TOPIC:

John Mansfield Stradling Crealock

Lieutenant, 35th Coy. 11th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry – Anglo Boer War
Brevet Major, 49th Brigade Headquarters and War Office Staff – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal (Cape Colony, Orange Free State) to Lt. J.M.S. CREALOCK. 35 Co. 11 Imp. Yeo.
- British War Medal to CAPT. J.M.S. CREALOCK.

John Crealock as he preferred to be known, at some point unofficially dispensing with the other monickers he was given, was born in Palmerston, Dublin, Ireland on 12 March 1871 the son of Major General John North Crealock, C.B., and his wife Marion (born Lloyd.) His father, stationed in Dublin at the time of his birth as the Aide-de-Camp to the General officer Commanding Ireland, spent forty years of his military career with the 2nd battalion Derbyshire Regiment and was known, famously, as an illustrator and sketcher of the various battle scenes he encountered – none more so than the Rorke’s Drift battlefield which he visited in the aftermath of the British victory there. He served in South Africa in the Zulu War of 1879 as the Military Secretary to Lord Chelmsford and was indefatigable in his efforts to shield that worthy from any responsibility for the disastrous British defeat at Isandlwana.

Not long after young John’s birth the family moved to Aldershot in Hampshire where his father was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at Army Headquarters there.

Our first glimpse of John came via the 1881 England census where he appeared as a 10 year old Scholar (School Boy) at a school for boys run by Susannah Sarah Burman(n), a spinster of independent means who lived in Arlington House, Brighton. The school, which doesn’t appear to have had a name, was situated at 49 Eastern Road, Brighton in Sussex.

Born and raised in a military environment there was almost an inevitability about where Crealock’s future career lay – after his initial schooling was over, he was sent up to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst for further education. The London Gazette of March 3, 1891 conveying the news that – “The Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment), Gentleman Cadet John Mansfield Stradling Crealock, from the Royal Military College, to be Second Lieutenant, in succession to Lieutenant C. Culle, promoted. Dated 4th March 1891.”

His Record of Service indicated that he was promoted to full Lieutenant on 21 July 1892 and that he was proficient in French and German, this had been determined after he had sat the Civil Service Commission’s examination at the Horse Guards on 16 November 1892. He was posted to the East Indies with the 2nd battalion, Sherwood Foresters with effect from 1 October 1893. The Derby Daily Telegraph reported, on 27 September 1895, that “Lieutenant. J.M.S. Crealock, stationed in India, has been ordered to come home during the ensuing trooping season for duty at the Depot at Normanton Barracks, Derby.”

Three weeks earlier he had been passed for promotion to Captain’s rank with a Special Mention in G.O.C.’s orders and his career, much like that of his illustrious father and Uncle Henry – both Generals’ in the British Army – looked poised to fly.

That it didn’t take off can be, largely, ascribed to the fact that Crealock had discovered another passion that he shared with his father – that of portrait painter and sketch artist. General Crealock had passed away in India on 24 April 1895 and had bequeathed to his son a number of journals and sketchbooks and this, together with the disappointment of losing his father, may have decided him on a different course. On 4 July 1896 he resigned his commission and, taking himself off to Paris, he studied art at the Academie Julian.

Returning to England, he set up a studio in London and set about building a body of work and a reputation for himself. The advent of the Anglo Boer War which erupted onto the world stage on 11 October 1899 put paid, temporarily, to his artistic ambitions and, along with many other, he returned to the Colours.

This war, between the might of Great Britain and two obscure Boer Republics in South Africa – the Transvaal and the Orange Free State – was seen by many in Britain as an irritation, no more that the sabre rattling of an impotent and puny enemy. They were to be proved wrong and the war which, to many was supposed to be over by Christmas, was to drag on for two and a half years. The initial advantage went the way of the Boers who invaded the colonies of Natal and the Cape, besieging Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking as they made their way to the coast.

The British military presence in South Africa, although more men were on the high seas heading to the country, was woefully inadequate. The fighting character of the Boers and their superior weaponry gave them the upper hand and, in what became known as Black Week, the British Army suffered several reverses in December 1899. This gave rise to a call for volunteers to join the ranks of the newly formed Imperial Yeomanry – a number of Battalions were to be raised among the civilian population to help with the war effort in South Africa. It was found that, whilst the recruits were plenty in number, with thousands from all walks of life flocking to the Recruitment Centre’s across the land, there was a shortage of officers to lead them into battle.

Men like Crealock, so recently in uniform and eminently qualified for the job, were highly sought after and it didn’t take much persuading, what with the high level of public zeal that abounded at the time, to coax them back into uniform. The London Gazette of 6 February 1900 carried the news that Lieutenant Crealock, Reserve of Officers, was now attached to the Imperial Yeomanry. The Eastern Evening Standard of 9 February 1900 carried an article which, in part, read thus: -

“This morning at the Albany Street Barracks, London, the Prince of Wales inspected three additional companies of the Imperial Yeomanry viz, No. 33 Company (East Kent), No. 36 Company (West Kent) and No. 35 Company (the second detachment of the Middlesex contingent.) The Middlesex men were under the command of Captain R.B. Firman, whose subalterns were Lieutenants J.M.S. Crealock, J.G.C. Guthrie and J. Lewin. Each contingent numbered 116.” The inspection took place in dense fog and very poor weather.


Inspection by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales

On the 28th February 1900 the company along with some of their horses marched to Maiden Lane goods station and entrained for Liverpool. There they embarked on the SS Cymric with other IY companies and sailed the following morning, 1 Mar 1900. The Cymric was a new twin-screw steamship, one of the largest cargo and passenger ships afloat. The 1,106 soldiers and 450 horses on board included nine Imperial Yeomanry companies from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Glamorganshire, Fife, Kent and Middlesex. They reached Table Bay on 20 March but could not disembark until the 23rd. From Cape Town they marched to nearby Maitland Camp where they stayed for a month.

On 19 April the battalion and their horses travelled north by train. They bivouacked at Norval’s Pont and trekked on to Bloemfontein which had recently fallen to Lord Roberts. They spent some time in camp at Bester’s Flats during which there was much patrolling and foraging. They left Bester’s Flats on 22 May and headed towards Senekal.

The Yeomanry were camped at Klip Nek in June 1900. The Boers were reported to be gathering in strength in the area, and on 12 June rifle fire was heard and some men of the Derbyshire Yeomanry were seen galloping towards the camp. On 13 June a large force which included the 34th and 35th Companies rode up a high kopje northeast of the camp and waited several hours. Then in the afternoon the 34th were ordered to move south to another position beyond a spur jutting from the tableland which was to be where they stayed for the next few days.
Their position was named as Middlesex Kopje. The company commander Prideaux-Brune sent out an advance scouting party of five men. They were attacked by Boers and three of them were hit.

Little happened on 14 June and they were reinforced on the Kopje by a party of 70 Derbyshire Yeomen. The Boers handed over wounded soldiers who were taken to the camp at Klip Nek. On 15 June artillery fire was brought to bear on the Boer farm but the Company played no further part in the battle. On 16 June they were ordered to Hammonia, acting as rearguard to a huge ten-mile convoy.

The battalion camped at Ficksburg from 17 till 24 June and were out on constant patrol and foraging duty. Food such as chicken, eggs, bread, milk and butter were bought from Boer farmers. The weather was wet at this time of year, the South African winter. The Yeomanry carried out their duty wearing helmets, not the slouch hats seen in photos. William Corner wrote on 20 June: ‘My helmet was like pulp this morning after the storm, and I had to give it a day’s sun-baking. The campaign is telling dreadfully on our clothes. Some of us are mere tramps, with sleeveless tunics and kneeless breeches. The friction of our knees against the saddle wallets very quickly wore out our breeches.’

On 24 June they rode back to Klip Nek, suffering greatly from cold and lack of food. They remained there until 12 July. The strength of 35th Company at this time was around 100 men, divided into two sections plus a gun section composed of ten men. Towards the end of July they were at Fouriesburg near the Brandwater Basin.


Map of Free State operations

Will Bennett in his “Absent Minded Beggars” – a work which covers the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa – did not cast the 35th Company, in a very favourable light. On page 68 he states that, “Some of the Yeomanry did not perform well in these trying conditions. On 26 June (1900) ,men of the 35th (Middlesex) Company disgraced themselves by fleeing from a Boer attack north of Senekal, in which they lost one man killed and one wounded, and not drawing rein until they reached Ventersburg.”

Crealock’s war wasn’t destined to be a long one – he departed, invalided, aboard the Aurania from Cape Town, for home on 7 July 1900. What action he saw while earning the Cape Colony and Orange Free State clasps to his Queens medal is not known but, housed in the collection of the Normanton Barracks in Derby, is a breech—loading rifle taken from a Boer by him in 1900. Proof positive, perhaps, that he was in a contact situation with the enemy. Perhaps it was taken in the skirmish around Middlesex Kopje or when the Battalion was in Ficksburg.

Back in England Crealock turned his attention to matters of the heart – marrying, in the Servite Church in Fulham Road on the 17th October, Mary Alice Sheppard, daughter of William Adam Loch of 42 Radcliffe Gardens. The Very Reverend F. Antrobus officiated. Although still nominally part of the 11th battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, Crealock did not return to South Africa – he resigned his commission, for the second time, on 29 December 1900.

Now free from the fetters of a uniform Crealock devoted himself to his art in its entirety. The Tatler of 25 November 1903 reporting that, “Mr Crealock whose exhibition of pictures of old Paris had drawn forth so much favourable comment from the critics, is an ex-unit of the thin line of khaki that has replaced the historic red. Invalided home from the war where, as an ex-Captain in the line he commanded a troop of the Middlesex Yeomanry, he devoted himself to studying art in Paris. His style is of the Barbizon school and I imagine his pictures would not look out of place in the New English Art Club.” He returned to England in 1904.

The Morning Post of 15 May 1906 reported that, “The paintings by Mr John Crealock at Walker’s Gallery are indicative of the increased power he has acquired since his exhibition of some months back. He has gained confidence to work on a larger scale, his execution is bolder, and, though he is still partial to sober effects, he uses a more generous palette. He has been painting in Paris again and brought back effective studies of Notre Dame.”

Crealock’s reputation as an artist began to gather momentum and he was soon sought out by some of the illustrious personages in the land desirous of their portraits being painted by him but trouble was brewing, of a nature that would require him to suspend his artistic endeavors. Scarcely 12 years after the last shot was fired in anger in the Anglo Boer War, Britain and her Dominions were about to be embroiled in a conflict once more. On this occasion against the European powerhouse Germany, an altogether different proposition to the Boers.

Once more Crealock donned a uniform and reported for duty. The London Gazette of 10 October 1914 relaying the news that he had been, with effect from 11 September 1914, gazetted as a Captain – “late Captain, 4th Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters, (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), Militia.” In a very commendable effort to raise funds for the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, Crealock (and many others) offered “Any member of the public who, by the payment of 50 guineas, may receive a voucher which will entitle the holder to commission a portrait of any soldier, sailor, doctor of nurse who has served or is serving, the King in the war, to be painted by any of the undersigned artists; and we agree to paint two such portraits, the canvases not to exceed in size 24 inches by 20 inches.

On 4 November 1914 his name appeared as a candidate for the 49th Infantry Brigade Headquarters at Tipperary (Ireland) – as part of the 16th (Irish) Division. Based at Home, Crealock next appeared in a Gazette entry on 22 August 1915, attached to the 12th Battalion, Manchester Regiment where, as a Temporary Captain, he relinquished his commission on account of ill health. But, although not an active one, Crealock’s war was not yet over – on 16 June 1916 he was reported to be a Temporary Captain “whilst specially employed.” This was followed by a pronouncement on 6 December 1916 that he had been appointed Staff Captain at the War Office.

On 2 November 1917 he was posted to the Royal Engineers from the General List where he would act as Assistant Director to the Deputy Director General Military Railways until 1919, his promotion to Brevet Major being reported on 1 January 1918.

In the midst of it all, He made a short inspection visit to France in May 1917, entitling him to the British War Medal only. This confirmed by the entry on his Medal Index Card which states that he proceeded to France on 22 May 1917. The war over, Crealock applied for his medal on 22 August 1919 from his address at 24 Beaufort Mansions, Chelsea, London.

Crealock resigned his commission in 1920 – for the last time – and took to painting with a verve and passion almost unrivalled among his peers. The Sketch of 18 July 1934 referred to him as “… a well-known painter of legal lights, who has done portraits of Lord Merrivale, Mr Justice Langton, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Hanworth and other judges. He is the Hon. Sec. of the London Portrait Society.” He continued to exhibit and featured in a number of newspaper articles wherein he was referred to as ”the well-known London artist.”

A portrait of Sir John Henry Lawrence Neish - Privy Council painted by Crealock


On the home front, Crealock’s wife, Mary Alice, passed away on 5 August 1937 at the age of 80 – she was 14 years older than him. There were no children of the marriage. The 1939 Register records that he was living, aged 71, in Kensington, London. He was listed as a Widower and Major (retired.) He was a member of the Home Guard in World War II which broke out on 6 September 1939 – active from 1940 to 1943.

After a long and interesting life in which he brought a smile to the face of many and immortalised a whole host of people on canvas, he died at Hove in Sussex on 12 January 1959 at the age of 87. His probate recorded that he had resided at Flat 3, 62 The Drive, Hove and that his estate amounted to a sizeable £41 278. A staunch Roman Catholic he was “fortified by the rites of the Holy Church” as he departed this life for the promised reward in heaven.

Acknowledgements:

- www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/middlesexyeomanry.htm for info on the Middlesex Yeomanry
- The British Newspaper Archive for various contributions – all acknowledged in the body of the above work
- Ancestry and FMP for the census data, medal rolls, probate and other information
- The TNA for the Record of Service
- Absent Minded Beggar by Will Bennett (page 68) plus map of OFS operations