Selected Biographies

Clary, Amos Henry – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 12.2.1897.  Parents: William Clary (Coal Merchant’s Labourer) and Emma [née Hurrell] of Long Melford (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Arthur William Clary [b1881].  Home: St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1901), Liston Lane, Long Melford (1911), Blake House Farm Cottage, Blake End, Rayne, Essex (1939).  Occupation: Errand Boy (1911), Horseman on Farm (1939).  Married: Emily R. Ager in 1926.  Service Record: Attested in October 1914 as Pte.2619 with 1/5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment and posted to Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 10.8.1915 as part of 163^rd Brigade, 54^th [East Anglian] Division.  Amos was evacuated with his battalion on 6.12.1915 from Anzac Cove to Egypt.  In 1917 he was given a new number and as Pte.240673 probably taking part in the invasion of Palestine.  In 1922 he is recorded as a committee member of the Long Melford Ex-Service Men’s Club.  Died: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in 1978.[1]

Clary, Arthur William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 10.10.1881.  Parents: William Clary (Coal Merchant’s Labourer) and Emma [née Hurrell] of Long Melford (Horsehair Weaver).  Family Connections: Brother to Amos Henry Clary [b1897], also, brother-in-law of George William Dakin [b1872] and Albert Henry Dakin [b1882].  Home: St Catherines Road, Long Melford (1901 and 1911), 106 Regent Street, Stowmarket, Suffolk (1939).  Occupation: Blacksmith (1901 to 1939).  Married: Lillie Dakin in 1904.  Service Record: Attested on 19.1.1915 as Shoeing Smith N^o. 33388 with 3^rd Field Squadron, Royal Engineers, posted to France from 6.5.1915 as part of 3^rd Cavalry Division, seeing action at the First and Second Battles of Ypres and the Arras Offensive of 1914, 1915 and 1917 respectively.  Arthur was discharged in 1919.  In 1922 he is recorded as a committee member of the Long Melford Ex-Service Men’s Club.  Died: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in 1967.[2]

[1] Date of birth from Admission Register 10.9.1900, St Catherines Infants School, Long Melford.  See the entry for Bertie John Allen [b1886] for an account of the Suffolk’s first days after stepping ashore in Gallipoli.  For details of the action see 1/5^th Suffolk’s War Diary [WO 95/4325].  For a complete history of the Battalion see Capt. A. Fair [mc] and Capt. E. D. Wolton [compiled by] “The Suffolk Regiment”: the history of the 1/5^th Battalion [London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1923], pp.13-107.  See also his Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914-1918 [WO 329] and Service Medal and Award Rolls Index Cards 1914-1922 [WO 372].  [2] Date of birth from the 1939 Register for Stowmarket, Suffolk.  See also his 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].