For original interment site see Mortimer Park Crane
SECOND LIEUTENANT MORTIMER PARKE CRANE
Royal Air Force
Died 15 May 1918
Son of T. Crane of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Mortimer Park Crane was born in Philadelphia on 4 February 1894, the only child of Theron Insco Crane and Charlotte Augusta (West) Crane.
Mortimer was baptized on 1 July 1894 at Christ Episcopal Church, McCallum and Tulpehocken Streets.
In 1913, the Cranes briefly lived at 229 West Walnut Lane. About 1914 the family moved to 6440 Greene Street. Entering Yale's class of 1917, Mortimer was known as "Mort" and, of course, nicknamed "Ichabod."
However, he was gone from Yale after two years, spent a year at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, another at the University of Virginia, and then went to work for one of his father's companies, the Northern Ore Company. One newspaper later reported that Mortimer had been "filled with patriotic enthusiasm," enlisting "soon after a state of war was declared by the United States," while another noted that he had volunteered for U.S. military service but, seeking quicker assignment to the front, received a discharge in order to fly with the Canadians and British.
So, Mortimer crossed into Canada and joined the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto and assigned to the Central Flying School in Upavon, Wiltshire, the oldest aviation school in England, established in the spring of 1912 on 425 acres of Upavon Down. His unit patrolled the British skies, and only a shortage of equipment prevented the well-thought-of American from being sent to the front.
At last, by May, all was in readiness. Mortimer, praised by his squadron's commandant for "splendid keenness in his work," was promoted to First Lieutenant and ordered to France.
However, during a manoeuvre on 15 May 1918 the plane to his left clipped his, tearing away the bottom wing on that side. A Court of Inquiry decided: "the cause of the accident was in our opinion due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot Lieut. M. P. Crane in the fact that he turned and ran into Lieut L. J. Cox from underneath while flying in formation."
Mortimer's plane crashed to earth near Amesbury, Wiltshire, on the River Avon, and he died instantly of a fractured neck.
However, for reasons not now known, Mortimer's remains were interred in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church, North Otterington, in Yorkshire's North Riding.
By May 1921, when Theron Crane purchased Lot 13, Everglades Section, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, and contracted with a New York company for the erection of a mausoleum, plans were underway for Mortimer's return.
The mausoleum is a pilastered stone structure with "Crane" carved over windowed iron doors. Opposite the doors is an opalescent stained glass window, executed in the Tiffany style, situated to catch the morning sun. The window shows a standing angel holding, in both hands and parallel to the ground, a sheathed sword from which descend palm fronds (a symbol of martyrdom, that is, victory over death). The bottom of the window depicts a scroll reading "‘Thine, O Lord, Is The Victory.'"
In due course, Mortimer's remains were disinterred from North Otterington (a stone there still tells the story), and placed aboard the Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16 November 1921.
On 2 December, family and friends assembled. After whatever final words may have been said at the cemetery, the flag was removed, the casket slid into the upper crypt to the left, and the tablet immediately replaced.
SECOND LIEUTENANT MORTIMER PARKE CRANE
Royal Air Force
Died 15 May 1918
Son of T. Crane of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Mortimer Park Crane was born in Philadelphia on 4 February 1894, the only child of Theron Insco Crane and Charlotte Augusta (West) Crane.
Mortimer was baptized on 1 July 1894 at Christ Episcopal Church, McCallum and Tulpehocken Streets.
In 1913, the Cranes briefly lived at 229 West Walnut Lane. About 1914 the family moved to 6440 Greene Street. Entering Yale's class of 1917, Mortimer was known as "Mort" and, of course, nicknamed "Ichabod."
However, he was gone from Yale after two years, spent a year at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, another at the University of Virginia, and then went to work for one of his father's companies, the Northern Ore Company. One newspaper later reported that Mortimer had been "filled with patriotic enthusiasm," enlisting "soon after a state of war was declared by the United States," while another noted that he had volunteered for U.S. military service but, seeking quicker assignment to the front, received a discharge in order to fly with the Canadians and British.
So, Mortimer crossed into Canada and joined the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto and assigned to the Central Flying School in Upavon, Wiltshire, the oldest aviation school in England, established in the spring of 1912 on 425 acres of Upavon Down. His unit patrolled the British skies, and only a shortage of equipment prevented the well-thought-of American from being sent to the front.
At last, by May, all was in readiness. Mortimer, praised by his squadron's commandant for "splendid keenness in his work," was promoted to First Lieutenant and ordered to France.
However, during a manoeuvre on 15 May 1918 the plane to his left clipped his, tearing away the bottom wing on that side. A Court of Inquiry decided: "the cause of the accident was in our opinion due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot Lieut. M. P. Crane in the fact that he turned and ran into Lieut L. J. Cox from underneath while flying in formation."
Mortimer's plane crashed to earth near Amesbury, Wiltshire, on the River Avon, and he died instantly of a fractured neck.
However, for reasons not now known, Mortimer's remains were interred in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church, North Otterington, in Yorkshire's North Riding.
By May 1921, when Theron Crane purchased Lot 13, Everglades Section, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, and contracted with a New York company for the erection of a mausoleum, plans were underway for Mortimer's return.
The mausoleum is a pilastered stone structure with "Crane" carved over windowed iron doors. Opposite the doors is an opalescent stained glass window, executed in the Tiffany style, situated to catch the morning sun. The window shows a standing angel holding, in both hands and parallel to the ground, a sheathed sword from which descend palm fronds (a symbol of martyrdom, that is, victory over death). The bottom of the window depicts a scroll reading "‘Thine, O Lord, Is The Victory.'"
In due course, Mortimer's remains were disinterred from North Otterington (a stone there still tells the story), and placed aboard the Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16 November 1921.
On 2 December, family and friends assembled. After whatever final words may have been said at the cemetery, the flag was removed, the casket slid into the upper crypt to the left, and the tablet immediately replaced.
For original interment site see Mortimer Park Crane
SECOND LIEUTENANT MORTIMER PARKE CRANE
Royal Air Force
Died 15 May 1918
Son of T. Crane of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Mortimer Park Crane was born in Philadelphia on 4 February 1894, the only child of Theron Insco Crane and Charlotte Augusta (West) Crane.
Mortimer was baptized on 1 July 1894 at Christ Episcopal Church, McCallum and Tulpehocken Streets.
In 1913, the Cranes briefly lived at 229 West Walnut Lane. About 1914 the family moved to 6440 Greene Street. Entering Yale's class of 1917, Mortimer was known as "Mort" and, of course, nicknamed "Ichabod."
However, he was gone from Yale after two years, spent a year at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, another at the University of Virginia, and then went to work for one of his father's companies, the Northern Ore Company. One newspaper later reported that Mortimer had been "filled with patriotic enthusiasm," enlisting "soon after a state of war was declared by the United States," while another noted that he had volunteered for U.S. military service but, seeking quicker assignment to the front, received a discharge in order to fly with the Canadians and British.
So, Mortimer crossed into Canada and joined the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto and assigned to the Central Flying School in Upavon, Wiltshire, the oldest aviation school in England, established in the spring of 1912 on 425 acres of Upavon Down. His unit patrolled the British skies, and only a shortage of equipment prevented the well-thought-of American from being sent to the front.
At last, by May, all was in readiness. Mortimer, praised by his squadron's commandant for "splendid keenness in his work," was promoted to First Lieutenant and ordered to France.
However, during a manoeuvre on 15 May 1918 the plane to his left clipped his, tearing away the bottom wing on that side. A Court of Inquiry decided: "the cause of the accident was in our opinion due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot Lieut. M. P. Crane in the fact that he turned and ran into Lieut L. J. Cox from underneath while flying in formation."
Mortimer's plane crashed to earth near Amesbury, Wiltshire, on the River Avon, and he died instantly of a fractured neck.
However, for reasons not now known, Mortimer's remains were interred in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church, North Otterington, in Yorkshire's North Riding.
By May 1921, when Theron Crane purchased Lot 13, Everglades Section, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, and contracted with a New York company for the erection of a mausoleum, plans were underway for Mortimer's return.
The mausoleum is a pilastered stone structure with "Crane" carved over windowed iron doors. Opposite the doors is an opalescent stained glass window, executed in the Tiffany style, situated to catch the morning sun. The window shows a standing angel holding, in both hands and parallel to the ground, a sheathed sword from which descend palm fronds (a symbol of martyrdom, that is, victory over death). The bottom of the window depicts a scroll reading "‘Thine, O Lord, Is The Victory.'"
In due course, Mortimer's remains were disinterred from North Otterington (a stone there still tells the story), and placed aboard the Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16 November 1921.
On 2 December, family and friends assembled. After whatever final words may have been said at the cemetery, the flag was removed, the casket slid into the upper crypt to the left, and the tablet immediately replaced.
SECOND LIEUTENANT MORTIMER PARKE CRANE
Royal Air Force
Died 15 May 1918
Son of T. Crane of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Mortimer Park Crane was born in Philadelphia on 4 February 1894, the only child of Theron Insco Crane and Charlotte Augusta (West) Crane.
Mortimer was baptized on 1 July 1894 at Christ Episcopal Church, McCallum and Tulpehocken Streets.
In 1913, the Cranes briefly lived at 229 West Walnut Lane. About 1914 the family moved to 6440 Greene Street. Entering Yale's class of 1917, Mortimer was known as "Mort" and, of course, nicknamed "Ichabod."
However, he was gone from Yale after two years, spent a year at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, another at the University of Virginia, and then went to work for one of his father's companies, the Northern Ore Company. One newspaper later reported that Mortimer had been "filled with patriotic enthusiasm," enlisting "soon after a state of war was declared by the United States," while another noted that he had volunteered for U.S. military service but, seeking quicker assignment to the front, received a discharge in order to fly with the Canadians and British.
So, Mortimer crossed into Canada and joined the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto and assigned to the Central Flying School in Upavon, Wiltshire, the oldest aviation school in England, established in the spring of 1912 on 425 acres of Upavon Down. His unit patrolled the British skies, and only a shortage of equipment prevented the well-thought-of American from being sent to the front.
At last, by May, all was in readiness. Mortimer, praised by his squadron's commandant for "splendid keenness in his work," was promoted to First Lieutenant and ordered to France.
However, during a manoeuvre on 15 May 1918 the plane to his left clipped his, tearing away the bottom wing on that side. A Court of Inquiry decided: "the cause of the accident was in our opinion due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot Lieut. M. P. Crane in the fact that he turned and ran into Lieut L. J. Cox from underneath while flying in formation."
Mortimer's plane crashed to earth near Amesbury, Wiltshire, on the River Avon, and he died instantly of a fractured neck.
However, for reasons not now known, Mortimer's remains were interred in the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church, North Otterington, in Yorkshire's North Riding.
By May 1921, when Theron Crane purchased Lot 13, Everglades Section, West Laurel Hill Cemetery, and contracted with a New York company for the erection of a mausoleum, plans were underway for Mortimer's return.
The mausoleum is a pilastered stone structure with "Crane" carved over windowed iron doors. Opposite the doors is an opalescent stained glass window, executed in the Tiffany style, situated to catch the morning sun. The window shows a standing angel holding, in both hands and parallel to the ground, a sheathed sword from which descend palm fronds (a symbol of martyrdom, that is, victory over death). The bottom of the window depicts a scroll reading "‘Thine, O Lord, Is The Victory.'"
In due course, Mortimer's remains were disinterred from North Otterington (a stone there still tells the story), and placed aboard the Haverford, which sailed from Liverpool on 16 November 1921.
On 2 December, family and friends assembled. After whatever final words may have been said at the cemetery, the flag was removed, the casket slid into the upper crypt to the left, and the tablet immediately replaced.
Inscription
Mortimer Park Crane
Lieutenant Royal Air Force
1894-1918
"Greater Love Hath No Man Than This
That A Man Lay Down His Life For His Friends."
Gravesite Details
The original interment was in the section of N Otterington Churchyard containing graves of the family of Benjamin Talbot, inventor and steel company manager, who had lived in the USA for ten years and probably knew the Crane family.
Family Members
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