Selected Biographies

Clark, Gerald Badger – Born: Cookham, Berkshire on 22.9.1891.[1]  Parents: John Clark (Sugar Merchant) and Annie.  Home: 36 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, London (1901), Melford Place, St Marys St, Long Melford (1911), 11 Hyde Park Gate, London [1925 to 1938],[2] 20 Granville Gardens, Acton, Middlesex (1939) to [1964].  Occupation: Farm Pupil to Charles Westropp at Melford Place (1911), Merchant [1922], Company Secretary [1925], Company Director [1928].[3]  Service Record: Gerald attested in February 1915 as L/Cpl.11 with the Royal Engineers, being posted to the Egyptian Theatre on 8.4.1915 serving with the Australian Imperial Force.  On 11.9.1915 Clark was granted a commission as a Second Lieutenant attached to The Border Regiment, receiving his discharge in April 1916, due to sickness.[4]  Died: Marylebone, London in 1972.

Clark, Walter Edward – Born: Banbury, Oxfordshire on 10.10.1879.[5]  Parents: Thomas Edward Clark (Schoolmaster) and Sarah Ann [nee Rowe].  Home: School House, Heath Road, Acton, Suffolk (1881), 13 Severus Road, Battersea, London (1891), High Street, Redbourn, Hertfordshire (1901), West Cottage, Acton (1911), Long Melford [1916].  Occupation: Assistant Teacher in an Elementary School (1901), Acetylene Gas and Motor Engineer (1911) and [1916].  Married: Katherine ‘Kitty’ Sarah Simpson in 1909.  Service Record: At the Melford Military Service Tribunal in June 1916 Walter applied for exemption.  He said that the business had been entirely his for four years and that he had some Government patents that had two years to run.  In addition, he has to do the inside repairs for some three hundred odd firms.  He was granted a certificate of exemption for six months.[6]  Walter joined the Long Melford Volunteer Training Corps in 1916.[7]  It is not known if Clark’s certificate of exemption was renewed or if conscription followed, however no definitive military record has been found.

Clarke, Charles – Born: Skryne, County Meath, Ireland on 14.3.1875.[8]  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Archie Stephen Gridley [b1890], Daniel Gridley [b1884] and William Charles Gridley [b1888].  Home: 17 Chapel Street, Hythe, Kent [1917], lodging with Ellen Gridley (Mother-in-Law), Hollands, The Green, Long Melford [1919], Woollards Gardens, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Groom [1914], Refuse Carter (1939).  Married: Minnie Maud Gridley of Long Melford in 1918.  Service Record: Charles was attested on 30.9.1914 as Dvr.T2/14560 with 190^th [Horse Transport] Company, Army Service Corps, part of 23^rd Divisional Train, and was posted to France from 24.8.1915 to 7.3.1917 where he saw action during the Somme Offensive in 1916.  Charles was transferred to 545^th [Horse Transport] Company, receiving his discharge in 1919.[9]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1943.

Clarke, Hector Claude – Born: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on 6.12.1899.[10]  Parents: Cornelius Charles Hurrell Clarke (Steam Engine Fitter) and Hannah [née Ambrose].  Home: 2 Albert Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1901 and 1911), Eastdeane, Station Road, Long Melford (1939), South Court, Hospital Road, Bury St Edmunds [1983].  Occupation: Fitter’s Mate [1918], Maintenance Engineer at the Maltings and a member of the British Red Cross (1939).  Married: Annie May Houghton in 1924.  Service Record: Hector enlisted on 29.11.1917 as Ordinary Seaman N^o. Z/8097 with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, serving on the minesweeper HMS Fareham from 20.8.1918 to 30.11.1918, receiving his discharge in March 1919.[11]  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on 9.9.1983.[12]

Clarke, Henry George – Born: Fulham, London on 10.11.1892.[13]  Parents: William Clarke (Carpenter and Joiner) and Kate [née Stanhope] of Long Melford.  Family Connections: Brother to Reginald William Clarke [b1897].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1901), HMS Actaeon Torpedo School, Stangate Street, Sheerness, Kent (1911), 7 Leamington Crescent, Harrow, Middlesex (1939).  Occupation: Sailor [1910] to (1939).  Married: Dorothy Marguerite Colman in 1924.  Service Record: Henry enlisted in 1910 as a Boy Sailor N^o. J2873 in the Royal Navy, serving on the dreadnought HMS George V as Petty Officer Telegraphist from 15.3.1916 to 17.6.1917, and seeing action at the Battle of Jutland on 31.5.1916.  In 1926 he was awarded a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal while serving on the battleship HMS Royal Oak and is recorded as a Chief Petty Officer on the monitor HMS Marshal Soult in 1939.[14]

Clarke, Reginald William – Born: Fulham, London in 1897.  Parents: William Clarke (Carpenter and Joiner) and Kate [née Stanhope] of Long Melford.  Family Connections: Brother to Henry George Clarke [b1892].  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1901), Clarks Farm, Twinstead, Suffolk (1911), Old Mill House, Pebmarsh, Essex [1916].  Service Record: Attested as Private, later L/Cpl.12199 with 9^th [Service] Battalion, Essex Regiment, being posted to France from 30.5.1915 as part of 35^th Brigade, 12^th [Eastern] Division.  Reginald saw action at Ploegsteert and Loos and joined the Somme Offensive on 3.7.1916, attacking German lines at Ovillers on the Albert front.  The Battalion was savagely mauled by machine gun fire, with nearly four-hundred men killed, wounded, or missing.[15]  Died: Lance Corporal Clarke was killed in action on 3.7.1916 during the assault and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme [pier and face 10d], Somme, France, and the War Memorial at Pebmarsh in Essex.[16]

Notes – [1] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Ealing. [2] Address from Electoral Roll for Ealing. [3] Occupations from Passenger Lists of SS Perou, SS Prinses Julians and SS Jan Pieterszoon Coen. [4] For notification of his commission see London Gazette 5.11.1915 p.10917.  See his Officer’s record [WO 339/44597] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index [WO 372 Cards 1914-1922].  [5] Date of birth from Baptism Register 8.11.1879, Christchurch, Banbury. [6] For the Tribunal’s ruling see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 7.6.1916.  [7] For Training Corps article see Suffolk and Essex Free Press 27.12.1916.  [8] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford. [9] Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329], and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [10] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Long Melford, confirmed by his RN Record.  [11] Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve: Records of Service [ADM 337/45].  See also his Medal and Award Rolls [ADM 171/125]. [12] Date of death from the National Probate Calendar.  [13] Date of birth from his RN Record.  [14] Royal Navy Registers of Seaman’s Services [ADM 188/652/2873].  See Marriage Register 26.3.1924, All Saints Church, Fulham, London.  Spouse’s name confirmed on the 1939 Register for Harrow, Middlesex.  See also his Medal and Award Rolls [ADM 171/202].  [15] For details of the action see 9^th Essex War Diary [WO 95/1851/1-4] and Chris M^cCarthy, The Somme: The Day-by-Day Account [London: Brockhampton Press, 1998], pp.35-6.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [16] Commonwealth War Graves Commission record and British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 file [ref: 359109].