A.E. Craggs' headstone
Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
The youngest son of Sunderland butcher Charles Craggs and his wife Jane (nee Kirton) whom he had married in Chester-le-Street in 1871, Albert Edward Craggs was born on 1st September 1882. His older siblings were Mary Jane (b.1872), Charles Frederick (b.1873), Ethel (b.1875), Edith (b.1876), Florence (b.1879) and Johnson in 1880, all born in Monkwearmouth where their father’s butcher’s shop was on Zetland Street.
Both Charles and Jane died within five months of each other in 1885, Jane in March and Charles in August, and the shop was sold the following year. As the youngest Albert was fostered by widow and charwoman Elizabeth Wallace, who lived with her son and daughter on Old Brandling Street, Monkwearmouth, although his father’s probate papers list his brother, James Craggs of Hylton Dene Farm, as the guardian of all the children. By 1901 aged 19 Albert was working as a painter and decorator in the Newcastle area with the 1901 census listing him as a visitor at the house of William and Isabella White in the Royal Arcade; ten years later he was a lodger in the house of William Marwick, a clerk at the American roller skating rink, in Rosedale Terrace, Byker.
On 22nd September 1911 Albert arrived in Quebec, Canada on board the SS Virginian with the intention of heading west to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where he was hoping to find a decorating job. Two years later, after returning home to England for a visit, he crossed the border into the USA and settled in Santa Barbara, California.
Treated for plumbism (lead poisoning) in California in 1914 and for a stomach ulcer in February 1917, on 31st July 1917 Albert crossed the border into Canada and travelled to Vancouver where he enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps as Private 525356 based at their Training Depot at Willow Camp, Victoria, British Columbia. Just four weeks later Private Craggs spent five weeks in hospital in Victoria being treated for lead poisoning, where he was treated with drugs, rest and diet to aid recovery. In October he was treated for chronic constipation and indigestion and on 9th November was again admitted to hospital for four weeks as “his bowels require great care for a long period”, and he was recommended for discharge from the army.
On 4th January 1918 Albert underwent an exploratory operation when it was discovered that he had inoperable carcinoma of the stomach,” a condition arising from and old ulcer of the stomach”. Albert remained in hospital in Victoria where he died on 28th April 1918. A Board of Inquiry into his death was held two days later. His medals were sent to his sister Elizabeth living in Holywell House, Monkseaton and his plaque and memorial scroll to his brother Charles at Low Far, Boldon.
Albert Edward Craggs is remembered in Sunderland on S140.048 part 9, page 200.
In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance.
Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Craggs
