Clement Priestly (Priestley) was born in April 1890 at Halifax and grew up in Yorkshire. His father, John Henry Priestley was a ‘twister in’ working in a cotton mill. His mother was Martha Annie (nee) Mann. They lived on Lytham Street, Halifax. In the 1901 census, Clement was living at Greetland, Yorkshire, as the adopted son of Thomas and Melinda Booth, fish and fruit dealers. His parents also seem to be living at Greetland. Clement worked as a dyer’s labourer. On 17 February 1909 he joined the regular army enlisting in 2 Bn Borders Regiment. He had previously been a Special Reservist in the West Yorkshire Regiment. When stationed at Headley, Hampshire he was tried and convicted for theft by the civil authorities. He was sentenced to two months imprisonment. He was also as a consequence discharged from the army under King’s Regulations Para. 392 on 23 August 1911. He then seems to have returned to Halifax and Sowerby Bridge.

On 21 February 1914 he married Maud Stanley at Halifax Register Office. At this time he added ‘Stanley’ – his wife’s maiden name – to his name. They would have a baby girl Irene, born on 22 September 1914, seven months later and possibly why they had married. They lived in Sowerby Bridge – first at 12 Union Street and then at 15 Carlton Street.

At the outbreak of war, he enlisted as Private 13222 in 10 Bn Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment at Halifax. He made no declaration of any previous military service either as a reservist unit or his term in 2 Bn Borders. However, on 20 November 1914, he was again discharged under King’s Regulations Para. 392 for misconduct – he had gone ‘AWOL’ on two occasions, had struck a sentry and had broken his arrest. Undeterred he tried again, this time enlisting in 2 Bn East Yorkshire Regiment at Bradford. He went over to France on 6 April 1915 as a draft, joining the battalion on 11 April at Zonnebecke, Ypres. He had been wounded in April 1915 – probably during Second Ypres offensive when the battalion had been heavily engaged – and spent six weeks in hospital at Boulogne.

Clement’s father had died circa 1905. His mother had re-married twice. First in 1911 to Mathew Binns, a train driver in Halifax, who died in 1914; second in 1915 to William J Danks, a bootmaker from Hebden Bridge. It seems that they moved to Oswestry and lived at 3 Ceiriog Villas in Oswestry – the terrace of houses on Gobowen Road near to the junction with Llwyn Road.

Clement was killed in the trenches at Kemmel on 14 July 1915. During the evening the Germans had exploded a mine under a neighbouring section of the line. The debris had fallen onto the battalion, killing several men. Battalion casualties for this day reached 13 KIA and 26 wounded. Clement, along with three of his fellow soldiers, are buried in Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery. He is also commemorated on war memorials in Yorkshire at Brighouse, Clay House, Greetland, Middle Dean Street Chapel, West Vale and in St George’s Church Sowerby.

Acknowledgements.

References and Sources

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