The following appeared in the 'Derbyshire Times' of 25 August 1917 under the above headline: “Mr and Mrs J W Crookes of [the] Hide Park Inn, Hill Top, Dronfield, have received information that their son, Pte. Roland Crookes, was killed in action on the 8th inst. Deceased’s platoon commander writes: ‘Your son, Pte. Roland Crookes of my Lewis Gun Team, was killed last Wednesday morning (the 8th inst), about 3.45 whilst on duty with his gun. The enemy suddenly commenced shelling our trench very heavily prior to making a raid, and he was hit in the head by a piece of shell. He only lived about two minutes, and was unconscious, so he would suffer no pain. His loss is keenly felt by the lads in the platoon and by myself, as I have known him such a long time, and knew him as a quiet even-tempered boy who could be relied on in a tight corner.’ Deceased would have been 20 years old on Friday. He enlisted the first week of the war, and has been wounded twice. He was employed in civil life by Mr Jno. Phillips, grocer*.”

John Phillips (born Wrexham, Wales, 1866) a Master Grocer, with his wife Ellen Phillips (born Brampton, Chesterfield 1868) a Confectioner, both located in the 1911 and 1921 censuses at 5 Church Street, Dronfield.

16003 Private Roland Crookes of the 7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment was born in Dronfield, Derbyshire, near Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1897. His parents were John William Crookes (born Dronfield 1855) and Sarah Crookes nee Watson (born Rotherham, Yorkshire 1857). They had married in the Sheffield Registration District in circa 1874.

The 1911 census found the 13-year-old Roland Crookes at home with his parents and siblings at the ‘Hyde Park Inn’, 34 Hill Top Road, Unstone, near Dronfield, where his father was the Publican and his mother assisted in the business. The household schedule completed and signed by John William Crookes, confirms that, by census night 1911, Sarah Crookes had borne 16 children, of whom 12 were still living.

Roland’s siblings were: Richard Wilson Crookes (born 1875); William (1877); Jane (1878) Arthur (1884); Frank (1885); Nellie (1887); George (1888); John (1891); twins Ruth & Lilly (1893); and Rhoda (1899).

Roland Crookes’ service records have not survived. However, combining data from his medal card and the publication ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919’ confirms that, when he enlisted in Dronfield, he was originally posted to the Sherwood Foresters (the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) under service number 16584.  

Then, by now with the Lincolnshire Regiment, he disembarked in France on 11 August 1915, headed for the Western Front, and that, because he had entered a war zone before 31 December 1915, he was duly awarded the 1914-15 Star.

‘Soldiers Medical Records’ show that Roland was admitted to the 51st Field Ambulance on 3 December 1915 for dental treatment. The hospital’s register relates that he had been serving in the army for one year by then, that he was Church of England by religion, and that he was transferred the next day to a Divisional Rest Station.

The ‘Wartime Memories Project’ places the 51st Field Ambulance at Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais Department, France, from July 1915.

His Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry records that Roland Crookes died on 8 August 1917 (when he would have been aged 19) and that his remains are interred in Brown's Copse Cemetery, Roeux: “Roeux [being] a village about 8 kilometres east of Arras, in the Pas de Calais Department of France”…..”The cemetery is named from a small copse (the Bois Rossignol) on the east side….”