Pte 52899 Elgie Cregeen

Esley (Elgie) Leslie Cregeen was born in 1890 at Malew Parish, Isle of Man and baptised 20th July, 1890., the son of Thomas and Ann Jane Cregeen.

 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at Douglas Road, Malew, Isle of Man.

The father Thomas is aged 54, born in 1847 and is a farm labourer who was born in Rushen, Isle of Man, his wife Ann Jane who is aged 45, born 1856 with no occupation listed was born in Malew, Isle of Man as were their two children. Their two children are both living with them at the time of the Census, Ann aged 12, born 1889 and Algie aged 10, born 1891.  

 

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 32 Mill Street, Castletown, Isle of Man.

The mother Ann Jane is shown as a widow aged 54, with no occupation listed and her son Elgie (Algie in 1901) is aged 20 and employed as a coal carter. 

 

SDGW shows that Elgie enlisted in Douglas, Isle of Man, as Private 52899 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. Elgie would have seen action with his battalion during the Somme in 1916, and by the summer of 1917 the Pals battalions are in the dreaded Ypres Salient. The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele, begins on 31st July and continues until November.

 

In October 1917 the battalion marched to relieve the 20th K.L.R. In the Hollebeke sector. The Battalion War Diary records:

16th October - in front lines. 1 OR Killed, 1 OR Wounded

17th October - holding front line positions. Patrols at night. 3 OR Wounded.

18th October - holding front line positions, sandbagging, bailing trench, wiring front line. 3 OR Wounded.

 

Elgie’s body was not recovered from the battlefield, or was subsequently lost, and he is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Flanders, Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His death was reported in the Isle of Man Examiner dated 3rd November, 1917:

 

 

 

 

 

His effects, including a War Gratuity of £7-10s, and a pension of 7/6d a week went to his mother Ann Jane (Annie) at 36 Mill street, Castletown.

 

Elgie is commemorated on the following Memorials -

 

The Manx National Memorial, St. John’s, Isle of Man

Isle of Man Roll of Honour 

Croit E Caley Methodist Chapel, Douglas, Isle of Man

Castletown Primitive Methodist Church Roll of Honour

St. Lupus Church Stained Glass Memorial Window, Malew

Malew Parish Roll of Honour, St. Lupus Church

Harris Promenade War Memorial, Douglas

Castletown Royal British Legion Roll of Honour.

 

We currently have no further information on Elgie Cregeen, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.