Instructor
– 6th Company Canadian Engineers Cadets
Lieutenant Crute was born on 3 December 1883 in Sunterland,
England. He moved to Canada with his mother when he was a young man and
attended McGill University. He and his mother then moved to Vancouver
B.C. World War 1 broke out and on the 5th March 1915, Lieutenant Crute
joined the Canadian Army where he served as a Machine Gunner with the
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in the rank of Corporal.
While overseas in France, Lieutenant Crute met his future wife Caroline
Augustine Maze. At the end of WW 1 he took his discharge, settled back
in Vancouver and was married on 31 July 1919.
He then entered the Provincial Normal School and obtained his
certificate as a Teacher/Physical Education Instructor. After
graduation, Lieutenant Crute and his wife moved to North Vancouver where
he became a teacher at Capilano Elementary School and then Lonsdale
Elementary School. In 1924, he accepted an invitation from Major
MacLean, Commanding Officer of 6th Field Company CE (M), to
form an army cadet corps. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the
Militia and became the cadet corps Instructor. Also in October of 1924,
he was made a life member of the Varsity soccer team at the University
of British Columbia in recognition of many years of outstanding service
to the team. From 1929 to 1933, Lieutenant Crute served as principal of
Queen Mary School in North Vancouver. He then accepted a teaching
position at Ridgeway Junior High School, which included a position as
student counsellor. In 1940, Ridgeway started an army cadet corps for
the second time in it’s history (the first corps was #125, active from
1914 to 1922) and Lieutenant Crute was appointed Staff Commander and
Chief Instructor. He served in that position until 1946. Shortly
afterwards he retired from teaching. During his retirement, Lieutenant
Crute remained active in the community and was an elder in the
congregation of St. Andrew’s United Church. He died at the age of 84
on 31 October 1968 in North Vancouver.