SERGEANT 6/4546 CLARENCE ATKINSON 1/6TH BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT.


SERGEANT 6/4546 CLARENCE ATKINSON 1/6TH BATTAILION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 18TH AUGUST 1916 AGED 25




On 18th August 1916 Sargeant Clarence Atkinson was in the front line near Authuille, in the Somme area, with his battalion the 6th Duke of Wellingtons Regiment. For several days they had been subject to periodic enemy artillery shelling and had suffered a number casualties. At 5.20pm British Artillery began shelling the German front lines who retaliated with a brief mortar attack. Clarence was taking cover in a trench when a shell struck the parapet nearby and buried him. Despite the best efforts of his comrades when eventually dug out he was found to be dead. 
Clarence had joined the army in 1915 when he enlisted in Skipton. Quickly promoted he had only been at the front for two months when he was killed aged 25.
 
Born in Monk Fryston Clarence had worked as a signalman for the North Eastern Railway before joining the police. Standing at over 6' 2" in height he was accepted by the West Riding Constabulary and lived at 7 Weston Road, Ilkley. Today Sergeant Clarence Atkinson is buried in Authuille British Military Cemetery and remembered on the West Riding Constabulary Memorial in Wakefield and the war memorial in Ilkley.


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