Ada was to marry into the Wilmott family and was therefore related to both George and Wilfred Wilmott, two other casualties of World War One. Charlotte was to marry Fred Daley who also served.  Edith Hannah married into the Grundy family. Francis Cyril Cresswell,  known to the family as ‘Frank’, was to join  20th Company - Machine Gun Corps, achieving the rank of Corporal, service number 18795. Frank is listed on the Absent Voters Roll of 1918, with place of residence noted as Franklin Road, Jacksdale.  We know that Frank married Mary (nee Teece) and was to survive the war, later moving with his wife and family to Mansfield.  

Elijah, sadly, did not return.  He enlisted into regular service at Doncaster and was to become a very early casualty of the war, dying of his wounds on Sunday 1st November 1914, aged 24 years.  A relative has been able to tell us .... “It was said that he was sent into battle with ammunition that would last no longer than five minutes.  (He) hurriedly wrote a letter to his mother after he had been shot and handed this to a friend who lived to deliver the letter”. 

It would appear that Elijah was taken to the base port of Boulogne, one of the chief hospital areas used by the British Army on the Western Front and is commemorated in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. 

A Free Press newspaper article, entitled ‘ Selston Roll of Honour” written in late 1916,  under the sub-heading “Jacksdale Ward” mentions “Pte. Elijah Cresswell in regular army before the war, sent abroad Sept 1914, killed same month.”