Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

21/08/1914

Date of Discharge

12/04/1918

Place of Enlistment

Randwick NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Nottingham, England

Address (at enlistment)

Waverley NSW (previously Duntroon ACT)

Occupation

Steward

Next of Kin

Ben Clark (nephew), Waverley NSW

Service Number

28

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

4 Battalion AIF

Clark was the Chief Steward at the Royal Military College, Duntroon from 1912 until he enlisted in August 1914 at Randwick. As Australia entered the war, Clark was president of the organising committee for the first annual ball at the gym hall at Duntroon. Originally from Nottingham in England, Clark was 47 years of age and had previously been the Regimental Sergeant Major of the 10th Royal Scots. He landed on Gallipoli on 1 May 1915 as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion. A letter from Captain A.M. Ross in 1915 (writing from Gallipoli) says that "Clark, the ex-cadet's chief steward, did quite well on as a Colour Sergeant, and now holds a commission." He was hospitalised with debility in July 1915 and transferred to England where he was appointed as a Lieutenant and Adjutant at No.2 Convalescent Depot. In March 1917 he was promoted to Captain. Clark returned to Australia in March 1918 and his appointment was terminated on 12 April 1918.

Description - height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 168 pounds, chest 37-39 inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, Presbyterian, three vaccination marks on his right arm.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000.
Journal of the Royal Military College of Australia, 1915 (p.21)
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan Age - 4 August 1914