CROOKE, Cyril
| Service Number: | 699 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps |
| Born: | Melbourne, Victoria, 3 April 1891 |
| Home Town: | Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Scotch College and The University of Melbourne |
| Occupation: | Agriculture Student |
| Died: | Melbourne, Victoria, 24 December 1965, aged 74 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Marysville Cemetery, Victoria https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146127798/cyril-ednott-crooke |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Oct 1916: | Involvement 699, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 699, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Oct 1916: | Embarked 699, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 25 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 699, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 20 Oct 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 699, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps |
Help us honour Cyril Crooke's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Lieutenant Cyril Ednott Crooke (Service No: 699) enlisted in the AIF on 20 January 1916 and was assigned to No 2 Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps. He embarked from Melbourne on the 25 October 1916 on board HMAT Ulysses, and in early 1917 graduated as a Pilot from No 1 Training School of Military Aeronautics in Reading, England. Later that year Cyril was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and then Lieutenant. He embarked for Australia on 24 August 1918 on board HT Medic and was Discharged on 20 October 1918. Lieutenant Crooke sketched and painted throughough his service and his bound sketchbooks (Australian War Memorial) feature detailed watercolour paintings and drawings, including aeroplanes and troopships, and the signatures of a number of soldiers, including Victoria Cross winners.
Born in 1891 in Melbourne Victoria, Cyril was the eldest of two children of James Robert Crook (b1847 in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria) and second wife Leura Maud Burbank (b1865 in Campbells Creek, Victora). James (a Grazier) and Leura married in 1889 in Melbourne, Victoria.
Cyril attended Scotch College in Melbourne, Victoria and was an Agriculture Student at the University of Melbourne when he enlisted in 1916. In 1919 in Melbourne Victoria, Cyril married Gertrude (Trudy) Hardy Nance (b1897 in Launcestion, Tasmania) - Trudy was a Student in Melbourne. The couple settled in Healesville where Cyril was a Grazier. He completed his Medical Degree in 1931, and patented an invention for improvements in portable shelters attached to automobiles. Cyril and Trudy moved to Melbourne, where Cyril was a Doctor. Cyril's watercoulours were exhibited at the Velasquez Galleries in the 1940s - proceeds from sales went to the Red Cross. In 1954 Trudy was killed in a motor vehicle accident when their car plunged down an embankment - Cyril (a passenger) was injured). Cyril died in 1965.
In 2018 Cyril's watercolours were featured in the Armistace Day 100 year Anniversay celebrations in Federation Square.
Click images to start slideshow.