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“If you think, have a kindly thought, If you speak, speak generously, Of those who as heroes fought And died to keep you free”
Set up by the Black Country Society. Our aim is to highlight local men who died in the Great War and how they have been commemorated on war memorials. Its scope covers the whole of the present Dudley Municipal Borough and therefore includes the places which have come within its bounds since 1914.
There are over fifty memorials and the number of names exceeds three thousand. Research on the names has been extensive but inevitably errors and omissions occur. We would like to hear about them concentrated on life and work before 1914, involvement in military campaigns and where each man is buried or commemorated.
Henry Croxton was the son of Charles Croxton of the 'Waggon and Horses', Worcester Street, Stourbridge. He had worked for Messrs Moyle and Co., grocers. He was married and living at Ladbroke Grove, London, in 1914. He enlisted first in the London Regiment and was later transferred to the 6th South Wales Borderers in the 25th Division. He had been some six months on the Western Front when the Germans launched their second Spring Offensive of 1918 on the Lys. The battalion was defending the line near Ploegsteert on the 9th April and were forced to retreat through Neuve Eglise. At Crucifix Corner the battalion turned to fight and lost half its strength in a famous battle on the 14th and 15th April. Private Henry Croxton was one of those who were killed in action. He was 31 years of age and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert, Stourbridge and St. Thomas's church Memorials.
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Market Street, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 1AQ
