Private Leslie Cracknell (1883 -1917)

A Memorial panel for him is at the Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood , Zonnenbeke , West-Viaanderen Belgium . 
Reference, Spec Men 1XAA 19

Private Leslie Cracknell enlisted for service at Trentham, New Zealand on the 25th October 1915 for the duration of the war .Age 32.

He joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 9th Reinforcements Canterbury Infantry Battalion C Company, Serial No 6/3669, and sailed from Wellington on the Maunganui bound for Suez, Egypt .

Arriving on the 8 February 1916 and then left for France on the 7th of April 1916.

He was reported wounded in the fields of France, on the 15th October 1916 and sent back to a hospital in London for treatment.

He returned to France on the 25th May 1917 to join the School of Instruction in the field and rejoined the unit on the 8th September 1917, unfortunately to be killed in the Fields of Belgium on the 17 December 1917.

The battle in France in 1916 was most likely The Battle of Somme and in Belgium in 1917 when he was killed is most likely The Cambrai Operations.

He was a Gardener for W Corry, Solicitor, of Wanganui before enlisting. Next of kin was his wife Henrietta Kate Cracknell of 275 Somme Parade, Aramoho, Wanganui , who tragically died of influenza ,at the Wanganui Hospital on 12 December 1918. She is buried in the Aramoho Cemetery Wanganui.

Leslie Cracknell had married Henrietta Kate Lash (daughter of Henrietta Heywood and John Goodridge Lash) in Nelson by Rev Lewis on the 2nd February 1910. They had two children Richard Leslie, born 1911 and Fanny Jean, born 1915 .The children were cared for by their Aunt Fanny Lash.

Little is known about Leslie’s early life in London, but he is in the 1891 census at the Warehouseman Clerk and Drapers School, Russell Hill, Beddington, Surry , age 7 as a Scholar. Also in this institution was his older brother Harry age 9. By 1901 he is now at 214—228 Oxford St Marylebone, age 17 as a Drapers Clerk.

Sources Granddaughter June Minnell . photo. Archives NZ Military records, Commonwealth War Graves, Auckland Cenotaph Database, Find My Past UK.