LANCE CORPORAL 1832 ARTHUR JOHN CLEMONS 40TH BATTALION AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY FORCE.


LANCE CORPORAL 1832 ARTHUR JOHN CLEMONS 40TH BATTALION AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY FORCE. KILLED IN ACTION 6TH FEBRUARY 1917 AGED 37





At about 6.45pm on the evening of 31st January 1917 the Germans began an intense bombardment of the British lines just north of Armentieres. The shelling was followed by a an infantry attack as German troops mounted a trench raid against the the 40th Battalion Australian Infantry Force (AIF). The attack was brief but violent with many casualties on both sides. The 40th battalion which was recruited from Tasmania, held firm and repulsed the attack. Amongst the Australian casualties was  Lance Corporal Arthur John Clemons, who received gunshot woulds to his head and shoulder. Evacuated to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station he developed pneumonia and died on 6th February.


Arthur Clemons was born in Headingley, Leeds in 1880 the son of George Clemons and his wife Katherine. George was a solicitor and chemical manufacturer who who moved his family to Ilkley at the turn of the century, living at 5 Stourton Gardens off Skipton Road. Sent first to St Peters School, York he later went as a boarder to St Bees Grammar School in Cumberland, Arthur excelled at music and was the schools organist. 

In 1906 Arthur took passage to Tasmania where a cousin, Percy Clemons, had a farm near to the town of Currie on King Island. He remained with his cousin and worked on the farm up the start of the war and appears to have become popular in the community especially because of his music talents.

On 25th May 1916 Arthur enlisted in the 40th Battalion AIF and on the 8th August embarked on a transport ship as part of a draft of reinforcements. He spent some time in Britain before he was posted to France on 23rd November where he joined his unit, who were spending the winter near to Armentieres.

Arthur Clemons was laid to rest by Rev G K Laker in Trois-Arbres British Military Cemetery on 8th February 1917 and is remembered on the war memorials in Currie Tasmania and on our memorial in Ilkley




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