29171 PRIVATE ARTHUR CLAY
13TH (SERVICE) BATTALION ESSEX REGIMENT
(WEST HAM PALS)
KILLED IN ACTION
28TH APRIL 1917
AGE 33 YEARS
Arthur was not a local man, so it remains a mystery why his name was included on the Halesworth War Memorial, although it can be confirmed that this is the correct soldier and that he lost his life serving King and Country, all as listed on the Suffolk Roll of Honour for the town. He had been born in July 1883 in the Lincolnshire town of Swineshead, the third son of William, a farm bailiff, and his wife Catherine (née Cowlishaw). On leaving school he received training in the art of butchering, after which he plied his trade as a journeyman, finding work wherever his skills were needed. At the time of the 1901 Census he was listed as boarding in a private house while working in Watford, Hertfordshire. By the time of the next census in 1911 he was found lodging with the Goldsmith family while employed in Southwold. During his time in the town he met a local lady, Lillian Ashmenhall, who lived with her widowed mother on Church Green.
From what details remain of his military service, we know that Arthur enlisted at Halesworth in December 1915 while resident in Holton. He was to serve in the Essex Regiment with the regimental number of 29171.
After completing his training, he joined a draft crossing to France to join the 13th (Service) Battalion of his regiment, then commonly known as the West Ham Pals. This battalion had been raised in the East London Borough in December 1914 and had originally been recruited from the legion of fans from the local football club. It was said that whenever their battalion was in action, whether in defence or attack, they would use the battle cry of ‘UP THE HAMMERS’. The date that Arthur had joined his battalion is not known but during the last quarter of 1916 he had married his Southwold sweetheart, Lillian, at Saint Albans, Hertfordshire. Whether their wedding had taken place before he joined his battalion or while he was on home leave is not known.
At 2am on the day of Arthur’s death, the 13th Essex were formed up in their trenches preparing to take part in what became known as the second battle of the Scarpe. Their role was to attack and capture the German positions to the front of Oppy Wood. The battalion war diary for that day relates that while awaiting orders to advance, they had been subjected to a period of heavy bombardment from the German guns. At 4.25am, the British artillery barrage began raining down shells on the German trenches and rear areas, with the first wave of advancing Tommies going over the top just eight minutes later. In a short time, sections of the German lines were in the battalions hands but within minutes the Germans mounted a fierce counterattack from the rear of Oppy Wood and started to regain their trenches. This fighting where neither side gave any quarter continued until 9am when the remnants of the West Ham Pals, who had by now lost the majority of their Officers and senior soldiers, were forced to retire back to the old British line. Sometime later the Battalion roll was called. It was discovered that they had suffered a total of three hundred and thirty-six casualties in Killed, Wounded and Missing. The majority of these would not return. The final tally of those killed from the 13th Essex was well over one hundred and fifty men, with many of these being buried as unknown. These soldiers are remembered today on the Arras Memorial to the Missing, this also being the fate of Arthur.
After his death, his wife Lillian received a War Gratuity of £3.0s.0d and a weekly pension of 13s 9d (approximately 69p). By 1920 she had relocated to Eltham in South London, returning sometime later to St Albans where she died in 1934 having, it appears, never remarried.
Lillian would also have been entitled to claim his awards of the British War and Victory medal pair and his named Memorial Plaque and scroll.
The location of these is unknown.
Arthurs name on the Arras Memorial to the missing.