 Census the family of parents, Agnes Fulton (born 1893) and Andrew were living at 23 High Street, Tring together with 3 domestic servants.
On the 1911 Census Andrew is listed as a student at Rugby College., attending from 1908 to 1911. His parents and Katharine Fulton (born 1906, married name Wills) were living at Harvieston, Tring together with 4 domestic servants.
In 1913 Andrew went to Queen’s College, Oxford intending to qualify in his father’s medical profession. His father James died in 1914.
Wartime Service
No Service record was found for Andrew. He enlisted as a Private on the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 and was soon commissioned in Mar 1915 to the South Staffordshire Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant and was posted to 8th (Service) Battalion which was part of 51 Brigade, 17th (Northern) Division. Andrew was an officer of C Company. Andrew landed at Boulogne with the Division in Jul 1915 and was deployed for an initial period of trench familiarisation and then holding the front lines in the southern area of the Ypres salient. In early 1916.
The Division was involved in fighting at the Bluff (south east of Ypres on the Comines canal), part of a number of engagements officially known as the Actions of Spring 1916, before being transferred to the Somme Sector to take part in The Battle of Albert (1 – 13 Jul 1916) in which the Division captured Fricourt on 2nd Jul. Andrew and was killed in action, there is some difference in records which state either 1 or 2 July.
His Colonel wrote:— "He was killed in a very gallant attack that he and his men were making on German trenches, north of Fricourt. He appears to have taken a trench, and then to have been engaged on clearing it to the right. It may please you to know that your boy's Regiment, in which he had so many friends, and in which he had always done such splendid work, has done magnificently from the moment it went over the parapet."
And his Captain wrote :— "I was in command of C Company, and all the time your son was with me I found him one of the most fearless and utterly reliable Officers I have ever met. He was one of the most popular men in the Regiment, and his men were ready to follow him anywhere. I shall always remember him as one of my best friends, and for the noble, fearless way in which he fought and met his death."
Additional Information
Andrew is also commemorated on the family headstone in Tring Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
ALSO ANDREW CRANSTON(*1) ONLY SON OF THE ABOVE (James Brown). BORN NOVR.9TH 1894. KILLED AT FRICOURT JULY 2ND 1916.
*1 The naming convention appears to suggest that Andrew's surname was 'Brown' not the double barrelled Cranston-Brown that seems to be suggested on the CWGC headstone. This has been confirmed by members of his family.
His effects of £59 7s 2d and Probate of £1480 10s 7d was paid to his sister Agnes Fulton Woodrow and Katherine Fulton Wilks.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Jonty Wild, Lucy Wills (great grand niece)
