Corporal James Edward Clark
| Date of Birth | 7 August 1896 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 19 |
| Date of Death | 6 August 1916 |
| Service Number | 4752 |
| Military Service | Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment 1st/5th Battalion |
| Merton Address | 5 Queen's Road, Morden |
| Local Memorial | St. Lawrence Church, Morden |
Additional Information
James was born in Morden on 7 August 1896 and baptised in St Lawrence’s Church on 27 September 1896.
At the time of the 1901 census, he and his family were living at 9 Crown Cottages. It was a large family as father Moses and mother Sarah had 9 children: Selina, John, Henry, Ellen, Mary Ann, Florence, Ruth, James and Frederick.
By the 1911 census, they had moved to 5 Queen’s Road, Morden and only Florence, Ruth, James, Frederick, Ellen and her husband, William Shadbolt and daughter were still living at home. James had left school and was a shop assistant.
James enlisted in Kingston and went to India and Mesopotamia (Iraq) with the 1st/5th Battalion of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. He was killed in Iraq on the 6 August 1916, the day before his 20th birthday.
An excerpt from the battalion’s war diaries reads
“August 6th Church Parade at 6.30 A M at Officers Lines by the Mass.No 4752 L/Corpl J Clark A Coy died in hospital from enteric & was buried at 6.30pm.
Owing to operations for tomorrow, the 90th Punjabis took over outposts usually found by Battn for 24 hours.”
James is commemorated at St. Lawrence’s Church, Morden, where his name appears on one of the panels in the Lychgate which serves as the parish war memorial and also on a brass plate in the Assembly Hall of Morden Primary School.