Driver, Royal Army Service Corps. Number T/275802.
Early life:
Pearson was born on the 30th of November in 1916. His parents were John William Crossley and Mabel Crossley née Raine who had been married at St. John’s Church, Ingrow on the 13th of May 1916.
In the 1921 census his father John was 31 and a shuttle maker for power looms, employed by James Whitaker and Sons at Ingrow. Mabel was aged 26 and Pearson was aged four.
The Electoral registers for Pearson’s parents John William and Mabel Crossley show they were living at 24, Damems in 1919, 5, Lower Bracken Bank in 1925 and 1926 then at 18, Wheathead Lane until at least 1957.
By the time of the 1939 register they had moved to 18, Wheathead Lane. His father was still a shuttle maker aged 50, Mabel was aged 46 and Pearson was a dairy farmer aged 23. Also living here were Jean Wilson (later Barber) aged eight and attending school and one other person who is redacted from the records.
War service:
Pearson enlisted in 1941 at the age of 25. Whilst on leave in that same year, he married Lena Laycock of 6, Emsley Street, Steeton. She was an art silk weaver aged 28.
Pearson was serving with the Royal Army Service Corps section of the 122nd Army Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery in Malaya, when he was captured during the fall of Singapore in February 1942 and was reported missing in March of the same year:
Keighley News, 14th March, 1942:
Driver Pearson Crossley, with the R.A.S.C. in Malaya is missing. Aged 27, he is the only son of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Crossley, High Fold Farm, Exley Head, Keighley, and was married on his last leave.
Pearson wrote home in August 1943 with the news that he was a prisoner of war, which was reported in the local newspaper:
Keighley News, 21st August 1943:
Corporal Pearson Crossley, R.A.S.C., son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Crossley, High Fold Farm, Exley Head. who was reported missing following the fall of Singapore. has written home to the effect that he is a prisoner of war. Corporal Crossley was a playing member of the Keighlians RUFC, and was in business with his father before joining the Services two years ago. His wife is the younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jonas Laycock, of Elmsley Street, Steeton.
In June 1945, his wife Lena received the news of his death in captivity in Thailand on the 8th of June 1943, meaning that he had been dead for almost two years before she was notified.
Because he is buried in the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery we know that he died whilst working on the Japanese Burma-Siam Railway and that his grave was transferred in January 1947 from it’s original position alongside the route of the railway at Kannyu no. 1 Cemetery, grave number 18. This was close to the notorious Hellfire Pass.
Keighley News, 23rd June 1945:
Intimation has just been received by Mrs. Crossley, of 6, Emsley Street, Steeton, that her husband, Corporal Pearson Crossley, R.A.S.C., died in a prisoner of war camp in Thailand on 8 June, 1943. Prior to joining up in 1941 he was employed by his father at High Fold Farm, Exley Head, Keighley, He was aged 28, and was a well-known member of the Keighlians Rugby Union Club.
Remembrance:
Pearson is buried in grave number 66 of row K in plot 8 of Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand. According to his Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave marker, he died on the 6th of June 1943. His relatives added the inscription to him which reads: “His Life For His Country, His Soul For Good.”
He is named on the Keighley WW2 panel in Keighley Library and on the Exley Head war memorial on Wheathead Lane.
Post war:
His father John died on the 6th of January 1961 aged 71.
His mother Mabel died on the 15th of February 1971 aged 78.
Pearson’s widow Lena had remarried in 1947 to Walter Dawson. She died on the 28th of August 1991 aged 78.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007.
1921 England Census.
1939 England and Wales Register.
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005.
Prisoners Of War 1715-1945.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Army Roll Of Honour 1939-1945.
Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.
