John Louis Crichton (1901-1943)

Captain, 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment A.A.C. (Service Number: 164891)

John Louis Crichton was born on 23 Apr 1917 in Sainte Adresse, France to William Hay Crichton, a commercial salesman, originally from Workington, Cumbria and Louisa Minnie Sarah Edith Crichton nèe Primavesi. He was educated at Clifton College and then Glasgow University and excelled at sport including the putt and javelin. He played rugby for Rosslyn Park, Harlequins (with forty five appearances for the first XV), and Sussex as well as captaining the first Parachutes team. After graduating he trained to be a solicitor or articled clerk in London in 1936. He joined the Gordon Highlanders where he boxed for his regiment. He was promoted to Captain but so keen was he to join the Paratroopers that he dropped down a rank to Second Lieutenant in order to join. He died in Gibraltar as a result of an accident on 11 Nov 1942, aged 26, on the eve of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment taking part in Operation Torch i.e. capturing and defending airfields in North Africa at the beginning of the allied landings. He is buried in the Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery (Plot 2, Row E, grave 10). He is remembered on the Primavesi family grave at Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff as well as the WWII Law Society Memorial in Chancery Lane, London. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. The Primavesi were originally from Italy and moved to Cardiff in the 1800s and became china importers. Zaverio Fedele Primavesi and his wife Sarah (sister of Alfred Thomas MP, Lord Pontypridd) lived in Pen-y-lan House and moved to Le Harve, France in ~1890 but maintained ownership of Pen-y-lan House. Their son, Fedele Daniele Primavesi (d.1868, Cardiff) a coal exporter, also moved to France where in 1895 his daughter Louisa Minnie Sarah Edith Primavesi was born. William Hay Crichton had seemingly emigrated to France and become a commercial salesman. William Hay Crichton played rugby for Harve and won two caps playing rugby for France in 1906, one against the New Zealand and one against England. William Hay Crichton died in 1922.

SOURCE:Ted Richards cardiffcapers.com