Clarendon Hyde Cresswell

In loving memory of Clarendon Hyde Creswell, Captain Lanarkshire Yeomanry, died at the Military Hospital, Londonderry, 29th October 1918 aged 60; wife Ada Caroline reunited 31st December 1941; daughter Doris May died 8th January 1972.

CWGC:  Captain Clarendon Hyde Creswell, Lanarkshire Yeomanry; Captain and Quartermaster; died 29 October 1918, a. 60; son of Edward Hyde Creswell and Sophia Sutton Creswell; husband of Ada Caroline Creswell, of 22 Gillespie Crescent, Edinburgh.  Y 314

Clarendon Hyde Creswell was born in London in 1857, the son of Edward Hyde Creswell, who worked for the Customs service, and his wife Sophia Sutton.  He enlisted in the 9th Lancers in March 1876 and served in India and Afghanistan from December 1878 to November 1885.  He was awarded a medal for the Afghan Campaign of 1878-80 with clasps for Kabul and Kandahar, and a Bronze Star for the Kabul-Kandahar march, when General Roberts led British and Indian troops on a 320 mile march from Kabul to relieve a British force besieged in Kandahar in August 1880 before decisively defeating the Afghan forces in the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880.

Clarendon Hyde Creswell was born in London in 1857, the son of Edward Hyde Creswell, who worked for the Customs service, and his wife Sophia Sutton.  He enlisted in the 9th Lancers in March 1876 and served in India and Afghanistan from December 1878 to November 1885.  He was awarded a medal for the Afghan Campaign of 1878-80 with clasps for Kabul and Kandahar, and a Bronze Star for the Kabul-Kandahar march, when General Roberts led British and Indian troops on a 320 mile march from Kabul to relieve a British force besieged in Kandahar in August 1880 before decisively defeating the Afghan forces in the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880.

Creswell transferred to the Fife Light Horse in 1892 and served with them as a Sergeant Instructor until he retired in 1899.  He was awarded a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1894.  After leaving the army, he settled in Edinburgh and worked at Surgeon’s Hall. He re-enlisted when war broke out in 1914 and served as Captain and Quarter Master in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry. 

Creswell married Ada Caroline Collier, the eldest daughter of John Collier, a butcher, at All Saints, Pavement, York, on 9 May 1888, at which point he was a Troop Sergeant Major.  They had no children of their own but adopted Doris May Ginks (1894-1972), daughter of Ada’s sister Jane Elizabeth and her husband, Frederick Ginks.  Jane died in 1904 when Doris was only ten and Frederick re-married two years later.

Creswell died on 29 October 1918 at Ebrington Barracks, Londonderry, after a short illness.