Pte 34410 Thomas Clarkson

• Age: 21
• From: Darwen, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• D.O.W Wednesday 31st October 1917
• Commemorated at: Outtersteene Cc Ext, Bailleul
  Panel Ref: II.B.70

Thomas Clarkson was born in Darwen, Lancashire in 1896, the son of Henry Clarkson and his wife Agnes (née Brack) who married in 1887.  They had nine children, of which eight survived. Thomas had older siblings Gertrude, Herbert, Agnes, and Veronica, and younger siblings Winifred, Amelia, and Norah.

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 28, Daisyfield Street, Darwen, Blackburn, Lancashire. His father, Henry, is aged 45, born in Withnell, Lancashire in 1856 is a general labourer, his mother Agnes is aged 41, was born in Manchester in 1860 with no occupation listed. At the time of the Census they have eight children living in the household, listed as; Gertrude aged 12 is a cotton weaver, Herbert aged 10, Agnes aged 8, Veronica aged 6, Thomas aged 5, Monica aged 4, Winifred (Winnie) aged 2 and Amelia aged 1.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 56 Blackburn Road, Darwen, Lancashire. His mother Agnes aged 54, was born in Manchester 1857( the 1901 Census shows her year of birth as 1860) is a housekeeper. She has been married for twenty three years and had nine children of which one had died. Those children listed on the record in 1911 are; Gertrude aged 22, born 1889, Agnes aged 18, born 1893, Veronica aged 16, born 1895 and Thomas aged 15, born 1896 are all weavers in a cotton mill, Winnie aged 12, born 1899, Amelia aged 11, born 1900 and Norah aged 9, born 1902 are at school.

In March 1912 Thomas, age 16, with his mother Agnes and siblings, emigrated to Canada, sailing from Liverpool and arriving at Halifax Nova Scotia on 28th March, destination Valleyfield, Quebec, to join his father Henry who had emigrated earlier.

It is not known when Thomas left Canada for Liverpool to enlist.

The details of his military service are not known as his record has not survived, but the amount of the War Gratuity, based on rank and length of service, suggests that he served about 13 months.

Thomas enlisted in Liverpool initially joining the 11th Bn and was serving in the 19th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 34410 when he died of wounds on the 31st October, 1917 aged 35 during the Third Battle of Ypres Passchendaele).

He now rests at Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Belgium.

Outtersteene was captured by the III Corps on 13 October 1914 but no Commonwealth burials took place there for nearly three years. In August 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, the 2nd, 53rd and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations came to Outtersteene, and the first and last of these remained until March 1918. The hamlet was captured by the Germans on 12 April 1918, and retaken by the 9th, 29th and 31st Divisions, with the ridge beyond it, on 18 and 19 August, but the cemetery was not used again during hostilities. After the Armistice, over 900 graves of 1914 and 1918 were brought into Plots I, II and IV from the battlefields surrounding Outtersteene and from certain small cemeteries. In the Extension, on the East side of the Communal Cemetery, were buried 17 soldiers from the United Kingdom and one from Australia, who fell in August and September 1918. 1,147 German graves were initially concentrated into Plot III. These were later removed to Steenwerck German Cemetery. The extension was used again in 1940, for the burial of those killed in the fighting which covered the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk. Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension now contains 1,393 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 499 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Second World War burials number 72, of which 23 are unidentified. The extension was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

He is also commemorated on the Darwen Roll of Honour.

Thomas earned the British War Medal and the Victory Medal but sadly these were returned, as his mother had moved away. 

Soldiers’ Effects shows a War Gratuity of £5-10s ‘for issue’.  

In 1919 his father died in Valleyfield and the family left Canada for the United States. 

The 1920 U.S. census finds Agnes with a number of the children living in Hudson Street, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

His mother, Mrs. Agnes Clarkson, at 186 de Normanville Street, Montreal, received a pension of 5/- a week, later address 151 Hudson Street, New Bedford, Mass., U.S.A. 

His mother, Agnes, died on the 03rd April 1933 in Los Angeles, California. 

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