1857 - 2nd January 1916 (age 58)
Captain
Merchant Navy
The following words can be found on a gravestone in the churchyard at St. Oswald's, Sowerby:
In Loving Memory of
Jane Appleton
Who Died Aug 15th 1940
And Of Her Beloved Husband
Captain Robert Crudas Appleton
Who Died On War Service At Marseilles
Jan 2nd 1916
Also Winifred Mary
Daughter Of The Above
Who Died Sept 7th 1964
Born at Castleton, the son of Peter and Mary Appleton (nee Frankland), Robert
Crudas was baptised at Danby in Cleveland on 30th May 1857. When Robert was
around the age of 12, his mother died and his father later remarried to Elizabeth
Yeoman in 1870. Tragedy came again when Robert's elder brother Frankland, died
at the age of 18 in 1873.
Robert trained in the merchant navy and was certified Master (ordinary) at South
Shields in 1882, the same year that he married Jane Sweeting at Hartlepool.
A year later, their first son was born at West Hartlepool and they named him
Frankland. Three further children, Robert, Winifred & Margaret were born at
Sowerby, where the family had moved to live firstly at South Terrace and later
at 4 Melbourne Place. Sadly, Frankland was lost at sea in 1902 at the age of
19, at a similar age to his uncle of the same name who had died nearly 30 years
earlier.
After the outbreak of war, Robert was employed for some time by the Russian
Admiralty in command of vessels running to Archangel. He then entered the employ
of the British Admiralty but ill health compelled him to leave his vessel -
the Mabel Baird - at Marseilles and he entered a nursing home there. Robert
died at 144 Boulevard de la Madeleine, Marseilles, France, leaving all his effects
valued at £695-17-5 to his widow Jane.
The Appleton gravestone at Sowerby
The Mabel Baird was to survive almost two years longer before being sunk by
a German U boat 4 miles WSW of Lizard 22nd December 1917.
The information on this page was compiled by Steve Billings.