Clarence Wardale

Clarence was the son of William Verity and Hannah Eliza Wardale (née Parkinson). William Verity was born in Carcroft, Yorkshire, in 1841 (J/F/M Doncaster) and baptised at Owston parish church on 7 March the same year. Hannah Eliza was born in Thorne, West Riding, in 1849 (A/M/J Thorne), the daughter of James and Ann Parkinson, and baptised in Thorne on 20 May 1849. Some records give her name as 'Annie Eliza' or 'Eliza'. William and Hannah were married in 1866 (A/M/J Doncaster) and by 1911 had had twelve children: William Henry b. Barnsley 1867 bap. Barnsley St George 1 April 1868; Florence b. Norton Cuckney 31 December 1869 (reg. Wardle, 1870 Worksop) bap. Norton Cuckney St Mary 20 February 1870; Ernest Edwin b. Worksop 1872; Lavinia b. Worksop 1875 (reg. J/F/M Worksop) bap. Edwinstowe St Mary 31 May 1884; James Parkinson b. Worksop 22 September 1876 bap. St Mary 31 May 1884; Adelaide Kate b. Worksop 3 September 1878 bap. St Mary 31 May 1884; Bernard b. Edwinstowe 5 March 1881 bap. 13 August 1881; Edward John b. 1883 bap. St Mary 22 January 1884; Harold b. Edwinstowe birth reg. 1886 (J/F/M Southwell); Clarence b. Edwinstowe 17 December 1887 (reg. 1888 Southwell); Percy b. Edwinstowe 1889 and Larua b. Edwinstowe 1891. Included on the 1901 Census was Winnie Wardale (3) and again on the 1911 Census and also in 1911, Emmy Wardale (9). Both girls were described as William's daughters who were born in Edwinstowe. However, there are no birth registrations for Winnie and Emmy in the name of Wardale and there is a significant age gap between Laura (1891) and Winnie (1897). Winnie was probably Winifred Spurrell b. 1897 (J/A/S Watford Herts, Wardale), the daughter of Florence Wardale and her husband (div. May 1905) which suggests that Emmy was also a granddaughter and that both children were in the long-term care of their grandparents. William Verity was a stone mason and in 1871 he and Hannah (26) and their two children William (3) and Florence (1) were living in Carburton near Worksop. They had moved to Mill Lane, Edwinstowe, by 1881 and had seven children By 1891 they were living on Friend Lane, Edwinstowe. Only nine of their eleven children were still living at home: Ernest (17) a farm labourer, Lavinia (15), James (13) a farm labourer, Adelaide (11), Bernard (8), Edward (6), Harold (4), Clarence (2) and Percy (1). Their youngest child, Laura, was born later that year. By 1901 they had moved to Rufford Road, Edwinstowe, and only six of their 12 children were in the home on the night of the census: Bernard (19) a bricklayer's labourer, Edward (17) a woodsawyer's labourer, Harold (15) a gardener's labourer, Clarence (13) and Percy (11) who were news boys and Laura (9). Also in the household was Winnie (3). William and Hannah were still living on Rufford Road in 1911 by which time Edward and Clarence had both joined the Royal Navy. William was 70 years old and working as a general labourer on an estate. Three of his sons, Ernest, Bernard and Percy, were also general labourers and still living at home. Also in the household were Winnie (14) and Emmy (9). William Verity died in 1922 (A/M/J Southwell) and his wife probably in 1928 (J/A/S Doncaster). Five of Clarence's brothers, Ernest, Bernard, Edward, Harold and Percy, also served in the war (see 'Extra information). William Henry has not yet been traced after 1881. Florence married John Henry Spurrell (b. Aldborough prev. lived Thurgarton, Norfolk) in Watford, Hertfordshire, on 11 April 1897. Her husband was a saddler and harness maker. They had a daughter, Winifred (b. 1897 bap. Leamington Spa All Saints 24 June 1898). They had probably separated by 1901 as John was recorded living in Watford as a boarder. He divorced Florence on 15 March 1905 (m. Sarah Jane Goodyear, 1907). Florence was living in Edwinstowe in 1927 but by 1939, when the England & Wales Register was compiled, she was living with her brother Bernard in Mansfield. She died in 1949 (death registered Mansfield). Ernest Edwin was medically discharged from the army in 1919. He died on 15 September 1925; he was then living on Stockwell Gate, Mansfield. Lavinia married Henry Strutt in 1911. In 1939 they were living in Mansfield with their children Harry (b. 30 April 1913) and Frederick Percival (b. 19 March 1916); Henry was a gas works fitter. Lavinia died on 23 September 1959. James Parkinson married Mary Elizabeth Hayes Wilson at Ollderton St Giles on 29 November 1896. In 1901 they were living in Shipton, nr. Pocklington, Yorkshire, with their children James (4 b. Ollerton) and George Albert (1, b. Shipton); James was still employed as a wood sawyer. They were still living in Pocklington in 1911 but James was now an insurance agent. He served in the RAF in the war and his son James in the Royal Horse Artillery/Royal Field Artillery (111792). His son named his parents as his next of kin when he attested in 1915; they were then living in Boston, Lincolnshire. James died in 1964 (J/F/M Boston). Adelaide Kate married George Thomas Attwood in 1907 (reg. Solihull Warks.). She and her husband were living in Solihull in 1939 with their daughter Laura (b. 5 January 1912) who was described on the register as 'incapacitated.' Adelaide died on 26 April 1966 (reg. Solihull). Bernard was living in Welbeck village in 1927 and working as a scaffolder. By 1939 he was living with his sister, Florence Spurrell, in Mansfield; he was a colliery bricklayers' labourer. He died in 1947 (J/A/S Mansfield). Edward John (also John Edward) married Louisa Bedford (b. 4 March 1892) in 1917 (A/M/J Portsmouth). In 1939 they were living with their two children, Edward Thomas (b. 6 April 1917) a driller in HM Dockyard, and Rita (b. 20 April 1919) a corset factory worker, on Arundel Street, Portsmouth, Edward snr. was serving in the Royal Navy at HMS Vernon. Harold may have married Elizabeth Helen Clark in 1919 (O/N/D Holborn London). He may have died in Poperinghe, Belgium, on 22 September 1938; his wife survived him. Percy died in 1924 (J/A/S Southwell). Laura was was a barmaid in 1911, employed by Stanley Chambers, manager and publican of a public house at 39 Kings Cross Road, St Pancras, London. Stanley was married with one child. His wife died in 1914 (J/F/M St Pancras) and he and Laura were married the same year (J/A/S). Laura and Stanley may have been living with their children in Suffolk in 1939; he was registered as a farmer.

Clarence was a farm servant before enlisting in the Royal Navy in 1906. He was discharged to the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1911 and was mobilized in July 1914.

Clarence joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman on 4 December 1906 on a 12 year short service engagement (5 years RN and 7 years Royal Fleet Reserve). He served in the following ships and shore establishments: Victory I, 4 December 1906-22 January 1907; HMS Barfleur, 23 January 1907-4 March 1907; HMS Prince George, 5 March 1907-27 March 1907; HMS Albion, 28 March 1907-6 August 1909 (Able Seaman 16 December 1908); HMS Excellent, 7 August 1909-24 February 1910 (7 days cells) 24 February 1910-14 December 1910; HMS Albermarle, 15 December 1910-30 October 1911; Victory l, 31 October 1911-10 December 1911. T He transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve on 11 December 1911 on the completion of hthe first 5 years of his engagement. He was mobilized on 13 July 1914 and joined HMS Good Hope. He was killed in action on 1 November 1914; his service record was annotated, ‘NP2788/14. DD [Discharged Dead] 1 November 1914. Lost when HMS Good Hope was sunk in action off the Chilean coast.’ His body was not recovered for burial and he is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire. HMS Good Hope was a Drake Class armoured cruiser built in 1901. By 1914 she was the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Christopher George Cradock which, along with HMS Monmouth and other British vessels of 4th Cruiser Squadron, encountered Vice Admiral von Spee’s Scharnhorst and Gneisenau forty five miles off the Chilean port of Coronel. The German ships were faster and more heavily armed than Cradock’s fleet. The sun set at 18:50 on November 1st 1914, which silhouetted the British ships against the light sky while the German ships became indistinguishable from the shoreline behind them. Spee immediately turned to close and signalled his ships to open fire at 19:04 when the range closed to 12,300 yards. Spee's flagship, Scharnhorst, engaged Good Hope while Gneisenau fired at Monmouth. Cradock's flagship was hit on the Scharnhorst's third salvo, when shells knocked out her forward 9.2-inch turret and set her forecastle on fire. Cradock, knowing his only chance was to close the range, continued to do so despite the battering that Spee's ships inflicted. By 19:23 the range was almost half of that when the battle began and the British ships bore onwards. Spee tried to open the range, fearing a torpedo attack, but the British were only 5,500 yards away at 19:35. Seven minutes later, Good Hope set course directly at the German ships which successfully evaded her. Spee ordered his armoured cruisers to concentrate their fire on the British flagship which had drifted to a halt with her topsides ablaze. At 19:50 her forward magazine exploded, severing the bow from the rest of the ship, and she later sank in the darkness. Von Spee estimated that his flagship had made 35 hits on Good Hope, suffering only two hits in return that did no significant damage and failed even to wound one crewman. Good Hope was sunk with all hands, a total of 919 officers and men. Good Hope and Monmouth’s ship’s companies mainly comprised reservists whereas von Spee’s crews were well trained and experienced. There were just two other British ships, the light cruiser HMS Glasgow and the armed merchant cruiser Otranto, neither of which posed a threat to von Spee’s modern ships which had superior fire-power than those of the British Squadron. The captain of Cradock’s flagship, HMS Good Hope, was Captain Philip Francklin, who was a career officer and came from Gonalston Nottinghamshire (he is on the Gonalston memorial). von Spee’s squadron was destroyed, and he and his two sons killed, when the Royal Navy under Admiral Sturdee exacted retribution six weeks later at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914.

Mansfield Reporter, 9 October 1914 (extract): ‘Bassetlaw News. Edwinstowe And The War. A Patriotic Family. The proud distinction of sending five sons to serve their country in its present need belongs to Mr and Mrs William Wardale, of Edwinstowe. Whilst two of their sons, Edward and Clarence, are already serving with the fleet in the North Sea, three other sons, namely Ernest, Bernard and Harold have joined Lord Kitchener’s army. Mr Wardale himself, who is 74 years of age, is also an old soldier, having served in his younger days with the 1st battalion of the 14th Bucks and Hants’ regiment, for over six years, four years of this period being spent in the West Indies.’ (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) John Edward joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman on 8 June 1909 on a short service engagement. He was rated able seaman on 29 July 1911 and transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve on 12 July 1914 (B6994). He was mobilised on 2 August 1914 and served to 7 November 1919, probably spending the whole of his service at HMS Vernon, a Portsmouth shore establishment. He re-entered on a continuous service engagement on 4 October 1921. Ernest attested in the Sherwood Foresters on 21 August 1914 and served with the BEF France from 11 November 1914 until 11 January 1915 after which he served in the UK until discharged on 24 January 1919. He transferred to the Durham Light Infantry on 26 August 1916, to the West Yorkshire Regiment on 27 January 1917 and then to the Labour Corps on 22 August the same year. Finally, he transferred to the South Staffordshire Regiment (Depot) on 5 January 1918. He was discharged on 24 January 1919 ‘being surplus to requirements having suffered impairment since entry into the service. Disability, malaria, GSW R. leg and varicose veins R leg'. He was discharged to Rufford Road, Edwinstowe. Bernard served in the Sherwood Foresters (2226 Private), a consecutive number with his brother, Harold (2227), but transferred to the Royal Fusilers (125097) and then the Labour Corps (405657). He served in France from 2 March 1915, suggesting that he was with the 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters. He qualified for the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. Harold served in the Sherwood Foresters (2227), a consecutive number with his brother Bernard (2226, 305449). He served in France from 2 March 1915 so probably served with the 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters. Harold later served with the 11th Bn in Italy, where he won the Military Medal. He was demoblized on 24 February 1919 in the rank of sergeant. Mansfield Reporter, 15 August 1919 (extract): ‘Great Day at Edwinstowe. Presentation of Medals. Sergeant Harold Wardale, 11th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. Awarded the MM in Italy, 12th September, 1918. ‘During a raid on the enemy tranches, on approaching the enemy’s line, trouble was caused by a hostile post. This NCO promptly gave his orders and proceeded to bomb the post. He killed four of them and secured the capture of the remainder. He showed great powers of leadership throughout.'' (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) A sixth brother, Percy (b. 1889), also served in the war with the Sherwood Foresters (202135). He did not qualify for the 1914/15 Star so did not serve overseas until 1916; he may therefore have joined later than his brothers, two of whom joined the Royal Navy before the outbreak of war and three attested in the army in time to serve in France by 1915.