Tom Rutherford Cruwys now commemorated by CWGC

I wrote back in January 2009 about Tom Rutherford Cruwys who served with the British Military Forces in Mesopotamia in World War I and sadly died of malaria on 28th September 1918 at Krasnovodsk in Russia (now Turkmenistan). I also published the surviving letters that Tom wrote to his mother during his time in Russia. I was puzzled at the time by Tom's absence from the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but wasn't aware that there was any way to pursue the matter with the CWGC. I subsequently learnt about the In from the Cold Project which was set up to research and identify all the service men and women missing from the official CWGC list of casualties from the First and Second World Wars. I wrote to Terry Denham from the In from the Cold Project back in February 2011 and he kindly agreed to look into Tom's case and submit the details to the CWGC. He did warn me that it might take up to a year and there was no guarantee of success. Terry has now advised me that Tom has been accepted for commemoration by the Ministry of Defence, and his name was added to the CWGC register yesterday. Tom's name will eventually be added to the Haidar Pasha Memorial in Turkey which is a memorial for those missing in southern Russia and the Caucasus. I am delighted that Tom is now finally getting official recognition for his sacrifice, and I would like to thank the In from the Cold Project for their help with Tom's case and all the wonderful work they do to ensure that all those who sacrificed their lives in both World Wars receive an official commemoration.

© Debbie Kennett 2012

WW1 letters from Tom Rutherford Cruwys

I wrote in a previous post about Tom Rutherford Cruwys who served with the British Military Forces in Mesopotamia in World War I and sadly died of malaria on 28th September 1918 at Krasnovodsk. John Reis has now very kindly sent me copies of the three surviving letters which Tom sent to his mother Ruth Wood née Cruwys, and I have transcribed the letters below. Tom's mother was at that time living at 10 Hillfield Road, West Hampstead, London NW. The letters provide a poignant combination of everyday trivia and unimaginable horror. In WWI Krasnovodsk was in Russia. Today it is known as Türkmenbasy and is in Turkmenistan. Apsheronskaya, now known as Apsheronsk, is a town in Krasnodar Krai in western Russia near the border with the Ukraine.

Letter 1

2nd Lieut T. R. Cruwys
DUNSTERFORCE
M.E.F.
[Special Service, Mesopotamia - crossed out]
My dear Mother

I take this first opportunity of writing you that I have had for some months. It is only possible to write you now because I have joined the British Military Forces of Mesopotamia. I am at present attached to Col. Baltine's Military Mission at Krasnovodsk as interpreter with the rank of 2nd Lieut. Life is quite OK & I shall now be longing to know if you get this letter and to receive a reply from you. I had a very bad time during the last few months with the men on the fields & I am very glad to have handed over the property to other people. Write with all news and then I will give you a nice long letter.

Love and kisses

Your affect. son

Tom

Letter 2

c/o Anglo Maikop Corp Ltd
Apsheronskaya
Kuban Province, Russia

14th Jan 1914

My dear Mother

Many thanks for your Xmas card letter also for the pudding which I have not yet received. It has got as far as Apsheronskaya and am afraid will remain there for some time as we are snowed up and cut off from outside communications. Anyway I hope to get it within the next week or ten days.

We have just had a five days blizzard and all our bridges, derricks, telephone wires, houses, etc, etc have been blown down and we cant see anything for snow. During the last week I have worked 20 hours a day for 5 days. This would not [have] been anything much under ordinary circumstances but added to this you must also remember that one is soaked through to the skin, frozen to the bone and ravishingly hungry. I often think of that splendid tomato soup you can make. Five of our men were caught in the blizzard frozen to death. Cheerful, what! On top of that I had a man mangled to death on one of the machines right in front of my eyes and this was on Christmas Day when I had to work all day and night.

Anyway, Mother dear, I have at last got £50 in the Bank here or at least shall have by the time you get this note, so shortly I shall be sending you a draught for £40 and keep £10 here to keep my account open. I will drop you a line when I send it off.

Perhaps it will please you to hear that your dear little son Tommie has passed his exam and is now a fully fledged "Petroleum Mining Engineer? Bow wow! Let's hope it will soon mean a rise.

Good bye, mother dear, best of luck.

Your loving son.

Tom

Letter 3

APSHERONSKAYA
19th August 1915

Anglo Malkop Corp. Ltd
Fields D-pt
L. L. ANDREIS

Telegrams: IKOPAM
APSHERONSKAYA

My darling Mother,

Just a line to let you know I am still going strong and hope you also are in the pink of health. Have written Jim insisting that you draw six pounds per month from my a/c to help you along over this trying time. Am sure everything must be very expensive now and don't see how you can refuse. Don't always think of we youngsters, we can all look after ourselves. You just go ahead and take things easy and if there's anything you fancy buy it. Don't look at the cost. Mother dear, you have been a good pal to me. No one knows how you have done your best for me. Let your goodness go one step father and accept my offer. I can afford it, Mother, for I have close on £200 in the bank here. Why should you eke, scrape and stint for the sake of putting away for us youngsters when we are all healthy and capable of looking after ourselves. You have given us all a start and there your duty to us should end. I was young at the time but I remember it as well as if I it was yesterday the way you struggled to get me to Watford and the hours you used to spend on those poor legs of yours in your endeavours. You have done your share and more than your share for us so let us now do a little for you. Enjoy yourself and get about more and don't worry your head about those damned houses. You are worth more to us than any pile of bricks and mortar. I do wish I could come home and cheer you up. Never mind, when I do arrive we'll have the time of our lives all the jolly lot of us together. Did you and Doll get my photos. Write soon with all the news.

A great hug and heaps of kisses.

Your loving son

Tom

Note
Jim is Tom's brother James Cruwys, who was born on 25th October 1885 in Kilburn, London. Doll is Tom's younger sister Dorothy Rutherford Cruwys who was born on 7th August 1890 in Kilburn.

Edward Thomas Cruse in World War I

David Cruse has been having a sort out of some old files and has sent me copies of the correspondence he had back in 1999 with a lady called Rita Thyer in New Zealand. Rita is the granddaughter of Edward Thomas Cruse (b. 1880 in Bermondsey, London) and Edith Louisa Carswell. Edward is descended from the John Cruse and Mary Rook line of London and Cambridgeshire. When researching this family previously I had not been able to find any trace of Edward Thomas Cruse after the 1891 census. Edward would have been 21 in 1901 and I suspect he might have been away from home serving in the Boer War. Fortunately however Ancestry now have the World War I army service records available online and luckily Edward's records were amongst those which have survived and are included in the collection.

Edward would have been 34 years old at the outbreak of the First World War. From his service records I've discovered that he enlisted on 5th September 1914 at which time he was described as a printer. He began his service career as a private in the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was promoted to Corporal on 21st December 1915 and to Lieutenant Sergeant on 31st December 1915. He was then promoted to Sergeant on 16th April 1916. On 1st April 1916 he was transferred to the Training Reserves. In a reorganisation he was posted to the Hampshire Regiment on 1st November 1917, and finally on 26th November 1918 he was transferred to the Labour Corps. He was discharged on 1st June 1919. His medical report on discharge shows that he was suffering from hallus valgus (bunions) on his left foot. He had had an operation to remove the head of a metatarsal bone. He had also had an attack of influenza in January 1919 following which he suffered from a cardiac irregularity, though no irregularity was found at the time of the examination. He was classified as being 20% disabled.

The service papers also most helpfully provide information about Edward's wife and children. Edward claimed to have married Edith Louisa Carswell on 4th February 1905, though the marriage is recorded in the GRO indexes in the first quarter of 1906 in the West Ham Registration District. Edward had seven children:

- Arthur Edward Cruse, born 10th November 1901
- Grace Edna Elizabeth Cruse, born 15th Feb 1903
- Edith Lilian Cruse, born 20th July 1906 in Upton Park, London
- George Thomas Cruse, born on 22nd August 1907 in Stratford, London
- Rose Louisa Cruse, born on 30th November 1911 in Stratford
- Louisa Elsie Cruse, born on 14th November 1914 in Stratford
- Ernest Alfred Cruse, born on 19th Feb 1916 in Stratford

Edward's eldest two children, Arthur and Grace, were from his first marriage to Janet Frances Amelia Gillard. Edward and Janet married in 1901. Janet sadly died in 1904 when Grace was only around a year old.

At the time of Edward's discharge from the army the family address was 2 Hotham Street, Bridge Road, Stratford, London E15. Edward apparently left his family after World War I and never returned for reasons which are unclear. I wonder if anyone has any further information on Edward and his family. I would be particularly interested to hear from any of his descendants in New Zealand. © Debbie Kennett 2009-2012

Tom Rutherford Cruwys

John Reis has also sent me some lovely photographs of Tom Rutherford Cruwys, the second son of Tom Cruwys (1853-1896) and Ruth Pearce (c. 1862-1901).Tom was born on 16 December 1888 at 14 Maygrove Road, Kilburn, London. He last appears in the English records in the 1891 census as a two-year-old boy. I've not been able to find him in the 1901 census, and had always wondered what became of him as there is no record of his death in the General Register Office indexes. John has now solved the mystery. He tells me:

Tom went out to Russia to work for the Anglo Maikop Corporation developing oilfields at Apsheronskaya as a 'petroleum mining engineer'. During the First World War he joined 'the British Military Forces in Mesopotamia' attached to Colonel Baltine's Military Mission at Krasnovodsk as an interpreter with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He died from malaria at Krasnovodsk on 28 September 1918. His younger sister, Dorothy Rutherford Cruwys, used to tell me when I was a child how her brother Tom had risen from his sick bed and ridden off to carry some desperate warning to a town and that he got through in time but died soon afterwards and became quite a hero. There was even a very grainy photo of a memorial which had been raised to him. We have had no luck in finding any more details of this story but there might be something out there.

In 1918 Krasnovodsk was in Russia. Today it is known as Türkmenbasy and is in Turkmenistan. The photograph below of Tom on horseback was probably taken in Russia. John still has some of the letters which Tom sent home to his family, including the last letter he ever wrote which is "complete with a perfect impression in lipstick where it was kissed by his mother". Rather oddly Tom is not listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, and there is no record of him in the WWI Army Deaths. Can anyone tell us more about Tom's heroic deeds? Where is his memorial?

See also the posting on the WW1 letters of Tom Rutherford Cruwys