|
41697 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment
Arthur Clark was born in Sudbury in 1898, one of seven children of Henry (known as Harry) and Annie Clark. His father was employed as a soap maker and the family lived at 5 Straw Lane before moving to 22 Plough Lane.
Arthur enlisted in Sudbury. It is not known when he joined his battalion which formed part of 91st Brigade, 7th Division and which had seen action in April 1917 at Arras with heavy losses on both sides. The battalion moved to Belgium in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July – 10 November) often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele.
Bad weather in October 1917 led to the battlefield becoming a quagmire of mud and the battalion saw action at the battles of Polygon Wood (26 September – 3 October), Broodseinde (4 October), Poelcappelle (9 October) and in the final phase at the Second Battle of Passchendaele (26 October – 10 November). The offensive which after three months had gained the Allies just over five miles of ground around the Ypres Salient cost over 320,000 Allied casualties of which Arthur was one.
Arthur died aged 19 on 26 October 1917. There is no known grave and he is remembered on Tyne Cot Memorial, near Ypres, Belgium. It was over a year before his family was informed that he was officially reported as ‘killed in action’.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Tyne Cot Memorial in April 2006 and April 2009. Arthur is also remembered on the memorial at the Baptist Church in Church Street. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
His older brother Harry had lost his life only fourteen months earlier serving with the Royal Berkshire Regiment in Salonika. He is also remembered on the Sudbury War Memorial and the Baptist Church Memorial.
Back to Roll of Honour
|
