Name
Harold Julius Clarke
9 December 1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/04/1915
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
11091
Canadian Infantry
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 18 - 24 - 26 - 30.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted, Family grave in St Peter's Churchyard, Berkhamsted
Pre War
Harold Julius Clarke was born on 9 December 1893 in Berkhamsted, Herts, the son of William and Leonora Clarke.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 23 Station Road, Berkhamsted where his father was working as a commercial clerk. His father died in 1902, aged 40, and on the 1911 Census, his widowed mother was head of the household with Harold and six of his siblings living at Langlea, 11 Station Road, Berkhamsted. Harold was then working as a solicitor's clerk.
When he was 19 he emigrated to Canada on 24 April 1913 on the Cunard ship Ausonia, arriving in Quebec.
He married Ellen May Page on 13 July 1914 in Collingwood, Simcoe, Ontario, when he was 20, giving his occupation as painter. His wife was aged 18 and originally from Ipswich, England. She gave birth to their daughter Winifred Ellen on 29 October 1914.
On enlistment he gave his next of kin as his mother Mrs L Clarke, Station Road, Berkhamsted, England and his occupation as rivetter.
Wartime Service
Harold enlisted on 14 August 1914 and signed his attestation papers at Valcartier to join the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and served with the 4th Battalion, Canadian Infantry.
He sailed on 7 October 1914 with the Battalion from Quebec on SS Tyrolia (although battalion war diaries suggest the date was 25 September). They arrived in Plymouth Sound on 14 October 1914, and moved to Lavington, Wiltshire where King George, Queen Mary, Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener reviewed their parade on 4 November.
The Battalion spent the winter of 1914/15 training and moved to Avonmouth on 8 February 1915 where they boarded the SS Atlantian and sailed to St Nazaire, arriving on 11 February. Their first experience of the trenches was on 5 March 1915 and throughout March and April they alternated between drills, training and duty in the trenches.
Harold was killed in action on 23 April 1915, aged 21 when the Battalion were in Vlamertinghe near Ypres. They moved to attack the enemy in the early hours of the morning, crossing the pontoon bridge across the Yber Canal and stopped at a farmhouse where the enemy were entrenched. As they advanced they were subjected to heavy artillery and machine gun fire. By the evening they were relieved by the East Yorkshire Regiment but had suffered over 500 casualties.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. Harold was one of 81 soldiers from the 4th Battalion, Canadian Infantry who died on 23 April 1915, the majority of whom are named on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
Additional Information
N.B. CWGC give his name as Harold Julies Clarke which is incorrect as his middle name was Julius.
His widow Ellen sailed from Quebec with daughter Winifred and arrived in London on 22 November 1915. They stayed with Harold's mother in Berkhamsted but returned to Canada on 21 May 1917 and remarried on 4 December 1918 to George Henry Taylor. Harold's daughter Winnie moved to England and married Edwin Woolhead in Aylesbury in 1988 when she was 73 and died there in 2005 at the age of 90.
Harold is commemorated on the family grave in St Peter's Churchyard, Berkhamsted. His part of the inscription reads:
". . . HAROLD JULIUS (Clarke), FOURTH SON OF THE ABOVE WHO DIED IN THE 2ND BATTLE OF YPRES APRIL 23RD 1915, AGED 21 YEARS."
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.bac-lac.gc.ca, www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk
