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Clarence was a member of B Company and is listed as being killed in action on 27th July 1916. The 16th Battalion was diary entry for the 27th/28th July is transcribed below. Ref Map – Longueval 57C.
27th July - 2am to 12noon
Delville Wood – 27th July 1916 – 2am: Coys were in the positions stated above and Bn HQ left 15th Brigade HQ to take up their new position, just before leaving Bde HQ orders were received to move up the two Coy’s occupying Artillery Trenches to the Switch trench at 7.10am. These Coys were moved up accordingly & were in position in the switch trench at 8am.
8.15am: At 8.15am a message was received from OC 1/Norfolk Rgt that the attack on the 2nd objective had been held up by M.G. fire. On receipt of this message orders were issued to OC A & B Coys to move up to M.F. trench. A Coy being responsible for holding the line from S.17.a.8.3 to S.17.b.3.4 & B Coy from S.17.b.4.4 to S.17.b.9.4. These Coys moved up into position at 9.15am.
9.15am: At 9am an order was received from 15th I.B. [Infantry Brigade] for the C.O. to report to Col P.V.B. Stone 1/Norfolk Regt and for the Bn to come under his orders. At 9.30am the C.O. arrived at HQ of Col Stone & placed himself under his orders and informed him of the position of the Coys viz: A&B Coys in M.F. Trenches from L in Longueval to the dividing line between 2nd & 15th Divisions. C & D Coys in the Switch Trench.
12 noon: Captain Richardson (OC A Coy) reported that two of his platoons had got detached from the Coy. This occurred owing to the officer in command of these two platoons becoming a casualty.
27th July - 12noon to 10.30pm
Delville Wood – 27th July 1916 – 3pm: A message was received that 2 Platoons of B Coy were not in the position allocated to them. This occurred owing to the fact that the Coy Commander and a Platoon commander were wounded. Unfortunately the Coy commander (who was leading them had not informed his platoon commander of the exact position the Company was to take up. The conduct of 3/1188 Coy SM Baker is worthy of mention, Coy SM Baker was left in charge of these two platoons and acting on his own initiative (having received no definite orders from his Company commanders) he led the two platoons under his command straight up into the firing line and joined up with the Norfolk and Bedfordshire Regiments.
5.30pm: At his hour orders were given to B Coy to put up a defensive flank along the line southwards from S.17.b.8.3 to S.17.d.9.2.
7.10pm: OC D Coy received orders to replace the remnants of A Coy who had suffered severely in M.F.T running E to W from S.17.b.2.5 to S.17.b.5.4 & A Coy were ordered to move into the Support line running from E to W from S.17.d.1.8 to S.17.d.8.9.
At the same hour orders were given to OC C Coy to move up 2 platoons and a L.G. [Lewis Gun] team to join up to the sunken road Piccadilly at about S.17.b.10.75 & make strong points at S.17.b.39.75, S.17.b.19.75 and S.17.b.1.6. This message was repeated to OC C Coy 5 times but owing to the runners all becoming casualties it was not received by him.
10.30pm: At this hour Lieut A.H. Sayer was sent by the C.O. to Bn HQ to find out if any messages had been received by the Adjutant from Company commanders and also with a message to OC C Coy to report to the CO with 2 platoons and a L.G team immediately. At that time the German bombardment was so intense that Lieut Sayer was unable to get through to Bn HQ until about midnight.
28th July - 12.15am to end
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28th July 1916 – 12.15am: OC C Coy did not receive this message until 12.15am. He then moved off his party under the guidance of Lt Sayer but did not arrive at the Norfolk HQ till 3.30am, owing to their losing direction through landmarks being obliterated by the heavy bombardment.
3.30am: By the time to OC C Coy reported to the CO orders had been received from 15th I.B. that the 1/Norfolk, 1/Bedford and 16th RWR were to be relieved by the 95th I.B. The 1/D.C.L.I took over the trenches from the Bn with the exception of 2 platoons of D Coy who were not relieved until 10pm acting on orders received from 95th I.B.
Owing to the intense bombardment communication between Companies and our Bn HQ was rendered most difficult and at times it was quite impossible to get messages through. Casualties:
Killed: 1 Officer and 42 Other Ranks
Wounded: 7 Officers and 179 Other Ranks
Missing: 46 Other Ranks
Total: 267
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