Dick Steele Bell

Thomas Grange Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1892 and was probably brought up by his uncle and aunt at Bridge End farm in Longsleddale. When he was 19 he was working as a farm labourer in Nether Levens. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was transferred to the 10th Battalion Hampshire Regiment. The Hampshires were part of a multinational force fighting the Bulgarians in Northern Greece. Tom was one of 35 men from the regiment killed in the attack at Roche Noire near Salonika during the first two days of September 1918. He was 26 and was buried in Karasouli Military Cemetery. Tom’s mother, Alice Cragg, was a dressmaker and milliner from Longsleddale who travelled widely for work. She gave birth to Tom at her brother in law’s Liverpool house and was unmarried. Tom’s father is unknown. Tom is probably commemorated in Skelsmergh because his uncle and aunt, Leonard and Grace Cragg had moved from Longsleddale to Stocks Farm in Scalthwaiterigg before the war.

A British sentimental postcard || Headed ‘From Daddy’s Boy’, the main part of this photograph depicts a boy dressed as a British army officer and his mother reading a newspaper together. The verse below reads, ‘Whether I’m playing or sitting still, / I think of you dear Dad, / And when you’re with us once again, / I shall be very glad.’. Inset above is a head-and-shoulders portrait of a British soldier, his eyes downcast. Typeset details on the reverse include ‘Series No. 92’ and ‘Printed in England.’. || || Postcard || A British sentimental postcard || Front