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The Channel Islands and the Great War |
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Frederick
John Noel Clarke was killed in action on the 29th
June, 1915 aged just nineteen. He was a 2nd Lieutenant
with the 6th Battalion, Worcestershire Regt at the time
of his death and was the only son of Frederick Charles
Philip and Minnie Jane Clarke of Runnymede, Roseville
Street, St Helier, (I presume this is now the Runnymede
Hotel). An Old Victorian and former member of the 3rd
(South) Battalion of the Royal Jersey Militia, Frederick
had trained at Sandhurst and was killed only a short
time after reaching the front. He was one of the first
to volunteer from the 3rd Battalion, and the first to
be killed.
Frederick
is buried in Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, Belgium. |
Two brothers remembered on the memorial are Frederick
Isaac and William
Henry Livermore, two men who died 4 months apart in
completely different parts of the world pressing home
the status of the Great War as truly a world war. William
was initially reported as missing while fighting in the
battle of the Somme on the 17th November, 1916, while
Frederick was initially reported missing near Baghdad
in the Middle East on the 25th March, 1917. Both brothers
were Privates in the Dorsetshire Regt, William in the
1st Battalion and Frederick with the 2nd Battalion. William
was the oldest brother being thirty nine when he was killed
in action and Frederick was thirty when he died. They
were the sons of James Livermore. Notification of William's
death came through at about the same time as that of his
brother Fred. William is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial
and Frederick is remembered on the Basra Memorial. Unfortunately
ninety years after "the war to end all wars"
ended British soldiers are once again dying in Iraq -
will the world ever learn?
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Arthur
Woodland Toms was the second son of Frederick and
Emily Woodland Toms of 1 Claremont Terrace, St. Helier.
His father was the States Analyst and he was educated
at Victoria College, where he was both a Prefect and Vice
Captain of the football team in 1908-09. Arthur became
a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regt
in 1912. He was killed in France on 27th November, 1914
age twenty-three and is buried in Estaires Communal Cemetery.
At the time of his death he was preparing to leave the
army and join the Colonial Office, with his appointment
to a position in West Africa being offered to him three
days before the declaration of war. At the time of his
death he was attached 2nd Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles)
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