Research kindly shared with us by Nigel Crompton.

Name: Lilian Sarah Cracklen
DoB: 19 December 1880
Place of birth: St Pauls, Bunhill Row, Middlesex
Parents: George Henry & Mary Elizabeth (nee Hazell)
Parental Home: 23 Chiswell Street, Finsbury, Middlesex
Siblings: Caroline Alice Regina (1867-1874) George Henry (1869-1949), Mary Elizabeth (1871-1874) Edith Emma (1874-1896), Maud Louise (1875-1875), Ethel Florence (1876-1976)
Spouse: Never married
Date of Wedding: Not applicable
Children : Not applicable
Marital home(s) : Not applicable
Employment: Assistant Teacher – Surrey County Council
1911 Census: Boarder – 2 Audrey Terrace, Mortlake, Surrey
Date of death: 24th September 1920
Location: Uxbridge (see notes) Buried in Uxbridge Cemetery on 29 September 1920
Lilian was buried in a family plot but no headstone exists – I 23

Gretna details
Name: Lilian Sarah Cracklen
Clock No: N/A
Date joining: Not known
Date leaving: During 1918 (see notes)
Addresses: Women’s Police Barracks No2, Gretna
Rank on start: PC
Promotion: Not known
Career after: Police officer in Portsmouth
1921 Census : Deceased (1920)

Addresses after Gretna: None found in Portsmouth

Additional information

Lilian was born on 19 December 1880 to George & Mary, living in North London along with 6 siblings, prior to moving out to Uxbridge where she took an active part in teaching at the Sunday School. She became a teacher and was working for Surrey County Council in 1911 when the census was taken prior to moving to Gretna with the WPS. Lilian’s accommodation at Gretna was in the Number 2 Barracks. Her name does not appear on the petition sent to the then Minister of Munitions, Winston Churchill by her colleagues at Gretna, requesting a pay rise, and change in conditions of service. In 1918, Lilian moved to join the Portsmouth Police, but in September 1920 she became ill and passed away on 24th September aged 39 at a hospital in Ealing having gone home to Uxbridge to stay with her sister Ethel who lived at 21 The Greenway, Uxbridge. The cause of death was given as ‘Empyema Operation’. This operation was performed to relieve fluid build up around the lungs. Empyema is a form of pneumonia. Lilian was buried in a family plot in Uxbridge Cemetery off Kingston Road. The plot does not have a headstone and is now recorded as ‘unmarked’. Uxbridge cemetery is now under the care of the London Borough of Hillingdon.

Sources Consulted

Source
Item consulted
Ancestry UK
English/ Welsh Census 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911,
Census, electoral registers
Births, Marriages, Deaths, Burial/ Cemetery records
Immigration and travel
British Newspaper Archive
Local, National & Scottish Newspapers
National Archives Kew
Ministry of Munitions & Women Police Service
National Archives Edinburgh
Gretna Police Area records
Devils Porridge Museum Archives
Valuation Roll for Gretna
Electoral Register 1918-1919
Dumfries Archives
Police & Court records
Scotlandspeople
Births, Marriages, Deaths
Valuation Roll for Gretna
Court, prison and legal records
Bow Street Court and Holloway Prison
Hampshire Police Heritage Centre
Early members of Police in Portsmouth
London Borough of Hillingdon
Archives & cemetery records