CORPORAL 28 EDWARD HAROLD CRAWLEY, SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL CORPS.

CORPORAL 28 EDWARD HAROLD CRAWLEY, SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL CORPS. DIED 4TH FEBRUARY 1917 AGED 36

Edward Harold Crawley was born in Ilkley in 1880 the only son of iron merchant Edward Crawley and his wife Sarah. Baptised at St Margaret's Church Harold lived with his parents at 1 Acorn Villas on The Grove.

Harold probably began his education at one of the several small private schools in Ilkley before being sent to Shrewsbury School in 1894. After finishing school it seems that Harold became a medical student probably in London , although, it appears that he did not finish his degree. However it is known that he sailed for South Africa in 1906 and lived at 160 End Street in the Doornfontaine suburb of Johannesburg. The Ilkley Gazette reports that Harold joined the Cape Mounted Police and fought in the Somaliland Expedition. However, this seems unlikely, not least because the Cape Mounted Police never served in Somaliland.
Within a few years of arriving, however, Harold was married and with his wife had a son who was also called Harold.

 In December 1914 his wife Florence Gertrude brought their son back to Britain and took up residence at 64, The Drive in Hendon. Harold remained in South Africa and was working in the town of Potchefstroom in the north of the country. On the 14th August 1915 joined the South African Army. It seems that he was rejected for the infantry, probably because he was only 5'1" in height and instead enlisted into the South African Medical Corps (SAMC). Harold left South Africa on 20th December 1915 and arrived in the Egyptian port of Alexandria on 16th January 1916. 

The Ilkley Gazette reports that Harold was sent to Gallipoli where was he was a casualty of shell fire which left him shell shocked and paralysed. However, none of this is correct. Instead the SAMC were destined to support South African Troops fighting against Bedouin Tribes on the Egyptian, Libyan border.Harold, in fact did not reach the front because he was admitted into hospital upon disembarking at Alexandria. He stayed in hospital for a month followed by time spent in a convalescent camp. Discharged from convalescence he was soon back in hospital suffering from symptoms described as 'stupor'. 

In June 1916 he was invalided to England and apparently discharged from the Army. Nevertheless, he was treated at the South African Military Hospital in Richmond Park London. On the 4th February 1917 Harold was in the Montpelier Auxiliary Hospital in Ealing when he died from what was described as natural causes. 

Corporal Edward Harold Crawley is buried in Nunhead, All Saints, Cemetery and is remembered on Ilkley War Memorial where his regiment is incorrectly shown as the Royal Army Medical Corps