7036, Private, 1/4 West Riding Regiment, (Formerley 4454 Hertfordshire Regiment).
Missing In Action on the 23rd September 1916 aged 18.
Arthur George Clements - Standing on the Right. (Source: Eleanor Moore)
Arthur was the eldest son of Noah & Alice Mary Clements of Froghall Lane, Walkern.
He joined the Hertfordshire Regiment on the 9th January 1915 when he was aged 17 and served in the UK until the 30th August 1916 when he was posted to France.
The young inexperienced soldier was transferred to the 1st/4th West Riding Regiment on the 10th September 1916 after the Battalion suffered very heavy casualties during an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt on the 2nd September. Arthur arrived at the Battalion on the 12th September and on the 23rd, at the height of the Somme Offensive, the Battalion were in positions in the Leipzieg Salient where they were preparing to be relieved by the 5th West Riding Regiment. Here the trenches were described as being in a very bad state, owing to wet conditions and unburied dead bodies. The Battalion were detailed to move to Leavilliers by bus and it is not known at what point Arthur Clements was killed but it is possible that his loss was as a result of artillery fire.
Arthur has no known grave and his name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. Pier/Face 6A.)
Medal Entitlement: British War Medal & Victory Medal
