Lieutenant Colonel Frank Creighton †
1st (Western Ontario) Battalion

On arrival of the H.Q. Staff of the 8th Battalion at Lt. Col. Creighton’s dugout, a very large calibre shell completely demolished the H.Q. Dugout burying Staffs of both regiments. Lt. Col. Creighton received wounds from which he never recovered consciousness. In this the Division lost a good Officer who had done valuable work that day.

(Gen. Lipsett, 2nd Brig. War Diary, 15 June 1916, 24)

Frank Albro Legion Creighton was born on 6 February 1875 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At the outbreak of the Great War, he was a civil engineer living in Winnipeg. He enlisted in the 1st Battalion as a lieutenant and was promoted to second-in-command in the field. After Lieutenant Colonel F. W. Hill took over the 9th Infantry Brigade, Creighton assumed command of the Western Ontario battalion on 24 January 1916.

While conferring with the 8th Battalion staff during the battle of Mont Sorrel, Creighton’s command headquarters was struck by a German shell. Two officers were killed outright while Creighton and 8th C.O. Harold Matthews were seriously wounded. Creighton died the next day on 15 June 1916. In relating the incident to 1st Division Headquarters, Brigadier General Louis Lipsett noted, “I merely mention this to emphasize the actual conditions in all other trenches on the hill which were being washed away by the down pour of rain and under a continuous heavy shell fire.”

Lieut. Col. George C. Hodson, formerly of the 9th CMR, assumed command of the 1st Battalion.

Digitized Service File (LAC):
http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B2132-S041

Militia personnel file number: 371-10-1