Crozier, Archibald

Private

No. 13011578, Pioneer Corps

Died of disease on Monday 15 September 1941 (aged 32)

Buried:

Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor, Co. Down (Section 1. B. Grave 97)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, England (Panel 20 Column 3)

BIOGRAPHY

Archibald Crozier was born on 31 July 1909 in New Street, Bangor and he was a grandson of William James and Henrietta Crozier (nee Neill) and a son of Walter Henry and Annie (Anna) Crozier (nee Nelson) who were married on 23 September 1902 in St. Anne’s Church of Ireland Church, Belfast.  Walter Crozier (aged 22), a coach builder from 2 Bellevue Street, Belfast was a son of William Crozier, a coachman.  Annie Nelson (aged 21) from 16 Beech Street, Belfast was a daughter of Hugh Nelson, a labourer.

Sergeant Walter Crozier served as a drill instructor at Clandeboye Camp during the First World War and Walter’s brother, Rifleman Frederick William Crozier (No. 6025) – Archibald’s uncle – was killed in the First World War.

Walter and Annie Crozier (nee Nelson) had six sons, and, according to a family source, two of whom died in the Second World War:

William James (Willie, born 13 January 1903 in Ballymagee Street, Bangor; according to a family source, he drowned in the Nile river while on rest and recuperation during the Second World War)

Hugh Nelson (born 28 April 1905 in Groomsport; died of pneumonia 10 January 1906)

Walter Henry (Walter, born 8 January 1907 in Groomsport; served in the Second World War, Army Number 131397, RASC, awarded the Africa Star with 8th Army clasp; died 1 May 1986)

Archibald (Archie, born 31 July 1909 in New Street, Bangor; according to a family source he never recovered after being in the water at Dunkirk and died 15 September 1941)

Frederick (Freddie, born 27 August 1912 in Bangor, served in the Second World War and survived, Army Number 131396; died April/May 1986)

Samuel Finlay Kitchener (Samuel, born 9 November 1914 in Castle Square, Bangor)

Their mother, Annie Crozier, died of debility following Samuel’s birth, in Newtownards Workhouse on 11 December 1914 (aged 32).

Archibald Crozier worked as a labourer and he and Alice Josephine Rice were married on 24 January 1933 in Newtownards Registrar’s Office. Alice Josephine Rice (aged 23) was a daughter of Owen Rice, a farmer.

Archibald and Alice Crozier lived at 14 Victoria Road, Bangor and later at 11 Hazelbrook Avenue, Bangor.

During the Second World War Private Archibald Crozier (No. 13011578) served with the Pioneer Corps and he was 32 when he died of pulmonary tuberculosis at 11 Hazelbrook Avenue, Bangor on 15 September 1941.  He was buried on 18 September 1941 in Bangor Cemetery in the same grave as his paternal grandparents and he is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey.

Henrietta Crozier died on 9 November 1923 (aged 64) and William James Crozier died on 22 January 1926 (aged 80).  Their son, Rifleman Frederick William Crozier (No. 6025), who was killed in the First World War, is commemorated on their headstone but their grandson, Private Archibald Crozier (No. 13011578), is not.