Crooks, Joseph

Military Medal (Newtownards and District War Memorial; Unconfirmed Officially)

Ex-Rifleman

No. 4/7893 Royal Irish Rifles

Died of disease on Wednesday 4 May 1932 (aged 37)

Buried:

Killysuggan Graveyard, Newtownards, Co Down

Commemorated:

Newtownards and District War Memorial

BIOGRAPHY

The name Joseph Crooks MM is listed on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in the booklet produced for the Unveiling and Dedication Ceremony held on Saturday 26 May 1934 he is described as a Rifleman in the Royal Irish Rifles who was awarded the Military Medal.  The organising committee of the day decided to include the names of ex-servicemen who died up to that date from what they considered to be war related causes, whether as the result of wounds or disease.

Extensive research has shown that ex-Rifleman Joseph Crooks was not awarded the Military Medal.

Joseph Crooks was born on 15 September 1894 in Portaferry and he was a son of Andrew and Mary Crooks (nee Magee).  The date of their marriage has not yet been confirmed.

Before Andrew and Mary were married, Mary Magee had a daughter:

Jane (born 24 June 1889 at Nunsbridge, Portaferry; her birth was registered as Jane Magee, but she subsequently used the surname Crooks)

Andrew Crooks worked as a labourer and he and Mary had at least one child:

Joseph (born 15 September 1894 in Portaferry)

Andrew Crooks died before the census taken on 31 March 1901; in 1901 the widowed Mary Crooks was working as a charwoman and she and her children, Jane Crooks and Joseph Crooks, were living at 25 High Street, Portaferry.

There is evidence that Andrew Crooks died of heart disease in Newtownards Workhouse on 17 June 1894.

During the Great War Joseph Crooks (No. 4/7893) served as a Rifleman with the Royal Irish Rifles.  He enlisted on 18 November 1915 and was discharged on 12 April 1919.  In service he had sustained a gunshot wound to his face and left shoulder, and at discharge his ‘degree of disablement’ was judged to be 40%.  His disability was ‘attributable to service’.  He gave as his intended address, 32 South Street, Newtownards.  Rifleman Joseph Crooks (No. 4/7893) was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. He was given Silver War Badge No. B187690 and there is a note in his Army records that he died in 1932.

Joseph Crooks and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Blaney (sometimes Blayney) were married on 9 October 1922 in Newtownards Roman Catholic Church.  Joseph Crooks of 104 Mill Street, Newtownards was a printer, single, full age and a son of Andrew Crooks, a labourer (deceased).  Elizabeth (Lizzie) Blaney of 32 South Street, Newtownards was a domestic servant, spinster, full age and a daughter of James Blaney, a coachman.

Joseph Crooks was 37 when he died of a brain tumour on 4 May 1932 at the UVF Hospital, Craigavon House, Belmont, Belfast and he was buried in Killysuggan Graveyard, Newtownards.  His wife Elizabeth Blaney Crooks lived at 23 Bangor Road, Newtownards and she, along with Joseph’s sister and brother-in-law, placed a death notice in the Newtownards Chronicle.  It contained the text:

On his soul, Sweet Jesus, have mercy

Ex-Rifleman Joseph Crooks (No. 4/7893) is commemorated on Newtownards and District War Memorial where the letters MM are incorrectly inscribed beside his name.