Name
Arthur George Clements
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
23/09/1916
18
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
7036
West Riding Regiment
1st/4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier/Face 5A.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Walkern War Memorial
Pre War
Arthur was the eldest son of Noah & Alice Mary Clements of Froghall Lane, Walkern.
Wartime Service
He joined the Hertfordshire Regiment on the 9th January 1915 when he was aged 17, with the Service Number 4454, and served in the UK until the 30th August 1916 when he was posted to France. This young inexperienced soldier was transferred to the 1st/4th West Riding Regiment on the 10th September 1916 after that Battalion suffered very heavy casualties during an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt on the 2nd September. Arthur arrived at the Battalion on the 12th September and on the 23rd, at the height of the Somme Offensive, the Battalion were in positions in the Leipzieg Salient where they were preparing to be relieved by the 5th West Riding Regiment. Here the trenches were described as being in a very bad state, owing to wet conditions and unburied dead bodies. The Battalion were detailed to move to Leavilliers by bus and it is not known at what point Arthur Clements was killed but it is possible that his loss was as a result of artillery fire. Arthur has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
Additional Information
www.stevenageatwar.com
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson
