CLARKE, William Arthur
| Service Number: | 3938 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 12th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia, 2 October 1893 |
| Home Town: | Deloraine, Meander Valley, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Deloraine State School, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Pneumonia, France, 8 May 1916, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Merville Communal Cemetery, France Plot VI, Row P, Grave No. 35 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Deloraine War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 24 Aug 1915: | Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), 3938 | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3938, 12th Infantry Battalion | |
| 24 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 3938, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 24 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 3938, 12th Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
William Arthur Clarke was actually taken on strength of the 12th Battalion in Egypt during March 1916. He arrived in France soon after and only a month later he was admitted to hospital sick on 2 May 1916, with lobar pneumonia. He died six days in the 2nd London Casualty Clearing Station, in France. He was 22 years of age.
On enlisting William gave his next of kin as his mother, Mrs. Ellen Clarke of Exeter, Tasmania. From his service files and the war gratuity application it becomes evident that Ellen was William’s grandmother. She had raised him from five months of age, he was the illegitimate son of one of her own boys. The birth mother had agreed to Ellen looking after the baby and had long since disappeared.
Ellen was widowed about 10 years after she adopted young William. She had nine children of her own, and two of her own sons died during WW1, as well as the adopted William. She had to fight long and hard with the authorities before she was eventually granted the War Gratuity in respect of William Arthur Clarke.
Her other sons were Charles Edmund Clarke 40th Battalion wo died in 1916 and Claude Ernest Clarke 12th Battalion who died in 1919.
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