CLARKE, Rowland James


15599, Private, Rowland CLARKE
Aged 25


11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Killed in Action on Saturday, 1st July 1916

Rowland James CLARKE was born in Balsham in 1892(Linton Q4-1892 3B:481), baptised in Balsham on 25th December 1892, son of James and Alice CLARKE (née HILLS).

1901 census...Aged 8, he was at Little Corner, Balsham with his father James [37] horsekeeper; his mother Alice [25] born Linton; sister Daisy [5] and brother Harry [1]. All except his mother were born in Balsham

1911 census...Aged 18, farm labourer,he was at Fleam Dyke, West Wratting with his parents; sisters Daisy and Rosa [3] born Balsham; brothers Harry and Arthur [2 weeks] born West Wratting.


He enlisted in Linton in November 1914.
He was killed on the worst day in British military history, 60,000 casualties, around 20,000 of them dead.
The 11th Suffolks were part of 34th Division, as yet untried in battle, in the front of the attack opposite La Boiselle. At 7.28 a mine containing 60,000 lbs of ammonal was blown, creating a crater (Lochnagar crater) 55 feet deep and 220 feet across. 2 minutes later the attack began, the 11 Suffolks following the 10th Lincolns advancing on a line through the centre of Bailiff Wood. The Germans however were in great strength in La Boiselle and as the Suffolks advanced they immediately came under heavy machine gun fire. The lines of men were quickly reduced to groups of 3 and four and by 8 am the battle was decided. Hundreds lay wounded, a pitiful few had managed to reach the German wire. Occasionally a man rose and tried to get forward, only to fall again. Even those few who did reach the parapet were quickly despatched by flame throwers.

Of all the battalions in the battle of Albert, the 11th Suffolks fared worst, with very nearly 700 casualties (a battalion is nominally just over 1,000 men).

The 11th Suffolk suffered 188 killed on the 1st July, 147 of them have no known grave.



Rowland Clarke is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial, pier/face..1C/2A

click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details


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