352512 Bombardier John William Clarkson, RGA

Chailey Parish Magazine notes in March 1915 that John Clarkson is serving his King and Country.  In October it adds that he is a gunner with the Royal Garrison Artillery in England.  By January 1917 he is reported as a bombardier and in December 1917 as a corporal.  This information is then repeated monthly up to and including the final published roll call in July 1919. 

He was born in 1891, his birth recorded at Lewes in the December quarter of that year.  He appears on the 1901 census of England and Wales as nine year old living with his family at South Street, Chailey.  Present when the census was taken were Ellen Clarkson (head, aged 39) and her six sons: Thomas Clarkson (aged 11), John, James Clarkson (aged eight), Victor Clarkson (aged four), Richard Clarkson (aged two), and Edward Clarkson (aged one month).  All the boys were born in Chailey and Richard and Thomas would also serve their King and Country during the First World War.  The boys’ father, Thomas Clarkson, is recorded on both the 1891 and 1901 census as working at The Hooke, Chailey.  Aged 43 in 1901 he was born in Goosnargh, Lancashire and is listed as a butler.

John William Clarkson’s regimental number was 352512.