NAME:  Clarence Everard YOUNG                                                        

SERVICE NO:  4340

YEAR OF BIRTH: 1896

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Hamilton

DATE OF ENLISTMENT: 26 July 1915

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT:  Melbourne

AGE AT ENLISTMENT:  18

UNIT: 8th Battalion

EMBARKED:  29 December 1915

TROOP SHIP:  HMAT A64 Demosthenes

FATE: Killed in Action – Pozieres – 26 July 1916

Clarence Everard Young, born in 1896, was the son of Robert Downes Young and Mary Ann Hughes, originally of Coleraine Road, Hamilton.  By the start of the  war, the Young family were living in Clarke street and Robert was a livery stable manager. 

Clarence began work as a driver, presumably with his father. On his attestation papers at enlistment on 26 July 1915 in Melbourne, Clarence indicated he had completed an apprenticeship with Mr R.Collis, a tailor. At eighteen, he was only 5ft. 3 in. and had lost the little finger on his left hand.

With the 8th Battalion, Clarence moved from Egypt to France with the battalion a part of the Battle of Pozieres from 23 July 1916 to 7 August 1916.  Eighty-one members of the battalion were killed during the battle and Clarence Young was one of those, killed in action on 26 July 1916, aged nineteen and exactly one year after his enlistment.  On the day of his death, the 8th Battalion unit diary recorded – “All this day battalion headquarters and trenches were subjected to a terrific bombardment which completely destroyed our trenches…”

Back in Hamilton, the Youngs learnt of Clarence’s death from a cable sent by their son Leonard, also serving with the 8th Battalion.  Two years after Clarence’s death, his family’s suffering was still evident,

Days of sadness still come o’er us Hidden secret tears still flow,      

Fond memory brings our loved one nearer

 Though he died two years ago.    

– Inserted by his sorrowing parents, sisters and brothers, and Len on active service.  

Hamilton Spectator 27 July 1918

A tree was planted for Clarence along Hamilton’s Anzac Avenue and the Clarke Street Avenue of Honour.  His name is on the Hamilton War Memorial.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES

Australian War Memorial – 8th Australian Infantry Battalion

Australian War Memorial – 8th Australian Infantry Battalion Unit Diary

Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour – Clarence Everard Young

Australian War Memorial – WW1 Embarkation Roll – Clarence Everard Young

Commonwealth War Graves Commission -Villers-Bretonneux Memorial – Clarence Everard Young

Discovering Anzacs – WW1 Service Record – Clarence Everard Young

Newspaper Articles from Trove – Clarence Everard Young

The AIF Project – Clarence Everard Young