CLARKE Richard Stanley 2/Lt

SKR/DAT/IP/20513

CLARKE Richard Stanley 2/Lt

2000-2024

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Surname: CLARKE;

Forename(s): Richard Stanley;

Initials: RS;

Rank: 2/Lt;

Born in: Liverpool;

Enlistment Date: 07-Aug-1914;

Previous Number: 5266;

Previous Regiment: Denbigh Hussars;

Date of transfer to MGC: 25-Sep-1916;

MGC Branch: Infantry;

MGC Unit: 47 Bn;

How killed: KIA;

Where: France;

When killed: 04-Oct-1918;

Awarded: MC;

Gallantry Notes: For conspicuous gallantry while in command of four guns. When the enemy counter attacked and pushed back the infantry on the left, his guns were left out in front. Though he had two guns knocked out he stuck to his position and collected and brought back some of the infantry to the line of his two remaining guns. By his courage and leadership he materially helped to keep the left flank of the line intact.;

Other Data: b. 16/5/1884
See Liverpool Scroll of Fame p55
see 56724 MGC - disch to Commsn 2/3/1918
No 3 Coy, 23 OC Bn Hipswell Camp, Catterick Feb 1918
joined 47 Bn 16/6/1918
award of MC published in PtII Orders 47 Bn 8/10/1918
death recorded in war diary: "C Coy - his section, (2 guns under Lt Clarke and 2 guns under Lt Christopher),was attached to 22 London Regt and advanced with 2nd wave. On engaging from eastern outskirts of Beaucamp, they encountered heavy MG fire from Railway. 2/Lt Clarke's two guns engaged hostile MGs and put one out of action. Whilst observing fire on remaining gun, 2/Lt Clarke was sniped."
later address of widow: 94 Durning Rd, Edgehill, Liverpool,
body originally buried in Lestrem Communal Cemetery Extn - exhumed in 1920 and reburied at Vieille Chapelle.
Estate £434/15/7d

Richard Stanley Clarke was killed a month before the signing of the Armistice and just over four months after he was married. Richard was born at 94 Durning Road on 16 May 1884 and was baptised in St Cyprian’s Church, a ‘stone’s throw away’ from the place of his birth, on 17 July the same year. He was the son of Thomas Clarke (physician, b. 1847 d. 13/9/40) and Nellie Clarke who were still living in Durning Road at the time of the Second World War. From an early age Richard was a keen footballer, playing with a number of local teams and at the outbreak of the war he was on the Liverpool Old Boys team.
Richard was educated at Waterloo High School and at Liverpool College in Lodge Lane, Liverpool. On leaving school he took up a position as an insurance clerk with the Royal Insurance Company. Prior to the war he enlisted in the Denbighshire Yeomanry, who were part of the Territorial Force (the forerunner of the modern Territorial Army), and attended a number of annual two-weekly training camps.
On 4 August 1914 just after war broke out Richard re-enlisted in his old unit as Trooper No 5266, serving for many months with the 1/1st Denbighshire Yeomanry on the north-east coast of Suffolk. It was during this period that he further honed his military skills rising to the rank of Sergeant and qualifying as a 1st-Class instructor on the machine gun. He sailed for Egypt with his unit arriving in March 1916. The Denbighshire Yeomanry was involved in fighting the Senussi during their time in Egypt. The Senussi, an Islamic political-religious Sufi order and tribe, was encouraged by the German and Ottoman Empires to wage a guerrilla war against the Italians in Libya and the British in Egypt from November 1915 until February 1917. During his time in Egypt Richard rose to be Quartermaster Sergeant before being sent to serve in Palestine against the Turks. He was subsequently appointed Acting Colour Sergeant and transferred to 210th Company Machine Gun
Corps as No 56724, on 25 September 1916, serving with them in France.
His qualities as a potential officer were soon recognised and he returned to England in 1917 to train for a commission in the Machine Gun Corps which was granted on 2 March 1918.
On 25 May 1918, Richard, who was 33 and stationed at Harrowby Camp Grantham, married 22-year old Mildred Ivy Gooch in the Church of St Leonard, London. Mildred, the daughter of George Gooch, a sea pilot, lived with her parents at 248 High Rd, Streatham, London. Barely three weeks after the marriage Richard sailed for France and joined 47th Battalion Machine Corps in the Field on 16 June, 1918.
Richard was killed in action on 4 October 1918. The war diary of 47th Battalion records the following “C Company (2 guns under 2nd Lt Clarke and 2 guns under Lt Christopher), was attached to 22 London Regt and advanced with the second wave. On engaging [the enemy] from the eastern outskirts of Beaucamp, they encountered heavy machine gun fire from the Railway. 2nd Lt Clarke’s two guns engaged hostile machine guns and put one out of action. Whilst observing fire on the remaining gun, 2nd Lt Clarke was sniped.”
Although his remains were originally buried in Lestrem Communal Cemetery Extension in 1920 they were exhumed and re-buried in Plot VI, Row C, Grave 17 in Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery, Lacouture, France. This re-interrment was part of a process of concentrating graves into larger cememteries after the war. After the death of her husband Mildred at one time lived at 14 North Rd, Gorleston-on-Sea.
Richard Clarke is commemorated on the war memorial that once stood in St Cyprian’s Church in Durning Rd Edge Hill (now preserved in the Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool) and on the war memorial of Liverpool College Junior School, Queens Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool.
He left estate valued at £434 15s. 7d. To his widow. The London gazette of 11 January 1919 records the award, of his Military Cross. The citation reads “For conspicuous gallantry while in command of four guns. When the enemy counter-attacked and pushed back the infantry on the left, his guns were left out in front. Though he had two guns knocked out he stuck to his position and collected and brought back some of the infantry to the line of his two remaining guns. By his courage and leadership he materially helped to keep the left flank of the line intact.”

1911 Census
Richard Stanley Clarke
Age: 26
Occupation: clerk with Royal Insurance Company
Address: 94 Durning Road, Liverpool - the dwelling had 13 rooms
Born: Liverpool
Father’s Name: Thomas Clarke 64, Doctor Of Medicine - he worked from home and from 60 Castle St, Liverpool, b. Ahoghill, co Antrim
Mother’s Name: Nellie Clarke 55, b. St David’s, Pembroke
Hilda Rosa Clarke 24, assists at home, b. Liverpool
John Howard Clarke 23, clerk with Liverpool Corporation, b. Liverpool
Nora Elaine Clarke 16, b. Liverpool
Kate Griffiths 33, housemaid
Muriel Williams 23, cook
His parents had been married for 32 years - 9 of their 11 children survived.

1901 Census
Richard S Clarke
Age: 16
Occupation : insurance clerk
Address: 94 Durning Rd, Liverpool
Relation: Son
Father’s Name: Thomas Clarke, 54, medical doctor, b. Ireland
Mother’s Name: Nellie Clarke, 44, b. St David’s, Pembrokeshire
Where born: Liverpool
Gladys L Clarke 20, b. Liverpool
Arthur L Clarke 19, medical student, b. Liverpool
Thomas Courtenay Clarke 17, medical student, b. Liverpool
Nora E Clarke 6, b. Liverpool
Mary J Jones 23, housemaid
Elizabeth Larkin, 30, cook

1891 Census
Richard S Clarke
Age: 6
Address: 94 Durning Rd, Liverpool
Relation: Son
Father’s Name: Thomas Clarke, 44, registered general medical practioner, b. Ireland
Mother’s Name: Nelly Clarke, 35, b. St David’s, Pembrokeshire
Where born: Liverpool
Gladys L Clarke 10, b. Liverpool
Thomas Courtenay Clarke 7, b. Liverpool
Hilda R Clarke 4, b. Liverpool
John H Clarke 3, b. Liverpool
Kelly K Clarke 1, b. Liverpool
Alice Maguntz 40, cook
Sarah J Banks 27, nurse
Mary Carangle19, housemaid
Jessie A Charlton 15, housemaid

Photo (Liverpool Courier 14/10/18 -W257);

Other Notes: CLARKE, Second Lieutenant, R S, MC, 47th Bn. Machine Gun Corps (Inf). 4th October 1918. VI. C. 17. Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery, Lacouture - Pas De Calais, France.
MC: LG 11/1/1919 T/Lieut 47 Bn MGC
NOK: wife: Mrs Mildred Ivy Clarke, 14 North Rd, Gorleston-on-Sea;

Related National Archives files: WO339/112632;

END OF RECORD.

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