IWM Collections

30183 Clive Townsend Thompson was from Sydney in New South Wales. He was born in the parish of Stratfield and his next of kin on enlistment was recorded as his mother, Mary Thompson. He was a student aged 19 yrs and 3 mths when he enlisted on 5th September 1916, and was living at the family home at 17 Collingwood St, Drummoyne, Sydney. He had already completed 3 months compulsory military service with 31st Infantry Battalion and he signed for a voluntary 3 year engagement with 22/1st Field Artillery Brigade. He was killed aged 20 in the opening days of the Australian 9th Brigade involvement in the disastrously over-ambitious and inadequately planned Battle of Passchedaele (9th Brigade AIF attacked on 12th October). The Ypres battlefield had been churned into slurry by heavy shelling over the preceding 3 years and torrential rain during the month of August 1917. Passchendaele has rightly become synonymous with the squandering of mens lives in some of the most ill conceived attacks of the entire war. Photographs of the battle convey an idea of the horror of fighting there; it is almost unimaginable to understand what it must have been like on that battlefield at night. A fit, young, intelligent soldier, Clive Thompson could well have been a signaller, runner or rifleman with an artillery observation party, well forward in the front line, directing the preparatory shellfire on the German lines. This would also have placed him amongst the most exposed and vulnerable troops in areas where the ground offered indifferent protection from observation and enemy fire and was full of lethal traps even for the most experienced soldiers.//

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Thank you very much for this short bio.

BARCLAY, William Kirk, Lieut. Disembarked Boulogne, France, 2 May 1915. Died of wounds, 20 June 1915, aged 37. Beath Western Cemetery, Fife, 896. Husband of Helen Barclay, 54 Blake Street, Brucefield, Dunfermline. COWDENBEATH LIEUTENANT WOUNDED. Lieutenant Wm. K. Barclay, 1/7th Black Watch (T.F.), eldest son of ex-Provost Barclay, Cowdenbeath, lies, dangerously wounded, in a Boulogne hospital. He has seen over 22 years’ service as a Volunteer and Territorial, having joined the Lochgelly Company in 1893. He did much to have a company established at Cowdenbeath, and when it was formed in 1906 he obtained his commission. The Scotsman, Monday, 21 June 1915, 9. CASUALTIES AMONG FIFESHIRE TERRITORIALS. Lieutenant Barclay, Cowdenbeath, severely wounded with shrapnel, from the effects of which he has since died. At a special meeting of Cowdenbeath Town Council last night, it was agreed to place on record the Council’s deep regret at the loss sustained by the death of Lieutenant W. K. Barclay, a member of the Council, who has died of wounds at Boulogne, and to express appreciation of the services rendered by him to his country and the community. The Scotsman, Tuesday, 22 June 1915, 6. DEATHS. BARCLAY. – Died at Boulogne on June 20th, of wounds received in action on16th, First Lieut. W. K. BARCLAY, 1/7th Black Watch, aged 37, beloved husband of Helen Troup, and eldest son of Mr and Mrs Charles Barclay, Cowdenbeath. Funeral (public) from Drill Hall, Cowdenbeath, Saturday, June 26th, at 3.45 P.M. Public service at 3.15. Only intimation and invitation. The Scotsman, Friday, 25 June 1915, 12. FUNERAL OF A FIFE OFFICER The funeral of Lieutenant W. K. Barclay, 1/7th Black Watch, who died in No. 7 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne, on June 20th from wounds received in action a few days earlier, took place at Cowdenbeath on Saturday afternoon. After a service had been held in the Drill Hall, the body was taken on a gun carriage supplied by the R.F.A. to Beath Cemetery, followed by a large number of mourners. A detachment of 40 soldiers from the regiment formed the firing party, and as the coffin was being lowered in the grave pipers played “Lochaber No More,” and “The Last Post” was sounded. Lieutenant Barclay was a member of Beath Parish Council and of Cowdenbeath Town Council. The Scotsman, Monday, 28 June, 1915, 8. BIRTHS. BARCLAY. – At 257 High Street, Cowdenbeath, on the 14th inst., the wife of the late Lieut. W. K. BARCLAY, 1/7th Black Watch (died of wounds at Boulogne 20th June), of a son. The Scotsman, Thursday, 16 September 1915, 11.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

In a History of Cowdenbeath, available here: electricscotland.com/council/pdf/Cowdenbeath-History_text... the following is said under a (badly reproduced) photograph of William Kirby Barclay: “Lieut. W. K. Barclay, founder of Cowdenbeath Rifle Club and original officer of Cowdenbeath Territorials, a victim of last war. “ Here are two photographs of the Cowdenbeath Rifle Club, which my great grandfather was a member of, taken around 1910. I believe that William Kirk Barclay may be in both photos, but I’m not sure about the exact person — there are at least two contenders in each photo. The photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/fernie__and_related/51306552244/in/... www.flickr.com/photos/fernie__and_related/51305088827/in/...

HMS Constance was a C-class light cruiser, launched in 1915: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Constance_(1915)

The Internet Archive and National Library of Scotland have digitised the Navy List of July 1918; this includes a Herbert C. Apperly, with the rank of Surgeon (p. 6): digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/pageturner.cfm?id=9... The British Medical Journal of 24 July 1915 (PDF) lists a H.C. Apperly as having been approved in examinations at the Second College (Anatomy and Physiology) by the Conjoint Board in England (p.163). The Calendar of the Royal College of Surgeons, August 1921 lists a Herbert Claude Apperly of Chandos Street as a Member (p. 172): archive.org/details/calendar1921roya The British Medical Journal of 22 May 1954 (PDF) records under deaths (p. 1221): Apperly. - In February, 1954, Herbert Claude Apperly, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.D.S., of 37. Crossways, Sutton, Surrey, and 92, Harley Street, London, W., aged 59.

The evidence from genealogical records available on the Internet (e..g. the Ennever family tree) suggests that Apperly practised as a dental surgeon. There is also a brief mention of a H. C. Apperly as a dental surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in a resumé of a 2010 conference presentation by Stanley Gelbier (PDF). The final paper appears to have been published in Dental History as "Great Ormond Street Hospital, its dental surgeons (1856-1946) and the Cartwright family" (PubMed entry), but I haven't been able to track that down as yet. The Ennever family tree cited above states that Herbert Claude Apperly was born in Hampstead in 1894, the son of Herbert Apperly (also a Dental Surgeon) and Florence (Edmunds); then married to Kathleen Jean Forbes Morris on the 8 April 1926. Interestingly, the National Portrait Gallery catalogue lists two portraits of "Herbert Apperly (died 1932)," there described as consulting dental surgeon to Elizabeth Garnett Anderson Hospital. This (I think) would have been H. C. Apperly's father.

On the 1911 census the family were recorded at North Bar Millway, Reigate, Surrey. Head of the household was Herbert Apperly, (aged 50 and a Dental Surgeon from Rodborough Stroud, Gloucestershire) and his wife of 24 years, Florence, (aged 54 and from Bunbury, Oxfordshire). Still living with them are:- Phyllis Walton....................aged 22............born Hampstead, London Florence Enid....................aged 19...........born Hampstead, London........Student Sybil May...........................aged 14............born Redhill, Surrey John Kenneth Gordon......aged 13............born Redhill, Surrey The family have two live in servants. Herbert Claude, (aged 16 and born Hampstead), was recorded at a boarding school at Monkton Combe, Bath, Somerset. Note that John's age on the 1911 census doesn't really tie up with him being born in 1894. A check of the passengers lists on outbound ships from the UK does indeed include a John Apperly, who sailed from Southampton for Wellington, New Zealand in 1924. His year of birth however is 1897 - which would tie in with the likely birth year for the individual on the census. Herbert Claude's promotion to Temporary Surgeon , effective 22nd January 1918, was gazetted on the 19th February 1918. www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30533/pages/2214

Sadly, Herbert Claude Apperly's body was found at Walton Heath, near Dorking Road, Walton on the Hill, Banstead on April 11, 1954. His death certificate states that he died from an overdose of barbituric acid and that the cause of death was by suicide whilst of unsound mind. He had last been seen alive on Feb 28, 1954