CLARKE, Walter Allen
| Service Number: | 6534 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 January 1917, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 1889 |
| Home Town: | Moree, Moree Plains, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Shearer |
| Died: | Died of pneumonia and the effects of a head wound, Southall, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom, 29 April 1919 |
| Cemetery: |
Harefield (St. Mary) Churchyard, Middlesex, United Kingdom The church cemetery at St. Mary's Harefield, houses the graves of over 100 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who lost their lives at the local field hospital after being recovered wounded from the French battlefields during WWI. , Harefield (St Mary) Churchyard, Harefield, Hillingdon, England, United Kingdom |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Moree & District Fallen Soldiers Honour Roll, Moree ANZAC Centenary Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Jan 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6534, Sydney, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Feb 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 6534, 18th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Feb 1917: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 6534, 18th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Sydney | |
| 20 Sep 1917: | Involvement 18th Infantry Battalion, Menin Road | |
| 9 Oct 1917: | Involvement 18th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Poelcapelle | |
| 29 Apr 1919: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 6534, 18th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Walter Allen Clarke's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Natalie Lonsdale
Walter Allen Clarke (1889-1917) was born in Collingwood, Victoria in 1889, the eighth child of Walter and Sarah Clarke nee McGillivray.[1]
At the time of the outbreak of the First World War, he was working as a shearer on Mirabool Station in Moree, New South Wales.[2]
He enlisted in the army at the Sydney showgrounds on January 16th 1917.[3]
Walter was to go on to fight with the 18th Battalion[4] in Havre and Boulogne France before succumbing to pneumonia and dying on the 29 Apr 1919 at the No 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, in Southall, England.[5]
None of his family could be traced to notify them of his death, and his records reveal they may never have known that he had enlisted. His friend Patrick O'Keefe was listed as his next of kin. Walter was buried at the Australian Military Burial Ground, in Harefield, England with a full military funeral on the 29th April 1919, he was 31 years old.[6]
[1]Ancestry, Birth Record for Walter Allen Clarke, ‘Australia, Birth Index, 1788-1922’, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2010, Accessed 7 April 2017.
[2] Service Record of Walter Allen Clarke, p. 1, B2455, National Archives of Australia.
[3] Service Record of Walter Allen Clarke, p. 1.
[4] Service Record of Walter Allen Clarke, p. 1.
[5] Service Record of Walter Allen Clarke, p. 51.
[6] Service Record of Walter Allen Clarke, p. 38.
Biography contributed by Natalie Lonsdale
The story of Walter Allen Clarke can be found in the Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV) Ancestor Journal, Vol.34 no.8 DECEMBER 2019 - A lost solider found: the story of Private Walter Allen Clarke / Natalie Lonsdale p12.
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