Top Navigation

Ennie CLARKE

Main CPGW Record

Surname: CLARKE

Forename(s): Ennie

Place of Birth: Skipton, Yorkshire

Service No: 4777

Rank: Private

Regiment / Corps / Service: Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment)

Battalion / Unit: 2/6th Battalion

Division: 62nd (2/West Riding) Division

Age: 19

Date of Death: 1917-03-02

Awards: ---

CWGC Grave / Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 6 A and 6 B.

CWGC Cemetery: ---

CWGC Memorial: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

Non-CWGC Burial: ---

Local War Memorial: SKIPTON, YORKSHIRE

Additional Information:

Ennie Clarke was the son of Thomas Henry and Priscilla Clarke, née Wilson and brother of Private Tom Clarke (8796) (q.v.). Their father was born at Skipton and mother at Darton, Yorkshire. Ennie and Tom were cousins of T/2nd Lieutenant Gordon Carruthers (q.v.).

1901 Skipton, Yorkshire Census: 20, Byron Street - Ennie Clarke, aged 3 years, born Skipton, son of Thomas Henry and Priscilla Clarke.

1911 Skipton, Yorkshire Census: 20, Byron Street - Ennie Clarke, aged 13 years, born Skipton, son of Thomas Henry and Priscilla Clarke.

The British Army Service Record for Ennie Clarke exists but may be incomplete.

Ennie is listed in the Nominal Roll of the 2/6th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment): 'D' Coy - Pte E. Clarke.

British Army WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards: Pte Ennie Clarke, 6/4777, W. Rid. R. K. in A. 2.3.17.

British Army WW1 Medal and Award Rolls: Pte Ennie Clarke, 6/4777, 2/6 W. Rid. R. K. in A. 2.3.17.

Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects: Pte Ennie Clarke, 4777, 2/6th Bn W. Yorks [sic]. Date and Place of Death: 2.3.17 France. To whom Authorised/Amount Authorised: Mother and Sole Legatee - Priscilla. £8 4s. 9d.

UK, WW1 Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923: joint card(s) exist for Ennie and Tom. Name(s) on card(s): Name of Dependant: Mrs Priscilla Clarke, Relationship to Man: Mother. Address: 20, Byron Street, Skipton.

Data Source: Craven’s Part in the Great War - original CPGW book entry

View Entry in CPGW Book

Entry in West Yorkshire Pioneer Illustrated War Record:

CLARKE, Ernie, aged 19, 2/6th West Riding, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.H. Clarke, 20, Byron Street, [Skipton], killed in action Mar. 1, 1917.

---

Click the thumbnail below to view a larger image.

Private Ennie CLARKE

Private Ennie CLARKE

Regiment / Corps / Service Badge: Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment)

Regiment / Corps / Service Badge: Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment)

Divisional Sign / Service Insignia: 62nd (2/West Riding) Division

Divisional Sign / Service Insignia: 62nd (2/West Riding) Division

Data from Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 - 1919 Records

Soldiers Died Data for Soldier Records

Surname: CLARKE

Forename(s): Ennie

Born: Skipton, Yorks

Residence:

Enlisted: Skipton

Number: 4777

Rank: Private

Regiment: Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)

Battalion: 2/6th Battalion

Decorations:

Died Date: 02/03/17

Died How: Killed in action

Theatre of War: France & Flanders

Notes:

Data from Commonwealth War Graves Commission Records

CWGC Data for Soldier Records

Surname: CLARKE

Forename(s): Ennie

Country of Service: United Kingdom

Service Number: 4777

Rank: Private

Regiment: Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)

Unit: 2nd/6th Bn.

Age: 19

Awards:

Died Date: 02/03/1917

Additional Information: Son of Thomas Henry and Priscilla Clarke, of 20, Byron St., Skipton, Yorks.

---

View Additional Image(s)

Additional Photo(s) For Soldier Records

Priscilla Clarke, née Wilson, the mother of Tom and Ennie Clarke

Priscilla Clarke, née Wilson, the mother of Tom and Ennie Clarke

Courtesy of Carol Ayrton, née Clarke

Thomas Henry Clarke, the father of Tom and Ennie Clarke

Thomas Henry Clarke, the father of Tom and Ennie Clarke

The wedding of Tom and Ennie's sister, Ethel

Courtesy of Carol Ayrton, née Clarke

View Craven Herald Articles

View Craven Herald Articles

Craven Herald and Wensleydale Standard Logo

16 March 1917

CLARKE - March 1st 1917, killed in action in France, Pte. Ennie Clarke, West Riding Regiment, of 20 Byron Street, Skipton, aged 19 years.

16 March 1917

SKIPTON FAMILY'S SECOND BEREAVEMENT - PTE. ENNIE CLARKE KILLED

We regret to say that Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Clarke, 20 Byron Street, Skipton, have suffered a second bereavement in the war by the death in action on the Western Front of their youngest son, Pte. Ennie Clarke, of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke's eldest son, Pte. Tom Clarke, of the Green Howards, was killed over a year ago, and their two other sons, Sapper Sidney Clarke and Pte. Fred Clarke, are both at the Front, the former with the Royal Engineers, and the latter with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment.

Pte. Ennie Clarke, who was only 19 years of age, enlisted on November 15th 1915, and went to France about a month ago. He was apprenticed to the trade of bookbinding with Messrs. Edmondson and Co., but for something like 12 months before joining the Army he was assistant at the Skipton Stationery Company's shop (the 'Craven Herald' proprietors).

In a letter to the parents, Captain R.C. Prince says:- "It is with the greatest regret I have to inform you that your son was killed in action on March 1st. He was holding a post when a shell burst and killed him instantaneously. Your son was a splendid soldier, and I feel his loss very much, as I saw a lot of him and he was always a willing lad. Please accept my deepest sympathy."

Pte. H. Davis, another Skipton soldier, has written to Mr. and Mrs. Clarke as follows:- "It is with great sympathy that I have to break the sad news to you of the death in action of your dear son Ennie. I am sure it will come as a great blow to you, as it has to all of us, but it might relieve you a little to know that death was instantaneous. I believe it was from shell shock. He was a great soldier, loved by all of us, and we all send you our deepest sympathy in your sad bereavement."

26 October 1917

IN MEMORIAM - BROUGHAM STREET SCHOOL HEROES

At the Congregational Church, Skipton, on Tuesday evening, an impressive musical service was held in memory of the teachers and old scholars of the Brougham Street Council School who have fallen in the first three years of the war. Particulars of the deaths of these brave lads have appeared in our columns from time to time, and their names are as follows:- Willie Barraclough, C.D. Bennett (teacher), Arthur Bruce, Sam Cairns, Cyril Calvert, Ennie Clarke, Tom Clarke, Harry Ingham, Tom Langman, Reggie Pollard, Lewis Sedgwick, Joe Stewart, Harry Tindall (teacher), and J.W. Varley.

There was a large and sympathetic congregation, including relatives of those in whose honour the service was held. Conducted jointly by the Rev. L.H. Gaunt and Mr. A. Townsend (headmaster of the school), the service, in addition to special prayers, hymns, collects, &c., comprised anthems by the Brougham Street School Old Scholars' Choir (under the direction of Mr. Townsend), solos by Miss D. Wear and Mr. Clifford Townsend, and an address by Mr. Gaunt.

In a few introductory remarks Mr. Townsend explained the object of the service, which he said was one of praise rather than of sorrow for the splendour of the lives that had been laid down. - The anthems were 'O God, protect with Thy strong hand' (Greig), 'Rest for the Weary' (Gounod), 'The Lord is my Shepherd' (Smart), and 'Peace to the Souls of the Heroes' (Callcott), and in all these and in Nicholson's setting of the 'Magnificat' the girls' voices blended with pleasing effect, the singing being marked by a very fine tone and clear enunciation, showing evidence of careful training. Miss D. Wear sang most acceptably the exacting solo 'I know that my Redeemer' (Handel) and Mr. Clifford Townsend gave a meritorious interpretation of 'The trumpet shall sound' (Handel). In addition to playing the organ accompaniments with the customary taste and efficiency, Mr. W.H. Green contributed as a solo the 'Hallelujah Chorus.'

In his address the Rev. L.H. Gaunt expressed his pleasure that the Congregational Church should have been used for a service of that kind and said he would rejoice if it could be used more frequently for public gatherings in which not only comparatively small circle of their own congregation might join, but in which the whole town might feel that it had some part. He also expressed his agreement with what Mr. Townsend had said as to the view they ought to take of the death of their boys, and said he felt that the Bishop of London - despite the fact that he had been taken to task for his expression of opinion - was right when he said that they ought not to think of the death of their boys as sheer calamity and overwhelming sorrow. They ought to think of them as having made a sacrifice bravely and heroically at the call of their country and for humanity, and those who were left behind to cherish their memory would honour them best by thinking of that sacrifice as a victory and not as a disaster; and their remembrance of them should come as a call to follow their example, to live so that they would be worthy of the sacrifice of their loved ones, and to bring to their lives into harmony with the great high note that they had struck in their sacrifice. They thanked God for what their boys had done and suffered, and most of all for what they had been and were now, and to ask His grace to follow in their train.

A collection was taken on behalf of the proposed new memorial of the Brougham Street School, which will probably take the form of a scholarship fund.

01 March 1918

CLARK - In loving memory of Ennie Clarke, who was killed in France March 1st, 1917.

Who could have fired that horrid shot
On one we loved d so well;
We never knew the pain he bore,
No mortal tongue can tell.
A lonely grave in a far off land,
A grave we may never see,
But Ennie, while life and memory last
We will fondly remember thee.

From his Father, Mother and Sisters (and two Brothers in France), 20, Byron Street, Skipton.

View West Yorkshire Pioneer Articles

View West Yorkshire Pioneer Articles

West Yorkshire Pioneer Logo

16 March 1917

CLARKE - March 1st, 1917, killed in action in France, Pte. Ennie Clarke, West Riding Regiment, of 20, Byron Street, Skipton, aged 19 years.

16 March 1917

SKIPTON SOLDIER KILLED

News has been received that Pte. Ennie Clarke, of the West Riding Regiment, and son of Mr. and Mrs. T.H. Clarke, of 20, Byron Street Skipton, was killed in action in France on March lst. Pte. Clarke, who was 19 years of age, enlisted in November, 1915, and had only been in France about a month. He was formerly apprenticed to bookbinding at Messrs. Edmondson and Co., printers, Skipton, and up to the time of his enlisting he was employed as shop assistant by the Skipton Stationery Company.

Captain R.C. Prince of the same regiment, writing to Pte. Clarke's parents, states:- "It is with deep regret that I inform you that your son was killed in action on March 1st. He was holding a post when a shell burst and killed him instantaneously. Your son was a splendid soldier, and I feel his loss very much, as I saw a lot of him, and he was always a willing lad. Please accept my deepest sympathy."

Pte. H. Davis, another Skipton soldier, and a 'pal' of Pte. Clarke, writes:- "It is with deep sympathy that I have to break the sad news to you of the death in action of your dear son, Ennie. I am sure it will come as a great blow to you, as it has to all of us. But it might relieve you a little to know that death was instantaneous. I believe it was from shell shock. He was a great soldier loved by all of us, and we all send you our deepest sympathy in your sad bereavement."

Mr. and Mrs. Clarke in March, 1915, lost another son, Pte. Tom Clarke, of the Green Howards, who died of wounds at Netley Hospital. They have also two other sons serving. Sapper Sydney Clarke of the Royal Engineers, and Pte. Fred Clarke, who is attached to the 1st 6th Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, both of whom are at present in France.

26 October 1917

SKIPTON

IN MEMORIAM SERVICE FOR THE FALLEN

An in memoriam musical service was held at the Congregational Church, Skipton, on Tuesday evening last in memory of the teachers and old scholars of the Brougham Street Council School, who have made the supreme sacrifice in the first three years of the war. Their names are as follows:- Willie Barraclough, C. D. Bennett (teacher), Arthur Bruce, Sam Cairns, Cyril Calvert, Ennie Clarke, Tom Clarke, Harry Ingham, Tom Langman, Reggie Pollard, Lewis Sedgwick, Joe Stewart, Harry Tindall (teacher), and J.W. Varley. Mr. A. Townsend, in explaining the objects of the service, said he hoped it would not be of a sorrowful character, but that they were gathered together to honour all the men that had laid down their lives.

Rev. L. F. Gaunt, in the course of a brief address, said that he fully concurred with the statement made at the opening of the service that their predominant thought should be one of trust and thanksgiving for those who had made the supreme sacrifice. They were not to think of those young lives as having been thrown away and lost. No true life would ever be lost, for it was a gift of God, and anything that came from Him could never really die. Standing one day this summer he had watched the field of daisies rippling in the wind, and had rejoined in their beauty, but even as he stood there a mowing machine had come and cut down all the flowers. It seemed a waste of life and beauty, but he remembered that the roots were still there and that the flowers would grow all the fairer and the stronger next year. So it was with those whom we described as having been cut down in their youth. The roots of life had not perished, but would bear flowers and fruit again. Our loved ones, who had passed away, could still be helped by our love and by our prayers. It was for those who remained to prove themselves worthy of the sacrifices that had been made so that at the end they might meet again without shame.

During the evening the following programme was gone through by the members of the Brougham Street Old Scholars' Choir: Anthem, 'O God protect with Thy strong hand' (Grier); sentences and collects; anthem, 'Rest for the weary' (Gounod); hymn, 'For all the Saints'; lesson; magnificat (S. Nicholson); hymn, 'God of our fathers'; solo, 'The trumpet shall sound' (Handel), Clifford Townsend; 'Hallelujah chorus,' organ; solo, 'I know that my Redeemer' (Handel), D. Wear; anthem, 'The Lord is my shepherd' (Smart); hymn, 'Was there ever kindest shepherd'; anthem, 'Peace to the souls of the heroes' (Callcott); hymn, 'The day Thou gavest.' During the evening a collection was taken, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the proposed school memorial.

01 March 1918

In loving memory of Ennie Clarke, who was killed in France March 1st, 1917.

Who could have fired that horrid shot
On one we loved so well?
We never knew the pain he bore,
No mortal tongue can tell.
A lonely grave in a far off land,
A grave we may never see;
But Ennie, while life and memory lasts
We will fondly remember thee.

- From his Father, Mother, Sisters and two Brothers in France. 20, Byron Street, Skipton.

Submit a Correction

    Name (required)

    Email Address (required)

    Telephone (required)

    Soldier Reference - Name:

    Soldier Reference - URL:

    Details of the correction to be made (required)

    Comment on this Soldier Record

    You can leave comments on this soldier record. Please note all comments will be manually approved before they appear on the website.

    No comments yet.

    Leave a Reply

    Pin It on Pinterest

    Share This