Lincolnshire Regiment then 40th Royal Labour Corps, Service no. 23500
Born: 31st October 1880. Died: 1965.
Story
Ralph was baptised in Kippax on 17th July 1881. He was the son of Christopher Crossland (1841-1904) and Elizabeth Cheesbrough (1841-1908), and the family lived on Leeds Road. After the death of both his parents, Ralph worked as a Blacksmith. He enlisted on 26th February 1917, and was 5ft 2 inches tall. He nominated his younger brother Christopher of Leeds Lane, Kippax, as his next of kin. Ralph had moved to 8 Bottomley Buildings, Woodhouse, Leeds.
Ralph was soon transferred out of the Lincolnshire Regiment. The Army Medical Officer noted that Ralph had defective teeth, a squinting eye, scalds from being a blacksmith and large varicose veins in his right leg. Dismissed as medically unfit, Ralph joined the 40th Labour Corps on 4th May 1917 instead, which is now referred to as the Royal Logistics Corps. He left the army on 9th January 1919, and married Hannah Kearns in Leeds in 1920. Hannah passed away in 1935, and in 1939, Ralph was working as a Colliery Screener, before taking a temporary job as a Postman. He passed away in 1965 aged 85.
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