Remembering the Fallen: on this day in 1915, Captain Alfred Sackville Cresswell, 2nd Battalion, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) was killed in action at St. Eloi on the Western Front.

In 1899 he was gazetted from the Militia to The Buffs, and promoted to Lieutenant in 1901. He served on Special Services in the South African War, was present at operations in the Transvaal for which he received the Queen’s Medal with three clasps, and was promoted to Captain in 1904. In 1912 he was appointed Adjutant of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of his regiment, but relinquished that appointment early in 1915 to rejoin the 2nd Battalion for active service. The battalion had landed at Le Havre in January, rushed in as a much-needed reinforcement, and Captain Cresswell joined them the following month as they moved to concentrate in the area between Bailleul and Hazebrouck. He is buried in the military cemetery near the Chateau Kemmel, a few miles south-west of Ypres.

Alfred, from Cheltenham, was 36 years old.