Francis Cromie

Francis Newton Allen Cromie
Born 30 January 1882(1882-01-30)
Ireland
Died 31 August 1918(1918-08-31) (aged 36)
Assassinated Petrograd
Buried at Archangel Memorial Saint Petersburg
Allegiance British Empire
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service 1903-1918
Rank Lieutenant Commander, Naval attaché
Commands held HMS E19
Battles/wars

World War I

Boxer Uprising
Awards CB
DSO

Captain (Acting.) Francis Newton Allen Cromie, CB, DSO, (30 January 1882 – 31 August 1918, Petrograd) was the commander of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic during World War I.[1] He took part in suppressing the Boxer Uprising in Peking. He joined the Royal Navy Submarine Service in 1903. In 1915 he navigated the submarine HMS E19 through Oresund into the Baltic Sea, to prey on iron ore transports from Sweden to Imperial Germany. In May 1917 he was appointed the naval attaché in Petrograd (now known as Saint Petersburg). On 31 August 1918 he was shot in front of the British Embassy in Petrograd when he tried to prevent a detachment of Cheka from entering and searching the embassy in an attempt to break the British intelligence network there.[2] He is buried at the Archangel Memorial in Arkhangelsk.[3]

References

Literature