The Julian Johnson Collection

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Kissi 1905 (Lieut: C. W. Crooke. S-L. Bn. W.A.F.F.) lacquered, good very fine
£800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Julian Johnson Collection.

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Provenance: Spink, December 1985.

Charles William Cantwell Crooke was born in 1877, and served as 335 Private 5th (Warwickshire) Company 2nd Battalion Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War (entitled Q.S.A. with ‘Cape Colony’, ‘Orange Free State’ and ‘Transvaal’ clasps). He was commissioned Second Lieutenant, 6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment in May 1900. Having advanced to Lieutenant in January 1902, Crooke was seconded for service with the Sierra Leone Battalion, West African Frontier Force in February 1905. He served as Transport Officer with the Kissi Field Force, as part of the punitive expedition under the command of Captain C. E. Palmer. The latter involved operations against the Kissi tribes on the eastern border of the Sierra Leone Protectorate, March - June 1905.

Crooke was one of approximately 18 British officers and non-commissioned officers who took part in the expedition, and he received the Governor’s Commendation, ‘the circumstances under which Lieut. Crooke extended medical aid reflect great credit on that officer’ (Sir Leslie Probyn’s despatch of 8 June 1905). After a period of leave in the UK, he returned to Sierra Leone in August 1906.

In October 1906, Crooke was one of three W.A.F.F. officers engaged in operations against Chief Bonna. He slipped whilst crossing a hammock bridge over the Mafessa River, 16/17 October, and was swept away by the strong current despite the best efforts of three other ranks to save him. Crooke’s body was found two days later and he was buried at Loma.