Pte 235112 Walter Josiah Clarke

• Age: 31
• From: Pluckley, Kent
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 8th May 1918
• Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
  Panel Ref: Panel 31-34

Walter Josiah Clark was born in 1887 in Pluckley and resided in Pluckley, Kent and was the son of Sidney Clark and his wife Naomi (nee Chamberlain). His parents married on 02nd December 1871 at Melbourn, Cambridge. Walter was baptised on 20th March 1887 in Pluckley, Kent.

The family name was CLARK confirmed by the 1851 census of father Sidney Clark aged 2 b.Meldreth, for some unknown reason Walter progressed the name to Clarke.

On the 1891 census the family are living at 5 Dering Terrace, Pluckley, Kent. Father, Sidney, is aged 39, and a labourer in brickyard born in Meldreth, Cambs, his mother Naomi is aged 38 born in Melbourn, Cambs. They have five choildren in the household; Mary M. 15 general servant b. Meldreth,Cambs, Emily 10 scholar b.Pluckley, William 9 scholar b.Pluckley, Sarah 5 scholar b.Pluckley, Walter 4 b.Pluckley.

On the 1901 Census, Walter is aged 14, a labourer at brickworks, still living at 5 Dering Terrace, Pluckley. Father Sidney 48 a clay digger, mother Naomi 48, siblings Emily 20, Susan L. 9, Charles 7.

On the 1911 census he is aged 24, an assistant for a general carrier(horse), still living at 5 Dering Terrace, Pluckley. Father Sidney 62 a clay miner, mother Naomi is 58. Thye have been married for 39 years and have had 12 children, 9 of whom have survived. His sister Emily aged 30 is also in the household.

and the husband of Elsie Bertha Clark, of 27 Bowness Rd, Catford, London. 

He enlisted in Pluckley, Kent and originally served as 458, East Kent Regiment. 

Additional military info from "Pluckley - The Kent Fallen"

Walter joined the 5th Buffs in 1911 and before the war was working at the Dering Arms, Pluckley. At the outbreak of war he went with the Buffs to India, returning in 1915 with time expired. Rejoining the battalion he went out to Mesopotamia, returning in 1917, whereupon he married Bertha and in February transferred to the King's. 

He married Elsie Bertha Bower in the June quarter of 1917. Elsie was aged 28, born Sittingbourne, and at the time of the 1911 Census was working as a cook for the Rector of Pluckley.

Walter was serving in the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 235112 when he was killed in action on the 8^th May 1918 aged 31 during the German Spring Offensive.

The 17th Battalion were at this time in the Vierstraat Sector. the diary reports that the day passed quietly until the afternoon. The front line ran through Klein Vierstraat Cabaret. At 4.30 pm it was reported that the Germans had advanced and were now in " our original front line". At 7.10 pm A and B company's of the 17th Battalion were ordered to move forward in artillery formation from support line with object of co-operating with French troops who were advancing towards the enemy. At 08.10 pm the advance was reported to be going well on the left but nothing could be seen on the right. The situation at the end of the day was that the 17th Battalion were holding the line alongside several other units but casualties were heavy. Captain Norman Henry and Second Lieutenant Dudley Hammond Black were killed in action alongside 17 other ranks one of which was Walter Josiah Clarke.    

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to widow Elsie B.

His father, Sidney died in 1921 and was buried on 06th June 1921. His mother died in the December quarter of 1928, aged 76.

His widow never remarried, and is on the 1939 register. She died aged 87 in 1969. 

We currently have no further information on Walter Josiah Clarke, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.