Maurice C L Crick

17566 Private Maurice C. L. Crick served first with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry before re-badging with No 1 Company, Machine Gun Corps, Regimental No. 8635. The MGC was formed in October 1915 in response to the need for the British to emulate the Germans and make more use of machine guns on the Western Front. It was disbanded in 1922. Maurice died of wounds on 18 December 1916, probably at the military hospital established in November 1915 at Etretat on the French coast, and was buried in the village Churchyard, Departement de la Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie (ref. II. A.1A).

Born on 6 June 1896 in Wheatley and baptised 6 June 1897 at St Mary's, he was the elder of two sons of John Crick, born in 1872 in Worminghall, carter on farm, and Margaret Shorter, born 1868 in Oakley. In 1901 the family were living on Westfield Road, Wheatley. He was the brother of Walter E. Crick, who also lost his life. In 1911 at the age 14, Maurice had been a domestic gardening boy and the family were still at Westfield Cottages.