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52729   2nd Lieutenant Laurence Crawford Brown
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Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 08/01/2021
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 05/10/1894
Died: 16/08/1917 (Killed in Action)
Age: 22
Summary      
Lawrence Crawford Brown, was the eldest son of Mr. Robert and Mary Crawford Brown Donaghmore, and grandson of Sir Wm. Crawford, Lawrence was born about 1895. He was educated at the Royal School Dungannon and the Technical College, Belfast. Laurence came home and volunteered and the R.A.M.C. attached to the Ulster Division. A great deal of information is available because his mother published her memoirs.
2nd Lieutenant Laurence Crawford Brown
Further Information
Lawrence Crawford Brown was the eldest son of Robert and Mary Crawford Brown. Robert Brown and Mary Crawford were married on 16th August 1893 in Belfast.
Lawrence Brown was born on 5th October 1894. He was the eldest of five children, all born in Donaghmore.
He was the grandson of Sir William Crawford.
Family: Robert Brown, Mary Crawford Brown, Laurence Crawford Brown (born 5th October 1894), Oliver Nicholson Brown (born 8th July 1896), Alice G G Brown (born 8th April 1901), Honor G Brown (born 3rd June 1904), Alan D Brown (born 22nd September 1907).
The 1901 census lists Laurence C as age 6, living with his grandparents at house 13 in Cranmore Park, Windsor Ward, Belfast.
The 1911 census lists Laurence Crawford as age 16, living with the family at house 7 in Aghareany, Donaghmore, County Tyrone. He was still at school.
Laurence was educated at the Royal School Dungannon and then at the Technical College, Belfast.
Municipal Technical College, Belfast
When nineteen, about 1914, he went to Chicago where he was to be employed for two years in the office of the Inland Steel Company.
His mother in her published memoirs remarked “He stayed one year, and would have remained a second, but when he heard Oliver had joined the war, he said he did not wish the little brother to have all the spunk. So he came home."
Book : Mary Crawford Brown : A Memoir
Laurence had his training at Ballykinlar and Newry, Oliver at Aldershot and Eastbourne. In the spring of 1915 both were ready to go with the Ulster Division to France in the R.A.M.C.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 27th January 1916: Brothers with the Red Cross
Among those families able to show a good record in the present national emergency, must be included that of Mr Robert Brown, Agharainey, Donaghmore, whose two eldest sons have volunteered and are at present serving with the R.A.M.C. attached to the Ulster Division in France. Private Lawrence C Brown, the elder of the two, was in America in the employment of the Inland Steel Co., under W B Sloan (a Dungannon man). Coming home, he enlisted in the R.AM.C. in January 1915, and is at present in France accompanying the Ulster Division there in October last. The younger brother, Private Oliver Brown, who is only 19 years of age, and still a student, enlisted in September 1914 and went to France with his brother in October and both are still together. Both were educated at Dungannon Royal School.
Laurence served for a year and a half before he obtained a commission. Oliver never sought one, preferring the experiences of a private during all his five years in khaki. The work the two brothers were required to do in France must often have been very uncongenial, but neither of them ever said it was hard. Their command of French frequently enabled them to solve little difficulties that arose between their compatriots and the French peasants.
Medal card
From the Tyrone Courier dated 14 September 1916: Oliver Brown - brother of Laurence Crawford Brown
Mr Robert Brown, Agharainey, Donaghmore, has received intimation that his younger son, Private Oliver Brown, R.A.M.C., was wounded on 27th August having been struck in the back by a fragment of a shell. He is in hospital in London and is rapidly recovering. Private Brown has not yet completed his twentieth year, and while a student volunteered on the outbreak of war. His elder brother, Lawrence C Brown, who is also in the R.A.M.C., was in business in the United States, but returned home and promptly volunteered.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 16th September 1916: Oliver Brown - brother of Laurence Crawford Brown
Private Oliver Brown, younger son of Mr Robert Brown, Agharainey, Donaghmore, has been wounded in the back by a fragment of shrapnel. While still a student he enlisted in September 1914, and went to France with his brother L C Brown, who relinquished an important position in the United States to volunteer. The wounded young man, who is at present in hospital in London, is only 19 years of age and is rapidly recovering.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 23rd December 1916:
The appointment is gazetted of Mr Lawrence Crawford Brown, as second lieutenant in the royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He is the eldest son of Mr Robert Brown, Donaghmore, and grandson of Sir William Crawford, Belfast. He was educated at Dungannon Royal School, and at the outbreak of hostilities was in business in the United States, but returned home and volunteered in the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the Ulster Division. His younger brother, Oliver Brown, who was recently wounded, joined him in the R.A.M.C., and both have seen much active service.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 28 December 1916:
Private Laurence C Brown, R.A.M.C, eldest son of Mr Robert Brown, Agharainey, Donaghmore, has been gazetted as Second Lieutenant in the Inniskilling Fusiliers.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 30th December 1916: Donaghmore Gentleman Obtains Commission
Mr Lawrence Crawford Brown, elder son of Mr Robert Brown, Donaghmore, and grandson of Sir William Crawford, Belfast, has been gazetted as second lieutenant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was educated at Dungannon Royal School and at the outbreak of hostilities was in business in the United States, but he at once returned home and volunteered in the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the Ulster Division. His younger brother, Mr Oliver Brown, who was recently wounded, joined him in the R.A.M.C., and both have seen much active service.
On being recommended for a commission as an infantry officer, Laurence came home for training in the Cadet Camp, and returned to France in February, 1917. He was sent up to report for duty with the 8th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. On June 7 he took part in the battle of Messines, of which he wrote a graphic description
"It was the sight of a lifetime. From a spectacular point of view it was absolutely astounding. The night was mild and peaceful, everything apparently quite normal an occasional shot, and a ' Verey' light here and there. Then, without the slightest warning, at 3.10, four or five big mines on our front went up, throwing columns of earth, mingled with flame, hundreds of feet high. At the same time our artillery and machine-guns opened with a deafening roar the most intense bombardment that has ever been known, and our attacking \\avcs went forward. The Boche did not attempt to fight, and I don't blame him. It's marvellous how anything lived, yet a number of dugouts were found standing. The whole earth was completely pulverised; not a square yard was left that had not been shelled and re-shelled. We saw lots of ' tanks ' go up, crawling along like weird reptiles. It looked most amusing to see the officer in charge walk out in front, reconnoitre a few yards ahead, then beckon to the ' creature ' to come on, which obeyed like a pet dog ! It seemed a wonderful sensation to be able to walk about in ' No Man's Land,' as if one were on the lawn at home, when twelve hours previously it would have been sheer suicide; and to stand on the parapet, where at one time to show one's head over was asking to get a bullet through it. As the day went on, streams of prisoners were brought in. I didn't get much lime to talk to them. One chap I spoke to he was helping to carry down one of our wounded told me he was an ' aspirant,' which corresponds to cadet, I think. He was only eighteen, and had the Iron Cross, which he had won on the Russian front. He wasn't sorry to be done with the war, and he said he thought it was ' alles mit dem Vaterland kaput ' (all up with the Fatherland) that our attack was ' colossal' ! Everyone agrees that we have a lot to be thankful for, when one sees the strength of the positions captured, which resisted all attacks for two-and-a-half years, and realises that it might easily have been a repetition of what the Ulster Division got last July. There is great cause to praise God."
But in that middle year of the war the Allies had many grave reverses and very heavy losses.
According to his mother's memoirs, Laurence's letters of that spring and summer give vivid little pictures of an officer's daily life in the danger zone. A few extracts will suffice to show him as he always was smiling, high-hearted, indomitable.
March 27 (to his mother) : "On Sunday evening 1 went with some others to a service conducted in a Y.M.C.A. hut by Major-General Simms and Dr. Park, whose address was very good. I spoke to Dr. Park after the service and he was very hearty. The place where it was held does not get many shells, though they had sent over a few a day or two before, one of which hit close to the Y.M., smashing a hut where we had been billeted the previous day."
May 4 : "It is no hardship at all being in trenches in weather like this. In the mornings the birds, nightingales, larks, cuckoos, etc., give us a concert, aeroplanes also assisting. We don't have feet inspection now, as there is no danger of trench feet. It used to be rather funny going round, peeping into dugouts, which are very small in these parts, to see half a dozen pair of feet struggling towards the light. Ask one chap why he did not rub his with oil. 'Oh, they aren't mine, sir!"
May 15 : "The country is looking lovely, and nature seems trying to cover up the scars of war. 'No Man's Land ' is marked by a bright green patch, though on either side the ground is so much ploughed up by shells that nothing, grows. It's funny to see sparrows building nests in trees on which there is hardly a branch."
May 20 : "There is no need to worry yourselves about me. All our affairs are in God's hands, and He has given us every reason to trust Him. Everyone here is very optimistic about the prospects this summer. On les aura ! " (We'll have them ! words often on the lips of the Poilus.)
June 6 (to his father) : "I suppose you are at the Assembly this week. Please thank Uncle Alek for Herald and Daybreak. I was greatly interested in the report of the revival meetings in India."
June 16 :"We are having a fine rest in a lovely country place. It is a relief to get away from the continual pounding of the guns, and have nice green fields and hedges instead of dusty roads and the wilderness of torn-up earth."
June 23 (to Honour) : "The other night we had a gas alarm. Wakened up by gongs and church bells, we got our respirators on, but it turned out to be a false alarm. The inhabitants have all got masks (gagoules), and even the army horses. I don't know whether these have gas drill often! "
July 10 : "Many thanks for Ballygullion and Silas Marner. Please go steady, for I'm not half through Adam Bede yet."
July 20: "I had an interview with an Intelligence Officer the other day. He conversed a bit in French and German, and got me to read some handwriting. He gave me to understand that I'd do."
Aug. 2 :"I hope you have not been too apprehensive lately on my behalf, because there was really no reason to be. You will have seen that there has been a successful advance. We have had a spell of awful weather the last couple of days, continuous rain turning everywhere into a quagmire. It must have been awfully trying for the poor troops up at the line. I'm extremely fortunate to be comfortably housed in a tent, though occasionally there is a small stream running through it."
July 31 was the beginning of the most cruel time for the 16th (Irish) Division. Laurence's Chaplain, Rev. Capt. W. T. McConnell, of Markethill, speaks of it as "the slaughtering-time, which is covered by that name of awful import, Passchendaele.
"The weather broke on the very day of the advance to which Laurence refers above, and the words of the Canadian poet tell the rest: " It isn't the Huns and it isn't the guns, it's the mud, mud, mud." The tanks could not be moved forward, the aeroplanes had difficulty in getting up to reconnoitre, the "pill-boxes" could not be cleared out, and the gallant Irish were compelled to retire from the position which they had taken.
Lt.-Col. Walkey, the commanding officer of Laurence's battalion, says : "In all my twenty -five months out there, those first eighteen days of August were far and away the most awful, for we accomplished but little and our battalion lost about 490 men and twenty officers. But all went through it cheerfully and courageously, like the fine fellows they were."
According to Sir Philip Gibbs, "The losses in many of the battles amounted almost to annihilation to many battalions, and whole divisions lost as many as 50 per cent, of their strength after a few days in action."
Before Laurence's return to France his father had urged him to apply for Intelligence work, as capable men were badly wanted, and he had all the qualifications. But it was a safe job, and he would not ask for it. One day some of his brother officers were talking of him, and a senior man remarked, " If that boy had pushed himself forward as many do, he would have been far up in the Intelligence before now." In the end his abilities could no longer be overlooked. So valuable was the information he was able to gather by going in and out among the German prisoners of war, that the authorities decided to send him to the Intelligence Department.
But not yet. In a brief letter to his mother, written on the eve of another advance, Laurence says :
"I am still with the battalion, and may be for some little time." For the past fortnight the battle-line had been under torrential rain. "Our men," writes Gibbs, the realist, "were never dry. They were wet in their trenches, and wet in their dug-outs. They slept in soaking clothes, with boots full of water, and they drank rain with their tea and ate mud with their bully." But that was at length passing, and with his never-failing optimism Laurence assures his mother that "it is now sunny and breezy, so that things are drying splendidly." For a moment his heart turns away from grim scenes of war to the dear common places of home, where he is glad to have learned that " the crops are looking well and the fruit-picking progresses." Then with a " love to all," he lays down his pen. Among all the thousands of Irish lads whose names are on the Roll of Honour, there was no sweeter nature and no more gallant heart.
On August 14, writes Capt. McConnell,
The 8th Inniskillings went once more into the front line, preparatory for the attack. Laurence, who had 4 stuck it' splendidly all through, was now appointed signalling officer. Lt.-Col. Walkey said of him, “ I knew he would do his work with all his heart. He was a quiet boy, and never said much, but he was a good officer, and he could keep his head.”
At 4.45 on August 16, the 6th Division went over the top, making for an objective about two miles ahead. We were supported by divisions on either flank, the Ulster being on our left. Soon it became known that we were held up at Borry Farm, which was only about 200 or 300 yards in front of us. Before it could be definitely said that there was a ' hold-up, ' Laurence was sent out with a few signallers to report on the situation as far as he could learn what it was. Borry Farm proved impregnable to infantry. The Bosches sniped from it all day, concentrating especially on officers, whom they could more easily detect by their uniforms."
As Laurence led the signallers forward two of them were killed. He was about fifty yards in front of the others, when a sniper's bullet passed through his cheeks. He steadied himself, and raised his right hand to wave his men onward, when another bullet struck him in the body, and he fell. As soon as it was known that he was hit, his servant Hugh Finlay, a Newtownards man, with a bravery which won him the Military Medal, made his way through intense machine-gun fire to where Laurence lay, only to find that life had fled. Finlay afterwards said of his master, who had always treated him rather as a friend than a servant, "He was one of the coolest officers under shell-fire I ever knew. I think he had no fear."
On a card in Laurence's Bible the words were found written in his own hand, "I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
All that was mortal of Laurence lies somewhere between Ypres and Passchendaele. Many a corner of those fields to adapt the thought of Rupert Brooke's fine sonnet is for ever Ireland. But in many cases there is no knowledge of the place where the sacred dust reposes. No cross was raised, no name inscribed. Had it been possible, Finlay would have faced the shell- fire a second time in order to bring his master's body into headquarters, but, to his great sorrow, he was compelled to retire with the battalion almost as soon as he got back to his dug-out. So Laurence had neither coffin nor shroud, neither burial service nor "Last Post." "The Graves Department," as his father writes, "told us that he was buried, but the spot was not located. "This did not," he pathetically adds, "vex his mother to her the earthly part was very little."
Laurence's brother Oliver wrote from Mesopotamia :
"He was the best of brothers. His life was an example to me of Christianity put into practice, and I pray God that He may give me grace to reflect the love of Christ in my own life as Laurence did in his. His religion, though not often on his lips, was always in his heart and visible in his face. His death, too, is an inspiration, for he fell both as a soldier of King Jesus and a soldier of the earthly King, and I pray God that when I cross the river, be it early or late, I may face death with the same high courage and simple faith."
Oliver survived the war and died and was buried in Donaghmore in 1971.
Second Lieutenant Laurence Crawford Brown was killed in action by a sniper's bullet on 16th August 1917, age 24.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 24th August 1917:
Second Lieutenant Laurence C Brown, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, killed in action, was the eldest son of Mr Robert Brown, Donaghmore, and a grandson of Sir William Crawford, J.P., Mount Randal, Belfast. The deceased was educated at the Royal School, Dungannon, and was in business in the States before the outbreak of war. He came home and joined the Ulster Division R.A.M.C., from which he obtained a commission in the Inniskillings in November 1916. His younger brother, Oliver Brown, was wounded last year. One of the Ulster Division chaplains, writing to Mr Robert Brown, said that the deceased officer was respected by all the officers and men of his regiment. He met his death at the hands of an enemy sniper while gallantly leading his men, and after a word of encouragement and a smile, he passed into the great beyond.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 28th August 1917: Service at Castlecaulfield
On Sunday afternoon a memorial service in connection with the death in action of Second Lieutenant Laurence C Brown, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, eldest son of Mr Robert Brown, Donaghmore, was held in Castlecaulfield Presbyterian Church, when there was a crowded congregation. The service was participated in by Revs Robert McClean (pastor local) and John R Sides, M.A., rector of the parish. Captain Rev W J McConnell, B.A., Markethill, in the course of an eloquent address, referred to the death of Lieutenant Brown and also to that of Captain V A Acheson, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, a member of the congregation.
From the Tyrone Courier and News dated Thursday 30 August 1917:
Second Lieutenant Laurence C Brown, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, killed in action on 16th August, was the eldest son of Mr Robert Brown, Donaghmore, and a grandson of Sir William Crawford, J.P., Mount Randal, Belfast. He was educated at Dungannon Royal School, and was in business in the States before the outbreak of war. The heartfelt sympathy of all is extended to Mr and Mrs Brown in their sad bereavement.
From the Tyrone Courier and News dated Thursday 30 August 1917: Memorial Service
He is commemorated on panel 70 to 72 on Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Laurence is also commemorated on a plaque in Castlecaulfield Presbyterian Church.
temp “In loving memory of 2nd Lieut. Laurence Crawford Brown, 8th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Fell near Ypres 16th august 1917 in his 23rd year” temp
Will of Laurence Crawford Brown
Probate of the Will of Laurence Crawford Brown late of Agharainey County Tyrone Second Lieutenant Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who died 16 August 1917 at Ypres granted at Armagh to Robert Brown Gentleman. Effects £88 7s. 2d
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Relevant Dungannon Area Locations
No Location Region Location Notes Longtitude Latitude
1 Aghareany Donaghmore Census listing in Aghareany 54.523398 -6.811616
GRONI References
TYPE - B:Birth M:Marriage D:Death | GRONI | SIBLING: brother or sister | NOTES: spelling inconsistencies, etc.
Date Type Surname First name Relationship GRONI Ref Notes
16/08/1893 M Crawford Mary Parent M/1893/B1/567/1/28
16/08/1893 M Brown Robert Parent M/1893/B1/567/1/28
05/10/1894 B Brown Lawrence Casualty U/1894/112/1012/20/123
08/07/1896 B Brown Oliver Sibling U/1896/112/1012/21/90
08/04/1901 B Brown Alice Sibling U/1901/112/1012/23/263
03/06/1904 B Brown Honor Sibling U/1904/112/1012/24/455
22/09/1907 B Brown Allan Sibling U/1907/112/1012/26/228
References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 1901 Census lists Laurence C Brown Lists Laurence C as age 6 living at house 13 in Cranmore Park, Windsor Ward, Antrim
2 1911 Census lists Brown family Lists Laurence Crawford, a student, age 16, living at house 7 in Aghareany, Donaghmore, Tyrone
3 Amazon booksellers "Mary Crawford Brown: A Memoir". Book written by Laurence Brown's mother
4 Crawford Papers Information on Laurence's mother's family, including Sir William Crawford
5 National Archives UK Medal Card can be purchased here
6 Online edition (Free) "Mary Crawford Brown: A Memoir". Book written by Laurence Brown's mother
7 Presbyterian ROH Castlecaulfield Lawrence Brown, killed in action
Dungannon District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2015-2023