Name
George Herbert Clements
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/09/1917
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/15496
Royal Sussex Regiment
11th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LARCH WOOD (RAILWAY CUTTING) CEMETERY
IV.G.9
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
GOD IS LOVE
UK & Other Memorials
Knebworth Village Memorial, Knebworth (Old), St Martin's Church Memorial, Knebworth (New), St Martin's Church Framed Memorial Knebworth (New), The British Legion -Knebworth & District Branch ROH, St Martin Church, Knebworth (New), St Mary & St Thomas Church Memorial, Knebworth Park, Diocese - Book of Remembrance, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, Diocese of St Albans - ROH, St Albans Cathedral, St Alban, Not on the Braughing memorials
Pre War
George Herbert Clements was born in 1894 in Braughing, Hertfordshire, the son of Albert and Emma Clements (nee Knight), and baptised at St Mary's Church, Braughing on 13 August 1894.
Sadly his mother died in 1897, aged 40, possibly following the birth and subsequent death of daughter Emma at the end of 1896. On the 1901 Census the family were living at Green Hill, Braughing. George, aged 6, was living with his widowed father and older sisters Mary and Elizabeth. His father was then working as a gardener domestic. Older brother Albert , born in 1884, was a boarder at a cottage near 'The Lordship', Standon, Herts and working as a gardener domestic.
In 1911 George, and his sister Elizabeth remained living in Braughing with their father, but had moved to Church End and George was then working as a house boy. His older sister Mary was working as a servant (nursemaid) to Dr Michael Foster and his family at The Moat, in nearby Puckeridge.
His father later lived at 'Endagreena', Pondcroft Road, Knebworth, Hertfordshire.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hertford and initially joined the Hertfordshire Regiment under reg. no. 5360, later being transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment, serving with the 11th Battalion in France.
He was killed in action on 18 September 1917 and is buried in the Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £9 10s and pay owing of £3 15s 9d.
A pension was initially refused in respect of his sister Elizabeth (who had been looking after George since his mother died) but a pension card exists which suggests she was awarded a dependants' pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Paul Johnson
