Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Post War includes all operations in all theatres up to 31st August 1921. This excludes the campaign in Russia against the Bolsheviks. It also includes men who succombed to wounds post war and who died from various causes whilst still in the services but post war.

Detail :

De Ruvigny's Volume 5. "McCRAITH, BERNARD, Major, 1st North Midland Field Coy., Divisional Engineers, Royal Engineers (T.F.), 2nd s. of Sir James McCraith, of The Park, Nottingham, by his wife, Maria Elizabeth, dau. of Thomas Dickinson; b. Nottingham, 2 May, 1880; educ. Clifton College, and the Royal Engineering College, Cooper's Hill; served in the Public Works Department, India, from 1901 to 1908, when he retired , on account of ill-health, and subsequently became an Auctioneer and Estate Agent at Nottingham; was a Fellow of the Surveyors' Institution and a Freemason (P.M.); volunteered for active service on the outbreak of war, and was gazetted 2nd Lieut. Royal Engineers in Sept. 1914; promoted Lieut.; Capt. in Dec. 1915, and Major in June 1916; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from Feb. 1915; was severely wounded at Neuve Eglise in the following April and invalided home; rejoined his unit in France in Nov. of the same year, where he saw much fighting, taking part in the battles of the Somme, and in many other engagements; was appointed Second-in-Command at a base park near Calais in 1917, and died at No. 30 General Military Hospital, Calais, 26 Jan. 1919, of influenza, contracted while on active service; unm."

Hellfire Corner- Article by Andrew Thornton - MCCRAITH Major Bernard 1st Base park Coy, Royal Engineers. Died of Pneumonia 26th January 1919. Age 38.

"The Messines Ridge, which overlooked the British front line, had a commanding view of the surrounding countryside and as a result the Germans were able to use their artillery very effectively, shelling being a regular occurrence. The results of these bombardments could be devastating. On 6th May, Trench 8, positioned astride the Wulverghem-Messines Road, was subjected to a heavy bombardment that wounded nine men of the 1/5th South Staffords. Not all casualties caused by artillery fire were the result of German shells. On 29th April, 10B Trench, at that time held by A Company of the 1/5th South Staffords, was hit by a short fired from one of the supporting batteries near Kemmel. As a result, Private Bill Martin, a member of the Machine Gun Section and a friend of Private Sid Richards, was killed when his dug-out collapsed onto him after it was hit. Three other men in the trench, including Captain Bernard McCraith of 1/2nd North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers, were wounded by shrapnel. "

Commemorated at his grave at LES BARAQUES MILITARY CEMETERY, SANGATTE and at Nottingham Church Cemetery.

Masonic :

He was Initiated and Passed in 1901, when he is 22 years of age, an engineer and resident at South Road, The Park (Nottingham). He resigned from the Lodge in December 1905.

The 1910-21 register shows that he "rejoined" Nottinghamshire Lodge No. 1434 on 2nd January, 1911, listed as a 30 year old Auctioneer from Nottingham at the time. His war service is shown under his entry in the contribution record, in 1915 and 1918, whereafter he is noted to have "Died Jan/1919."

He is noted to be a past master, but the date of his Raising is not listed.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley