PRIVATE 10123 JAMES CLARKSON, 2nd BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED 14th NOVEMBER 1918, AGED 23


PRIVATE 10123 JAMES CLARKSON, 2nd BATTALION WEST RIDING REGIMENT. DIED 14th NOVEMBER 1918, AGED 23




James Clarkson had enlisted into the Regular Army in 1911 or 1912 when he joined the 2nd Battalion of the West Riding Regiment. The battalion were mobilised at the outbreak of war and went to France on 16th August, however, James did not join his them until the following month when he had reached the age of 18.

In this initial phase of the war battles were fought across open country but by November 1914 both sides began to dig the trenches along the front line that would define the war. That month james and his battalion were in the front line east of Ypres. It was here that on the 8th he was hit in the head by a bullet which entered beneath his left eye, passed through his tongue and lodged in his jaw. Evacuated from the front he was sent St Gabriels Hospital in London for treatment. Writing of his exploits he would describe blood thirsty bayonet attacks on the German lines and their cries of “Mercy! Mercy!” as they faced death.

James returned to the front in 1915 and was again wounded but there is no further information about his service. However it is known that in 1918 he was still in the army and at the Armistice was a patient in the military hospital at Colchester where he died on the 14th November just 3 days after the end of the war. The cause of his passing is not known but could have been from wounds received in action or even from influenza which was once again becoming virulent

Born in 1895, James was one of seven children born railway engine driver William Clarkson and his wife Hannah. The family lived at 27 Wellington Road and before enlisting James had worked aerated water bottler probably at the nearby Ilkley Brewery on Railway Road.

Because James died in Britain his body was returned to his family and today he lies in Ilkley Cemetery and is remembered with pride on our war memorial



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