G.C. CROAD
With over 6000 Portsmouth people killed in the Great War it is inevitable that some are more identifiable than others. Amongst the 'others' is GC Croad who is listed in the National Roll, vol. X, p.284 as being a "Rifleman, 8th London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)". With this information we can locate his record at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission where he is listed as Croad G. (374543). Both sources give the date of death as 7th June 1917.
We find the name again on the Cenotaph in Guildhall Square, but this time it appears as C.G. CROAD. Turning to the 1911 Census we note that there is no male G. Croad in Portsmouth, but there are two Charles Croads, one a 43 year old labourer from Strode Road, Stamshaw, and the other a 34 year old stoker in the navy. Obviously the latter can't be the right man.
Going back a further 10 years to 1901 we find a George Croad who was a 21 year old railway carter, and a Charles Croad who was a 30 year old labourer living as a lodger at 3, Strode Road, Stamshaw. The latter is recorded as being born at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight, the same as the first Charles Croad in 1911. So it's beginning to look as though this may be the man we seek but we still have no direct correlation. There is also the matter of age, as according to the National Roll G.C. Croad enlisted in 1915 when Charles Croad would have been 47 years old. This doesn't rule him out entirely but it makes it less likely that we have the right man.
Without further evidence we cannot take this further.
Tim Backhouse
December 2013