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M in arms
ORE than 90 years
ago, a five-year-old
girl consoled her
sobbing mother
after a poignant message re-
vealed what they both feared.
It had been days since Violet
Crozier had heard anything
from her husband who was
fighting as a gunner for the
Royal Garrison Artillery in
northern France.
But soon after a fateful
telegram finally arrived cour-
tesy of a postman and caring
neighbour informing the fami-
ly that her 37-year-old hus-
band George Stafford Crozier
had been killed in action.
Nine decades on, 96-year-old
Eileen Unsworth, of
Unsworth Court, Leyland, still
remembers that day vividly
and how it devastated her fam-
ily.
Stafford, who owned a watch-
making and jewellery business,
was the third brother out of
five in the family killed in the
conflict – others had been her
uncles Richard Leonard
Crozier and Sgt Henry Cyril
Crozier.
Mrs Unsworth says: “My
mother was shattered by it – it
was a dreadful shock. I can re-
member her sat on the chair
with me and my nine-year-old
sister Muriel on each side. She
would never speak about it af-
terwards.
“All of the deaths were terri-
bly hard on the family and
were never something that
would ever come up in conver-
sation later on. We were dev-
astated.
“My father loved us a lot – I
remember how he used to
throw me up in the air and
catch me and you always
looked forward to him coming
home.”
And the death came only days
after her father went back to
war on March 13 after 13 days
of leave. He was killed on Fri-
day March 29 – Good Friday –
and is buried in the Mezieres
Communal Cemetery with a
grave number also featuring
13-D13.
Mrs Unsworth adds: “I can
only remember my father
coming home on his last leave
when I was five. I can remem-
ber him taking Muriel and my-
My father...
self to a toy shop to buy some-
thing we wanted. I got a little
purse which I still have today.”
Little is known of how he was
killed but the date and loca-
tion of Stafford’s death means
it is likely he could have died
as a result of the German cap-
ture of Mezieres which the al-
lies later retook in August
1918.
Her uncle Richard Leonard
Crozier, the oldest of the
brothers, had died aged 40 just
three months before on De-
cember 11.
The gunner was supporting
the Italian war effort with the Royal
Field Artillery and is buried at the Gi-
avera British Cemetery in Italy.
Her other uncle Sgt Henry Cyril Crozi-
er, of the York and Lancaster Regi-
ment, died on July 1, 1916. Again, few
details are known of his death although
the date marks the start of the Battle of
the hero
the Somme which led to 60,000 British
casualties – the bloodiest day in British
military history.
His name features on the Thiepval
Memorial as he was missing in action.
His body was never found though he
was later awarded a military medal for
bravery.
Evening Post Special Supplement, Saturday, November 8, 2008
After the First World War Mrs
Unsworth trained as a teacher and went
to work in infants schools in Liverpool,
Longridge and Euxton. She married
William, who also served in the Army
as a driver in the Middle East during
the Second World War.
The widow has since outlived her hus-
33
Brothers
SHOCK: Eileen
Unsworth.
Below, Eileen,
on the
right, with her
sister, mother
and father
Roll of
George Stafford
Crozier. Her
uncle Richard
Honour
also died in the THE following brothers
war, and his also feature on the Harris
name is on Museum Roll of Honour:
Preston’s
memorial, above ● WILLIAM and George
Brindle of Heysham
Street, Preston: George
was killed in a raid on
June 28, 1916, after being
sent to the front in March
1915 with the 1st/4th
battalion of the Loyal
North Lancashire Regi-
ment.
The father of a six-year-old
son, he was wounded in
May 1915 but returned to
frontline duties in Febru-
ary 1916. He was then
wounded in another raid
and shot in the head while
on a stretcher.
His brother William served
in the 8th battalion of the
Border Regiment and went
missing in action on Octo-
ber 21, 1916.
He features on the Thiep-
val Memorial.
● FRANCIS, James Joseph
and Maurice Patrick Mc-
Gann, of Lowndes Street,
Preston: The eldest, Fran-
cis, a cotton weaver, died
at Passchendaele aged 33
while serving with the 3rd
battalion of the Grenadier
Guards.
James Joseph, a gas
meter inspector, left be-
hind a widow after dying of
pneumonia aged 38 on
July 8, 1918. He served on
the frontline with the 3rd
battalion of the Machine
Gun Corps.
Finally, third brother and
cotton weaver Maurice
met his fate at the Somme
on April 2, 1918, after
serving with the 2nd bat-
talion of the East Lan-
cashire Regiment.
● FREDERICK and William
Pitcher, of Henderson
Street, Preston: Unusual-
ly, the pair appear to have
served with the same bat-
talion – the 1st Loyal
North Lancashire Regi-
ment. Frederick died after
being at the front for 16
gruelling months in
France, on September 22,
1917 aged 21.
William was 23 when he
went missing on August
band and immediate family and now 13, 1916 and was later
spends her spare time driving to see her presumed dead. That did
two children, two grandchildren and not stop an article appear-
three great-grandchildren in her Nissan ing in the Lancashire Daily
Micra car. Post in December from
She says: “The more I think about the family members appealing
First World War, I think what a waste for any information about
of life it was.” their missing son.