Clifford FAWCETT

26 February 1915

ADDINGHAM – A SOLDIER’S EXPERIENCES IN FRANCE

Private Clifford Fawcett, of the 1st East Lancashire Regiment, serving with the Expeditionary Force, gives some interesting details of his experiences after leaving this country for France in a letter to his grandmother, Nurse Myers, of Addingham, in which he says:

“Just a few lines to let you know what has happened since I arrived here on August 24th. After a very nice voyage we camped at Havre, on the 24th. We entrained for Le Catau [Le Cateau], a journey of 17 miles, cooped up in cattle trucks. On the 25th we had a full day’s march, when we came into action at Ligny, returning with about 150 killed, wounded and missing. We were under very heavy shrapnel fire, which greeted us from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. After that we kept fighting retiring actions until the 9th of September, when we took the village of Le Forte [La Ferté]. This was a very good day, and we had a good pop at the enemy. Here we lost our brave Colonel. I must say it was a great loss for us, as he was respected by every man.

All the doing in this great war, from the battlefield of Mons, are starred with the brave deeds of the East Lancashire Regiment. From Ligny to the Aisne, and the blood sodden battlefield of North France and Flanders, we have sacrificed some of our best men – the best the nation could produce. On all the hallowed and heroic fields the great deeds of the East Lancashire’s stand out. Their story is the story of the campaign.

I think the country ought to send out here those who say they would like to come. I am one of the few left who came out with the battalion, and I think I ought to have a short leave, as it is very rough in the trenches now. We are up to the knees in water and are ‘ladling’ all day and night.”

28 May 1915

FAWCETT – Killed in the trenches at Ypres, France, Pte. C. Fawcett, of the East Lancashire Regiment, grandson of Mr. and Mrs. T. Myers, Main Street, Addingham, aged 21 years.

28 May 1915

THE DEATH ROLL AT YPRES – ADDINGHAM PEOPLE RECEIVE BAD NEWS: PTE. FAWCETT

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Myers, of Main Street, Addingham, have received notification that their grandson. Pte. Fawcett, of the East Lancashire Regiment, has been killed in the trenches near Ypres. Pte. Fawcett, who was only 21 years of age, had been in the East Lancashire's three years, played in the Regimental Band and went to the Front as a stretcher bearer.

He was wounded in September last and, on recovery, went back to the firing line. Pte. Fawcett's parents now reside at Nelson and have received the following letter from Lieut. S. Casson, of the lst East Lancashire Regiment:– “It is with the greatest regret that I have to inform you of the death of your son Clifford. He was in my platoon, and I have always found him a cheerful and energetic soldier, and have always looked to him to help me in difficult matters. Everybody in the company feels his loss. He was killed instantly by a bullet while in a trench in the front at Ypres, where the battalion was holding a very critical position. He was always fearless, and has died gallantly in a great cause. I can only repeat my own personal regret at his death.”

Sergt. Martin, of the same brigade as the deceased, has also written:– “I feel it my painful duty, as sergeant in your son Clifford's platoon, to write and tell you he has been killed. I am so sorry to have to write you such a letter, but I know a mother always wants to know the worst. Nothing grieves me more than having to write to you such a letter, as he was so well liked in his platoon. He was as a son to me. He would ‘skylark’ with me every time he saw me. He was a lad I had such a great liking for, as he was so obliging and always a lad to keep himself clean and tidy. He always went the way he should do.”

Pte. Fawcett's brother-Driver Fawcett-is now training with the Royal Engineers.