Quick Facts
Biography
Patrick James "Paddy" Crossan (1894 – 5 May 1933) was a Scottish professional football defender who played in the Scottish League for Heart of Midlothian.
Personal life
After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Crossan enlisted in McCrae's Battalion of the Royal Scots. He was hit in the leg by shrapnel near Bazentin, France on 9 August 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. The leg was marked for amputation but was saved after being operated on by a German POW surgeon. After recovering back in Britain, Crossan was posted to the 4th Battalion to serve in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and he was present during the Battle of Jersusalem. He was posted back to the Western Front in 1918 and was gassed in April that year. In 1925, after his retirement from football, he opened Paddy's Bar on Rose Street in Edinburgh. Crossan died of tuberculosis in 1933 and was buried in Mount Vernon Cemetery.