Clark, Albert
No.3266 – Private Albert Clark – 48th Battalion AIF
Albert Clark was born in Blaydon-on-Tyne at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1892 to Joseph & Esther Clark. Albert was educated at the Council school at Blaydon-on-Tyne in County Durham England and in the 1901 census the family is listed as living at Gateshead Durham England. After he left school he took up farming and the 1911 census still has the family in Durham.
In 1913 Albert travelled to Western Australia and took up residence in Fremantle. Albert had only been in Australia for a year when war was declared. On the 12th August 1914 he went to the recruitment office and was accepted for service in the AIF. Captain Brennan of Fremantle Hospital and newly appointed doctor of the 11th Battalion AIF found Albert to be 5 feet 8 ½ inches in height; weight of 152 lbs; chest measurement of 35 ¼ inches; fair complexion; blue eyes and brown hair. His religious denomination was Church of England.
Albert was appointed to G Company of the original 11th Battalion with the regimental number 768. He trained in WA with the 11th Battalion until the end of October 1914 when they were told to prepare for embarkation. Albert had gone absent without leave and was subsequently fined for his indiscretion. On the 2nd November 1914 the men filed aboard the transport ship H.M.A.T. “Ascanius” and embarked for service overseas. Upon their arrival in Egypt the 8 companies were transformed into 4, so that Albert’s G Company combined with H Company to form the new D Company. They trained in Egypt through to March 1915 when they embarked for Lemnos Island. Here they lived on their transport ships in the harbour and continued to train during the day and practice their disembarking onto the whalers for preparation of a landing on the Turkish coast.
On April 25th 1915 the Australians landed at what would later be known as Anzac Cove. The 11th Battalion landed a bit further north on North Beach and they made their way inland against stiffening Turkish resistance. During the action of the first day Albert was wounded when a bullet hit him on the left side of the neck. This wound largely paralysed Albert’s left side. He was evacuated to hospital and the injury was deemed serious enough for evacuation to England. Albert was admitted to the 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester England.
He stayed in England for the majority of 1915, though after recovering some fitness he was given a period of leave from hospital when he unfortunately contracted VD. This warranted a further stay in hospital and would not have improved his general health.
On the 12th December 1915 Albert was invalided to Australia and left Portland England aboard the H.M.T. “Star of England”. After arriving back in Fremantle WA, Albert was admitted to No.8AGH in South Terrace where he was given a full medical examination and was found to be permanently unfit for active service and was given his discharge from the AIF, the date of discharge being 31st October 1916. Albert was given a pension after discharge and he resided at “Milton” on the corner of Silas and George Street East Fremantle.
Albert’s health must have improved over the next year as on the 13th February 1917 he again enlisted into the AIF. He was given a full medical and was passed as fit. His enlistment details were largely the same though this time Albert said he was Roman Catholic. He also had a few more identifying marks with tattoos, of Egypt, crossed hands and crossed flags, kangaroo and stockman on left arm and lady and snake on right forearm.
Albert was initially sent to No. D2 Depot and on the 27th February was allotted to the 8th Reinforcements to the 44th Battalion AIF. He went absent without leave from Blackboy Hill Camp on the 13th April but returned a few days later and continued to train with his reinforcement group until they embarked from Fremantle on the H.M.A.T. “Borda” on the 29th June 1917. During the voyage, Albert got himself into trouble as when the ship pulled into Durban South Africa he failed to re-embark when the ship left port on the 23rd July 1917. He had some time in Durban as he only reported for duty when the “Port Melbourne” came to Durban on the 11th August 1917. He joined the ship for the trip to England. While aboard this ship he was formally charged with failing to re-embark at Durban and for also breaking custody whilst under detention and was thus awarded 28 days of detention to be served on the ship.
The ship eventually pulled into Liverpool on the 16th September 1917 where the men were disembarked. Albert should have then marched into the 11th Training Battalion though he seemed to have liked going AWOL as after arriving in Liverpool he absented himself, perhaps visiting his family. He did report back however when on the 11th October 1917 he presented himself at the AIF Headquarters in London at Horseferry Road. Albert was formally charged at a court Martial and after pleading guilty to the offence was given 8 days detention and would forfeit 99 days pay. After serving his sentence, Albert went to the 11th Training Battalion but was transferred to the 10th Training Battalion. On the 25th January 1918 Albert left camp on another period of AWOL, and was only apprehended in London on the 18th February 1918. He was again court martialled and given 7 days detention and a further 39 days forfeiture of pay.
Albert was returned to the 10th Training Battalion and on the 4th March 1918 was finally sent to France. On marching in the Australian Base Depot at Le Havre, Albert had not been allotted a unit, though on the 9th March he was assigned to the 48th Battalion. Albert spent the next few months with the 48th Battalion as they battled the German advance at Dernancourt and Monument Wood. On the 1st June Albert once again went AWOL though was apprehended the same day. He was fined 3 days pay for the latest offence. On July 4th, the 48th Battalion supported the capture of Hamel, though later that month Albert again went AWOL. On the 25th July he left camp but was again apprehended the same day. He was confined to camp for three days and forfeited a further days pay. The red marks in Albert’s pay book must have been impressive indeed, and a further entry was added on the 2nd August when Albert again left the 48th’s position though he did return the next day. Albert forfeited a further 4 days pay.
A large Allied offensive was about to occur to push the Germans back. The opening day of the offensive was August 8th. The 48th Battalion captured all their objectives at Proyart though during the opening phase of the offensive Albert was killed in action. He had been killed by machine gun fire along with Lieutenant James O’Neill. Albert was given a battlefield burial and after the war Albert was reburied in Heath Cemetery Harbonnieres in plot I.G.17