John Stanley Clarke (1887-1917)
Gateshead man served as a sergeant in the Canadian Field Artillery and was killed at Passchendaele
William Clarke, an engine maker from Sunderland married Ann Goodley in Holy Trinity Church, Gateshead on 28 November 1874 and they went on to live and raise a family of five sons and three daughters in Gateshead.
On 14 April 1911 John Stanley Clarke, his father William Clarke and younger brother Foskett Pyburn Clarke arrived in the USA making for Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. John remained there whilst his father and brother returned home the following month. Working as an accountant on 21 February 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) giving his mother in Gateshead as his next of kin. He became private 331619 of the 62nd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (CFA). John had obviously thought about enlisting as on 23 November 1915 he had made out a will in favour of his youngest sister Bertha and lodged it with a solicitor in Gateshead.
The SS Cameronia brought the 62nd to England, arriving in Liverpool, Lancashire in the middle of September 1916. They were initially based at Witley Camp in Sussex. John was appointed sergeant, transferred to the 15th Brigade CFA and posted to the 82nd Howitzer Battery. In March 1917 he was transferred to the 2nd Brigade CFA in France. After fighting at Vimy John was hospitalised at Camiers with an ingrown toenail. He was away from his unit for eight weeks not rejoining them until 6 October 1917 at Sains-Bouvigny.
The start of November saw John’s unit near Brandhoek in a sea of mud, “where every shell hole and dugout is full of water, and a river flows between the road and the guns”. The war diary says “the mud in Flanders is in a class by itself as it boasts the most sticking qualities”. It was in these conditions at Passchendaele that Sergeant 331619 John Stanley Clarke was killed on 4 November 1917. He is buried in Oxford Road British Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium.
Civil Parish: Gateshead
Birth date: 30-Jun-1887
Death date: 04-Nov-1917
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 52 Haydn Street, Gateshead (1891 census)
14 Denmark Street, Gateshead (1901 census)
79 Berwick Road, Gateshead (ship’s manifest)
1352 Bidwell Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (1916 enlistment papers)
Religion: Baptist
Employment: Clerk (1911 ship’s manifest)
Accountant (1916 enlistment papers)
Family: Parents: William Clarke, Ann Eliza Clarke nee Goodley
Siblings: William Duncan Clarke, Florence Edith Clarke, Frederick Thomas Clarke, Frank Foskett Clarke, Foskett Pyburn Clarke, Eva Esther Clarke, Rena Bertha Clarke
Military service:
331619
Sergeant
15th Brigade Canadian Field Artillery
2nd Brigade Canadian Field Artillery
Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Oxford Road British Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham
