46558 PRIVATE CLEMENT GEORGE STANNARD
17TH (SERVICE) BATTALION, LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS
KILLED IN ACTION
19TH JULY 1918
AGE 20 YEARS
Another local lad who had lost his life before coming of age at twenty-one years, was Clement Stannard, known as Clem, who at the time of the 1911 census was living with his widowed father, four siblings and a housekeeper in one of the Moores cottages that are situated close to the railway crossing gates in Butts Road, to the north of Halesworth. Clem was born in the village of Great Redisham during the second quarter of 1898, the second child and son of George, a foreman platelayer for the Great Eastern Railways and Evelina (née Brooks). They had married in 1897 with Evelina giving birth to five children, including twins, before her untimely death in 1902 at the age of just twenty-six years. Very little of Clem’s early life is known including how he was employed after completing his education.
At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Clem would still have been underage for service in the armed forces, but by the time compulsory conscription was introduced in January 1916 it is most likely that he would have been called up after his eighteenth birthday.
From what little information remains of his military service, we learn that Clem was originally recruited to serve in the Horse Transport branch of the Army Service Corps, receiving the service number of T/258649 with the rank of a Private soldier. His selection for this role could well point to the fact that prior to his enlistment he may well have worked with horses on one of the local farms. As the war progressed, with more and more of the fighting men serving in the front line either losing their lives or suffering terrible wounds, the need to replace these men became more desperate. It was at this time that the army manning branch began trawling through those men who were serving in the supporting Regiments and Corps such as the Army Service Corps to find replacement infantrymen. Clem being in 1917 aged nineteen, would have been a prime candidate. No doubt, after further training in the role of an infanteer, if not already in France, he would have crossed over to join the 20th (Service) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers (4th Salford Pals) with the new regimental number of 46558. It is possible that Clem was of small stature as on the battalion formation at Salford, Manchester in March 1915 they were designated as a Bantam battalion, originally recruited from men below the height of 5 foot 3 inches (160cm). How long he remained with the Salford Pals cannot be confirmed but it is most likely that he remained with them up until the 16th February 1918, as at that time his battalion who disbanded to make up the shortfall of men in the other infantry battalions serving in their 35th Division. Clem was then posted to serve in another wartime-raised Bantam battalion, the 17th (Service) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, although by this stage of the war they had lost their bantam status, with reinforcements joining them as casualty replacements of all heights and statures. During the following months the men of their Division fought in several actions, including being involved during the early part of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918, as described in other stories of the men from Halesworth who lost their lives during the Great War.
By 10th March 1918 the 17th Lancashire Fusiliers were resting behind the front line in the area of the small French village of Boeschepe located close to the Belgian border where, over the following few days, different companies of the battalion moved both in and out of the line to relieve men of the 19th (Service) Battalion Durham Light Infantry, enabling them to have brief periods of rest. During all of these reliefs, their losses in men mounted, mostly due to the German defensive artillery fire. On 19th March 1918, the day of Clem’s death, once again the enemy’s artillery opened a particularly heavy bombardment during which he and one other of his fellow soldiers were killed, the only men in their battalion lost that day. In an unbelievable twist of fate, both Clem and his comrade shared the same surname although there is no evidence of their being related. Both of them originated from the flat lands of East Anglia while serving in a predominately north of England regiment. Sadly, due to the nature of their deaths, Clem and Private William Stannard from Ipswich would have had little if any remains to be identified, so today they are remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing in Belgium, with their names listed together (see below).
After Clem’s loss on 27th January 1919 his father received a gratuity payment of £14.1s.11d (£14.10p) in respect of his son losing his life. He would also have been able to claim his medal entitlement of the British War and Victory medal pair with the named bronze memorial plaque and scroll.
The location of these is unknown.
