Name
Frederick James Clarke
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/08/1915
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18053
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ABBEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
Plot II, Row C, Grave 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour
Pre War
Son of Sarah (nee LAWRENCE) CLARKE of Watford, and the late Frederick CLARKE; husband of Daisy E (nee THOMAS) CLARKE.
His parents married 1885 in the Uxbridge, Middx, district. Frederick died 1907 in Watford aged 43, and was buried 12 August in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford; Sarah died 1937 in Watford aged 77, and was buried 6 October, also in Vicarage Road Cemetery.
Frederick was born 17 March 1892 in Watford, and attended Beechen Grove Board School, Watford, from 28 November 1900 to 26 January 1906. He married 1913 in the Watford district; they had two children. He resided in Watford. Daisy remarried 1918 in the Watford district to Alfred HUMPHREY, and died 1951 in the Harrow, Middx, district aged 57.
On the 1901 Census, a scholar aged 9 he lived in Watford, with his parents and six siblings. On the 1911 Census, a hairdresser aged 19, he still lived in Watford, with his widowed mother and four siblings.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bedford; was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914-15 Star medals, his qualifying date being 8 June 1915, and died at 5 Stationery Hospital, Abbeville, of wounds received in action.
Additional Information
There are In Memoriams for Frederick in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 31 August 1918 and 30 August 1919. Unfortunately, Frederick’s Service Record appears to be one that did not survive the World War Two bombing.
* Please note the layout of this cemetery and its extension is very confusing. Abbeville Communal Cemetery consist of a small, separated area with rows A to E (no obvious plot number - the French graves are allocated plot I (1) and II (2)), plus plots III (3), IV (4), V (5), VI (6) in the lower level of the larger cemetery area. The extension consists of plots I (1), II (2), III (3), IV (4), V (5), VI (6), VII (7) VIII (8) and IX (9) - the raised area of the larger area of cemetery with the CWGC building.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
