W. G. Cragg

Major William Gilliat Cragg, DSO, FRGS (1883 – 24 April 1956) was a British Army officer and local politician.

Life

William Gilliat Cragg was born in 1883, the elder son of Captain William Alfred Cragg, JP, FSA, of Threekingham House, Lincolnshire.[1] Born in Spanby, the elder Cragg farmed and owned considerable land and lived at nearby Threekingham House; a graduate of Lincoln College, Oxford, he served as a justice of the peace, captained the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment (1887–98), sat on Kesteven County Council (as a councillor and alderman) for 33 years and worked as Secretary of the Lincolnshire Archaeological Society for 30 years; he died at his Threekingham residence, aged 90, in 1950.[2]

The younger Cragg married twice: firstly, in 1909, to Violet Emily, daughter of Leonard Wodehouse Andrews, of Tunbridge Wells; she died in 1934 and the following year, he married Beryl Winifred Reynolds, of Ascot,[1] daughter of H. H. Reynolds.[3]

Following schooling at Shrewsbury, Cragg trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[1] He was commissioned into the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and served in World War I in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, commanding the 6th Battalion of his regiment in 1917,[3] before taking command of the 38th Infantry Brigade.[1] After the war, he commanded the London District Discharge Centre (July 1919–June 1920). He then retired, and worked in the Political Service in Nigeria.[3]

After retiring from the Nigeria Political Service in 1932, Cragg entered local politics in Lincolnshire. He was a member of Kesteven County Council from 1932 to 1952, and served as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire from 1933 to 1934.[1] Cragg received the Distinguished Service Order during World War I and later became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.[1] He died on 24 April 1956 in London, aged 73.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cragg, Major William Gilliat", Who Was Who (online edition), Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Passing of a well-known sporting personality: Capt. W. A. Cragg, J.P., former alderman", Grantham Journal, 13 October 1950, p. 2
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Major W. G. Cragg", The Times (London), 25 April 1956, p. 13


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