838261 Pte. Dudley Beaumont Crouch was born on June 8th, 1895, in Kent, England.


Emigrating to Canada, Dudley would settle in Owen Sound and was working as a chair maker in one of the many furniture factors located in the city when war was declared.


Dudley attested into the 147th Battalion, in Owen Sound, on December 7th, 1915, and was assigned to "B" Company.


Billeted locally over the winter the 147th Battalion mobilized in Owen Sound in the spring of 1916 and left for training at Camp Niagara. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain on November 14th 1916 on the S.S. Olympic, sister ship to the earlier ill-fated Titanic.


On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th Battalion and the 4th C.M.R.


April 10th, 1917, saw Dudley taken on strength with the 4th C.M.R., in a draft of reinforcements replacing the casualties inflicted as the Battle of Vimy Ridge raged.


Dudley saw service with the 4th C.M.R. through the battles of Vimy and Hill 70, but was wounded on September 6th, 1917, when the unit had just returned to the front line near Vimy. However, Roy would continue to serve with the unit until May 30th, 1918, when he was transferred to the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. As part of the demobilization policy, Dudley would return to the 4th C.M.R. and thence return to Canada with them.


Private Dudley Beaumont Crouch was struck off strength on March 29th, 1919.






Biography credit: George Auer