Arthur Frederick Clarke
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Arthur Frederick Clarke was born on 28th August 1894 at Hucknall Torkard and was the only son of the Reverend Alfred Edward Clarke vicar of South leverton, Nottinghamshire and his wife Gertrude Ellen Newton Clarke née Roberts. His father was born in 1853 at Leamington Spa and his mother Gertrude Ellen Newton Roberts was born in 1866 at Monmouth, she died in 1901 aged 36 yrs they were married on 16th November 1893 at Aldridge, Staffordshire, they went on to have the following children, Arthur Frederick b1894 Hucknall, Frances Ellen b1896 Basford and Gertrude Roberts b1901 Basford. In the 1901 census the family are living at the Vicarage Annesley Road, Hucknall In the 1911 census Arthur is boarding at St John's foundation school for the sons of the poor clergy of the Church of England, Epsom Road, Leatherhead. he is shown as being 16 yrs of age, single and a student. In the same 1911 census his widowed father is living at the Vicarage at South Leverton, Nottinghamshire and is the local clergyman, he is living at the address with a servant.
He joined the Sheffield battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment on its formation in September 1914 shortly after the outbreak of war. A member of ' A' Company being chiefly composed of university students. He left for Egypt on 21st December 1915 and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from March 1916. He was reported as wounded and missing after the first day of the battle of the Somme and assumed to have been killed in action on that date. His body was never identified and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial, Somme.
Private memorial, All Saints church, South Leverton: 'In loving memory of Arthur Frederick Clarke, only son of the vicar of this parish who gave his life for his country at the Battle of the Somme, July 1st 1916, aged 21'
