Arthur Clarke

Arthur joined under the 'Derby scheme' and although his enlistment was given as 1/8/1916, he did not get called up until 29/3/1917. He was posted to 9th battalion on 8/6/1917. Received British War Medal and Victory Medal. Killed in the battalion's last action of the Great War. Buried in a battlefield cemetery at Sebourg, France.

The below article is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918: - Twenty year-old Pte. Arthur Clarke, serving with the 9th Battalion Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment, was killed in action on 4th November 1918. He had been conscripted following an ultimately unsuccessful appeal made at the Hucknall Tribunal on 24th March 1917. Aged 18 at the time, he had just completed his apprenticeship as a tailor at the local Co-operative Society. At the hearing, his uncle asked that he not be called up until he was 19, the extra work experience would set him in good stead on his return to civilian life. At that hearing, there were five 18 year-old men, including Arthur Clarke, whose cases came under review. The chairman of the Tribunal, local councillor, William Calladine, supported the principle of not calling boys up until they were 19. He said: “With regard to Clarke he is a man of stamina, and in some senses would make a good soldier, but we recognise the moral question…..We do not want to fall out with the military. We have tried to act fairly, and if a man was fit to fight we have been willing to send him because the law of the land says he should go. We feel we have got to do our duty to the country. We give all the youths of 18 exemption until they are 19 as follows - Clarke till August 1.” [1] The military representative, a Mr. C. H. Hill, appealed against delaying their call-up. The military authorities could veto the decisions of these civilian-led tribunals. Cllr. Calladine, clearly uncomfortable with the task, said: “We do not want this job and if the military authority find fault with us, there is not one who would not willingly chuck it up and make room for others. Still, we feel that we have got to pull through it.” [2] News of his death was not published until early in 1919: “The second hero to be described is Pte. Arthur Clarke, son of Mr & Mrs G. Clarke of 19 Spring Street, Hucknall, the official notification of whose death in action is November 4 [1918]. He was a youth of fine physique, and 20 years of age last August. It was on the 29th of March, 1917 when he joined the Forces, and was trained at Sunderland and Clevedon with the 9th Sherwood Foresters [sic, 3rd Battalion]. He was sent out to France in October, 1917, and took part in the give-and-take which were then being waged by the combating Forces. Then came the sweeping troops of the Germans on March 21 and following days, which he managed to survive, and afterwards took part in the advances made by our troops. In due course he was given a furlough, and had just got back when he was killed, the date being November 4, 1918, or a week before the Armistice period commenced. “Some information of the circumstances surrounding his death are given by Corpl. H. Farnfield [3], who stated in a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Clarke that all the boys missed him very much. Immediately they started to attack on the date in question a spent bullet entered his gas mask and remained in the canister. The corporal added that he and Arthur were nearly always together, and he was one of the best men in the Lewis Gun Section. “The deceased hero was apprenticed as a tailor with his uncle and later worked at the Co-operative stores.” [4] [1] ‘Hucknall Dispatch’, 1st April 1917. [2] Ibid. [3] Herbert Farnfield was a long-serving member of 9th Notts. & Derby, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign. [4] ‘Hucknall Dispatch’, 27th February 1919.