John (Jack) Morgan Crabtree enlisted in 1915 and was 25 when he died in France when a shell pierced his chest. 

He married Eva Rowson on Christmas Day 1915, they lived at 23 Handsworth Road, Blackpool then.  Their son, John, was born on 28 April 1917 and died on 3 August 1917.  His father never saw the baby, although his letters to Eva tell of his joy.

He came from Blackpool – 3 Hawthorne Road, North Shore – where Eva lived with his parents during the war.  He worked at Messrs Birchall & Co, Church Street, Blackpool.  Jack had a younger sister Hannah and an Uncle Jim.

In his letters from the front he mentions Johnnie Butler, Ernie Collett, Ike, Harry and a Mrs Williamson.

After his death Eva, my Nanna, moved between Stockport and Blackpool and considered moving to America to join her eldest sister Cissy out there.  In fact she met my Grandfather, George Gibson, in Blackpool and married him.  George was a widower with a young daughter.  George and Eva had another five children, my Dad being the elder son.

My Dad didn’t know of John Crabtree’s existence until he was an adult – Eva never told her children about her first marriage.  When Eva died we found a bundle of incredibly moving letters Jack had written to her from the front, plus documentation about his death, her pension etc.  It was only then that John Morgan Crabtree became a real person in our family.  Had he lived, we would not be here to commemorate him.

Christine Gibson-Bell