Cyril Crichton

Second Lieutenant Cyril Alfred William Crichton was an English officer of the British Army who died during the First World War.
He was born in 1893, in London, the son of silversmith Lionel Alfred Solomon and Fannie Emma Crichton (née Mitchell), both of London. The younger Crichton studied law at Inner Temple and entered the Territorial Force's Honourable Artillery Company before securing a commission in 1913, in the 3rd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers), The London Regiment.Clutterbuck, Lewis Augustus (1916), The Bond of Sacrifice: A Biographical Record of All British Officers who Fell in the Great War, Volume 2, p. 110. At the time of the 1911 census, the Crichton family were residing at 18 Hamilton Terrace.
Crichton volunteered for overseas service after the outbreak of war and went to France with his battalion in January 1915. He died two months later, on 10 March, in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. His battalion formed part of the Gharwhal Brigade, of the Meerut Division, which was tasked with attacking the south of Neuve Chapelle. It was 1700 when the company which Crichton belonged to was directed to attack a German trench whose opposition was described as "obdurate". In the battalion history of the 3rd Londons, it was said that Crichton was one of the first "over the top". He urged his platoon to follow him before being shot in the leg after a few yards. Crichton was able to regain his footing and resumed his advance, shouting "charge" as he did so, before being wounded a second, fatal time. The battalion suffered grievously for its efforts, sustaining some 348 casualties.O'Neill, H. C. (1922), The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War, p. 65-7. 
He is buried in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L'Avoue.
==Notes==
==References==
*Crichton, Alfred Cyril William, cwgc.org. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
Category:1893 births
Category:1915 deaths
Category:British military personnel
Category:British Army
Category:British people of Jewish descent
Category:Buried in France
Category:Second Lieutenants