Stanley is burried at Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun.

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No. 15177. 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment who died on 10th April 1917 aged 23

Stanley was born Stradbroke 1894, son of Albert and Mary Ann Clarke.

He died during the First Battle of the Scarpe whilst fighting at Feuchy Chapel.

Before the war he worked as a Groom.

Personal details

Stanleys father was Albert Clarke [B. Peasenhall, 1865] was ‘Horseman on Farm’, mother Mary Ann Clarke (nee. Westrep) [B. Laxfield,1869]. They married in Hoxne in 1889.  The family appear to have moved about the area being in Laxfield (1891), Great Bealings (1901), Helmingham (1911) and later at 12 Old Barrack Road, Woodbridge.

Stanley was born in Stradbroke and was the 2nd and only son out of 6 children, having older sister Emily, and younger sisters Alice, Ellen, Grace and Agnes Maude.

In 1911 he is 17 and working as ‘Groom’ in Helmingham.  Stanley has no obvious Hasketon connection, but it is possible he moved here before 1914.

Service history

Few details of Stanley’s war service have been found, but his Medal Roll Index entry indicates he arrived in France on 31st August 1915.   He is eligible for the British, Victory and 15 Star medals.

The 7th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment suffered heavy casualties on July 3rd 1916 in an attack on Ovillers during the Battle of the Somme.  A month later on August 8th they repelled a strong German attack near Pozieres, and in the final stages of the Battle of the Somme in the Battle of Le Transloy on October 11 they again suffered heavy casualties. Stanley may well have taken part in some of these actions.

In 1917 the 7th Battalion was again in action in the spring offensive at Arras, taking part with other battalions of the 36th and 37th Brigades, in the First battle of the Scarp.  Their attacks near Feuchy Chapel on April 9th – 11th in appalling weather were successful, but Stanley died from his wounds on April 10th.

Also of interest.

The cemetery at Duisans was also the site of an action during May 1940 as part of the Battle of Arras, where French soldiers and the British Expeditionary Force engaged the German army.  The entrance gate of the cemetery contains several bullet holes from this action.