James CRICHTON
VC
N.Z. VC No.
13
Global No. 1,106
Born:
Died:
Military Service:
Enlisted:
Disharged:
Units:
VC Action
VC Rank:
Final Rank:
15 Jul 1879, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Ireland
22 Sep 1961, Auckland, New Zealand
British Army 1897-1904
(Second Boer War)
New Zealand Expeditionary Force 1914-19
(Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front)
New Zealand Home Guard
Oct 1914
1919
Royal Scots Regiment 1897-1899
Cameron Highlanders 1899-1904
New Zealand Army Service Corps 1914-18
Auckland Infantry Regimant (1918-19 VC)
New Zealand home Guard 1939
30 Sep 1918, Crevecoeur, France
Private
Sergeant
MINI BIO
One of 6 children, he moved with his family to Lanarkshire, Scotland in the late 1880's.
At the age of 10 he was working down in the mines as was his father.
He enlisted with the Royal Scots in 1899. When the Boer war broke out James, age 20, enlisted in the Queen's Cameron Highlanders serving for 12 years. James saw service in Scotland, Gibralter and South Africa receiving his discharge 12 Nov 1911.
Moving to NZ in 1914 at the age of 35, he settled in Auckland and took up work with the Post & Telegraph Department as a Cable Layer/Jointer.
At the outbreak of WWI, James enlisted with the NZEF with the rank of Corporal. He was on the first convoy arriving Egypt Dec 1914.
He served as a Baker on the Western Front until May 1918 when he transferred to the 2nd battalion, Auckland Infantry.
30 Sep 18, James displayed actions of bravery that saw him awarded the Victoria Cross.
Postwar, James married Amy Howe and resumed his occupation as a Cable Jointer.
The couple raised 2 daughters.
He retired from the Post and Telegraph department in Jul 1939.
In James' hometown, Carrickfergus, a special panel commemorating and honouring his act of outstanding bravery has been installed. James is only the second person to be commemorated in Carrickfergus. There is also a special panel for Daniel Cambridge VC, for his act of bravery in the Crimean War.
LONDON GAZETTE
No. 31012
15 November 1918
For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when, although wounded in the foot, he continued with the advancing troops despite difficult canal and river obstacles. When his platoon was subsequently forced back by a counterattack he succeeded in carrying a message which involved swimming a river and crossing an area swept by machine-gun fire, subsequently rejoining his platoon. Later he undertook on his own initiative to save a bridge which had been mined, and, though under close fire of machine-guns and snipers, he succeeded in removing the charges, returning with the fuses and detonators. Though suffering from a painful wound he displayed the highest degree of valour and devotion to duty.
