Second Lieutenant William Crossman

Second Lieutenant William Ronald Morley Crossman, 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was killed in action in France on 2nd November 1914, aged 20, during the First Battle of Ypres and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.  He was the son of Mrs F.A. and the late Mr  L. Crossman of Bamburgh and was a native of Beal, Northumberland. He was a a Regular soldier and he fell in the desperate fighting to prevent a German breakthrough at Ypres and despite heavy casualties the line held thus preventing the Germans from gaining a quick victory.  The photos  show British troops during the Battle.