Name
Joseph Clarke
1883
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/04/1917
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
22879
Bedfordshire Regiment
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Welwyn Village memorials, Potsgrove War Memorial, Potsgrove, Beds. Battlesden War Memorial, Battlesden, Beds
Pre War
Joseph Clarke was born in 1883 in Potsgrove, Beds, the son of Thomas and Alice Clarke and one of nine children, although three had died by 1911.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Sheep Lane Cottages, Potsgrove, Woburn, where his father was working as a General Labourer. By 1901 although his family remained in Potsgrove, Joseph had moved to Yorkshire and was working as a Cattleman at Highfield House, Snape, for William Walburn, farmer.
He returned to Bedfordshire and married Minnie Whiting in Ampthill in 1907 and on the 1911 Census they were living at 44 Pinfold Road, Woburn with daughter Constance Minnie age 3, and Joseph was working as a Farm Labourer. They later lived in School House, Leighton Street, Woburn, Beds and had another daughter Winifred in 1913.
Joseph was recorded as living in Welwyn, Herts when he enlisted.
Wartime Service
Joseph enlisted in Bedford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment and served as Acting Corporal in the 4th Battalion.
He was killed in action on 20 April 1917 during the Battle of Arras, aged 34, when the Battalion were in the support line near Arras.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £7 and pay owing of £4 16s 9d. She also received a pension of £1 5s 5d a week for herself and her two daughters.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Roll of Honour.com., www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
