CROFTS, Russell Eustace
| Service Number: | 5541 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 September 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 13th Field Company Engineers |
| Born: | Fremantle, Western Australia, 29 August 1898 |
| Home Town: | Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Fitter and Turner |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 16 February 1975, aged 76 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 5541, 6th Field Company Engineers | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Dec 1915: | Involvement Sapper, 5541, 6th Field Company Engineers, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Dec 1915: | Embarked Sapper, 5541, 6th Field Company Engineers, HMAT Berrima, Sydney | |
| 2 Aug 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sapper, 5541, 6th Field Company Engineers, embarked Alexandria for England for service at Western Front | |
| 1 May 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Sapper, 5541, 13th Field Company Engineers, embarked Devonport for Fremantle on board HT China | |
| 24 Jul 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Sapper, 5541, 13th Field Company Engineers |
Help us honour Russell Eustace Crofts's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Sapper Russell Eustace Crofts (Service No:5541) enlisted in the AIF on 9 October 1915 (he had served with the Militia - 87th A Infantry Perth) and was attached to 6th Field Companyy Engineers (FCE) when he embarked with his Unit from Sydney on 17 December 1915 on board HMAT A35 Berrima. Sapper Crofts served in Egypt - Serapeum, Tel-el-Kebir, Abassia and Zeitoum - before embarking from Alexandria for England and service at the Western Front on 2 August 1916. Sapper Crofts embarked from Devonport for Fremantle on 1 May 1919 on board HT China and was attached to 13 Field Company Engineers (FCE) at Discharge on 24 July 1919. Russell served in the ACMF in WWII (Corporal; Service No:W62789).
Russell was born in Fremantle, WA in 1898, second of eight children of Sydney (Syd) Herbert Crofts (b1871 in Hertfordshire, England) and May Letitia Caporn (b1875 in Fremantle, WA). Syd came to Australia in 1890 and was employed by the JC Williams Comic Opera Company - using the stage name Syd Reidy. Syd and May married in Fremantle in 1895 and lived in Fremantle where Syd was Manager of a Brewery and employed by the WAGR. From the mid 1920s Syd and May lived in Kondinin, Mt Kokeby via Beverley, Wiluna, Kunoppin via Toodyay and Toodyay where Syd was a Hotel Licensee. Following May's death in 1929, Syd remarried in Perth in 1932 - to Alma Kate Williams (b1894 in Terrowie, South Australia) - Alma worked in Perth as a Stenographer and Civil Servant. Syd and Alma settled in Perth, where Syd was a Businessman with diverse agencies and the Banff Distillery before moving to Rockingham in the early 1940s where he was a Farmer.
Russell completed an Apprenticeship in Fremantle with State Implement Works WA and was a Fitter and Turner in 1915 when he enlsited in the AIF. Following his Discharge, he worked in Broome as a Clerk and Shell Opener, and was shipwrecked during a Typhoon in 1923. Syd moved south and became a Hotel Licensee - Mt Kokeby Hotel (1925), Kukerin Hotel (1934), Coorow Hotel (1935), Park Hotel in Mt Barker (1936) . Russell also worked as a Commercial Traveller and in 1931 did a stint at Wiluna as a Taxi Driver. In 1926 in Perth, Russell married Kathleen Edith Shaw (b1902 in Kalgoorlie, WA). By 1942 Russell and Kathleen were living in Fremantle, where Russell was Manager of the Richmond Brewing Coy Fremantle before settling in Perth where he worked as a Clerk. Russell died in 1975 and Kathleen in 1989.
Click images to start slideshow.