Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.C. group of four awarded to Lieutenant F. W. Crake, Bedfordshire Regiment, attached Hertfordshire Regiment, late Hampshire Regiment, who subsequently served as a District Inspector with the Royal Irish Constabulary’s Auxiliary Division, and was killed in action during the Anglo-Irish War when the unit under his command was ambushed and wiped-out by the Irish Republican Army at Kilmichael, Co. Cork, on 28 November 1920

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued, in case of issue; 1914-15 Star (16957 Pte. F. W. Crake. Hamps: R.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. F. Crake.); together with a related miniature award for the M.C.,in a Spink, London case, extremely fine (4) £2,600-£3,000

M.C. London Gazette 2 December 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in an attack. When the other officers became casualties and the company had suffered heavy losses, he reorganised several scattered bodies of men and continued to lead them forward to the objective in a most determined manner. By his courage and example he assisted materially in the capture of a hostile battery.’

Francis William Crake was born in 1893 and attested for the Hampshire Regiment, serving with them during the Great War on the Western Front from 27 July 1915. He was commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment on 28 November 1917, and at the time of his M.C.-winning exploits was serving on attachment with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment. He was promoted temporary Lieutenant on 28 May 1919, before relinquishing his commission on 21 February 1920, retaining the rank of Lieutenant.

Subsequently, Crake joined the Royal Irish Constabulary Auxiliary Division, and served as District Inspector of a unit of the Auxiliary Division based in Macroom, Co. Cork. He was killed, along with 16 other members of his unit, in the ambush carried out by the Irish Republican Army near the village of Kilmichael, Co. Cork, on 28 November 1920.

The Kilmichael Ambush

In November 1920, the West Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army, under the command of Tom Barry, decided to launch an ambush against the local Auxiliary Brigade, who had recently carried out a number of raids in the villages around the town of Macroom, in order to intimidate the local population away from supporting the I.R.A. On 21 November, Barry assembled a flying column of 36 riflemen at Clogher. The column was equipped with 35 rounds for each rifle, as well as a handful of revolvers, and two mills grenades. After scouting the local area, Barry selected a position on the Macroom-Dunmanway road, near the village of Kilmichael, for the ambush, which the Auxiliaries coming out of Macroom used every day. The flying column marched there on foot, and took up their positions during the night of 27-28 November.

Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on 28 November, as dusk was falling, the Auxiliaries’ two lorries came into view. Their first lorry, containing 9 Auxiliaries, including Crake, was persuaded to slow down by the sight of Barry appearing in the road wearing a British uniform. Upon coming to a halt adjacent to the ambush position, Barry gave the order to fire, simultaneously throwing a Mills bomb into the lorry’s open cab. A savage close-quarter fight ensued, and before long all nine Auxiliaries lay dead or dying. Whilst this part of the ambush was going on, the second lorry, also containing nine Auxiliaries, had driven into the scene, and stopped alongside the second ambush position. A second savage close-quarter fight ensued, with similar results.

The I.R.A. fighters thought that they had killed all 18 of the Auxiliaries; in fact, one Auxiliary officer, H. F. Forde, survived, having been left for dead with, among other injuries, a bullet wound in the head. He was picked up by British forces the following day and taken to hospital in Cork. The I.R.A. themselves suffered two men killed and one wounded.

Many I.R.A. volunteers were deeply shaken by the severity of the action, referred to by Barry as ‘the bloodiest in Ireland.’ The political fallout from the Kilmichael ambush was significant, and on 10 December martial law was declared for the counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary. On 11 December, in reprisal for Kilmichael and other I.R.A. actions, the city centre of Cork was burned by the Auxiliaries and British forces.

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