Commemorative crochet cloth : Private C R Atherton, 21 Battalion, AIF

White cotton filet crochet commemorative cloth. In the top left corner is a cross. To the side and beneath the cross is the text 'IN MEMORY OF PTE C. ATHERTON HIS DUTY DONE MARCH 1917'. The cloth is finished with a crochet border in a diced pattern.

This piece of crochet commemorates the service and death of 5540 Private Cecil Robert Atherton. Atherton was almost 27 years old when he enlisted in the AIF on 1 August 1916. He was a farmer from Dunolly in Victoria.

He trained for two months in Australia before embarking at Melbourne with the 21st Battalion's 15th reinforcements aboard HMAT Shropshire on 25 September 1916. After arriving in England, he undertook further training before embarking for France on 13 December. Four days later he joined the 21st Battalion at Flesselles, north of Amiens.

Atherton was only with his battalion for three months before he was wounded by a shell on 20 March 1917 either in the morning, while the 21st Battalion were taking part in an unsuccessful attack on the village of Noreuil, or later in the day when the Germans were heavily shelling the Australian's front line.

On 21 March he was admitted to the 45th (British) Casualty Clearing Station, suffering from a severe shell wound penetrating his abdomen. He died shortly afterwards and was buried at Dernancourt.

The maker of this piece of crochet is unknown. The design was adapted from one published in women's newspapers and magazines in about 1916, which commemorated the death of Earl Kitchener.