Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

19 October - 22 November 1914. Following the failure of the German Schlieffen Plan in August and September 1914, both sides engaged in a series of linked battles as they sought to outflank each other. The climax of these manouvres was at Ypres in November 1914 when the might of the German Army attempted to break the much outnumbered British Expeditionary Force. The political importance of Ypres, being the last town of any size in Belgium that remained in allied hands, established its importance for both sides and ensured a series of battles over four years.

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 is characterised by a series of linked heroic stands by outnumbered British soldiers in conditions of confusion and weary endurance. The Germans never knew how close they had come to winning - at one point just the clerks and cooks were the last line of defence for the BEF. By the end of the battle the magnificent original BEF, composed of professional regular soldiers, had been all but destroyed and already the Territorial battalions were called into battle. From the end of 1914 a 'Regular' battalion was in terms of its compostion little different to a Teritorial or later Service Battalion. The professional soldiers had all but vanished.

Detail :

Major John Chrystie was born on 9 March 1872. He was the son of Colonel George Chrystie and Helen Ann Thomasina Myers. He married Mignonne Muriel Maude Cumming, daughter of Charles Lennox Bruce Cumming and Alice Maude Howell, on 15 January 1913 at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, London W.4, He was killed in action on 17 November 1914 at Zillebeke, near Ypres, Belgium aged 42 and was buried at Ypres Town Cemetery, Zonnebeekseweg, Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. He had a daughter, Leslie (sic) who was born in June 1914 and died in 1920. John Chrystie's death announcement was listed in The Times Friday, 25 November 1914. Born in India March 1872 and educated at Surrey County School, Craideigh and Portsmouth Grammar School. Gazetted 2nd Lieutenant 24 July. 1891, and promoted Lieut. 24 July. 1894, Capt. 8 Nov. 1899, and Major October 1911, and was Adjutant in the Volunteer Forces. He served in India with a Mountain Battery and R.G.A. and was an Instructor in Gunnery. He left for France in command of No. 3 Battery, 1st Medium Siege Artillery Brigade on 17 Sept. 1914; took part in the Battle of the Aisne. and on 12 Oct. was moved to the neighbourhood of Ypres. He was killed in action in the First Battle of Ypres at Zillebeke. near Ypres on 17 Nov. 1914; and was buried in Ypres Cemetery. His colonel wrote of him: He left behind him the lasting memorial of a shining example, of how we ought to live and die, and we shall not forget it. He came to this brigade at my invitation, stayed in it at my invitation, and so far as we all are concerned he remains in it for ever. We shall not see his like any more. Major Chrystie was a keen sportsman, and his great-uncles. Lieut. John Chrystie. R.N., and Capt. Thomas Chrystie, R.N. served under Nelson. The former was in the Victory immediately before Trafalgar, but was transferred on promotion. The latter was at Trafalgar in the Defiance. His twin brother. Major Ceorge Chrystie, 25th Cavalry. Frontier Force, Indian Army, was killed in a raid on the North West Frontier of India.

Masonic :

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