Chaplain 4th Class Clifford Hugh Reed MC - Army Chaplains Dept

[Will O'Brien]

As per CWGC

Name: REED, THE REV. CLIFFORD HUGH

Initials: C H

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Chaplain 4th Class

Regiment/Service: Army Chaplains' Department

Age: 28

Date of Death: 07/06/1917

Awards: MC

Additional information: Son of William Henry and Caroline Reed, of "Thornlea", Cowley Rd., Exeter.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: I. A. 12.

Cemetery: OOSTTAVERNE WOOD CEMETERY

& the cemetery info

Cemetery: OOSTTAVERNE WOOD CEMETERY

Country: Belgium

Locality: Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen

Location Information: Oosttaverne Wood Cemetery is located 6 km south of Ieper town centre on the Rijselseweg N336 connecting Ieper to Lille. From Ieper town centre the Rijselsestraat runs from the market square, through the Lille Gate (Rijselpoort) and directly over the crossroads with the Ieper ring road. The road name then changes to the Rijselseweg. 3 Km along the Rijselseweg the road forks with the N365. The N336 is the left hand fork towards Lille. The cemetery is located 2 Km after this left hand fork on the right hand side of the road.

Historical Information: The "Oosttaverne Line" was a German work running northward from the river Lys to the Comines Canal, passing just east of Oosttaverne. It was captured on 7 June 1917, the first day of the Battle of Messines, the village and the wood being taken by the 19th (Western) and 11th Divisions. Two cemeteries, No 1 and No 2, were then made by the IX Corps Burial Officer on the present site and used until September 1917. They are contained in Plot I, II, and III of the present cemetery, which was completed after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields (including many from Hill 60) and from German cemeteries in the area. During the Second World War, the British Expeditionary Force was involved in the later stages of the defence of Belgium following the German invasion in May 1940, and suffered many casualties in covering the withdrawal to Dunkirk. The cemetery contains 1,119 First World War burials, 783 of which are unidentified. Scattered among these graves are 117 from the Second World War, five of them unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

No. of Identified Casualties: 445

[Will O'Brien]

Clifford's online MIC index entry can be seen here

[Stebie9173]

From the London Gazette 13-2-1915

ARMY CHAPLAINS DEPARTMENT..^

The undermentioned to - be temporary

Chaplains to the Forces, 4th Class: —

Dated 18th January, 1915.

The Reverend Clifford H. Reed.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

Steve.

[Stebie9173]

His Military Cross from the London Gazette 14th November 1916.

Rev. Clifford Hugh Reed, temp. Chapl. to the Forces, Army Chapl's Dept.

For conspicuous courage and devotion to duty on many occasions in the firing line, in helping with the evacuation of wounded.

On one occasion, he led a party of stretcherbearers under heavy shell fire to the advanced aid posts, rendering conspicuous service at great personal risk. He has previously rendered valuable service under fire.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

[Stebie9173]

Born in 1888 at Collumpton, Devon, Clifford Hugh Reed was the son of William Henry and Caroline Reed. William Reed was a Cornishman from Bodmin and a Paper Manufacturer at the time of the 1891 Census.

At that time they had a daughter, Ethel (10), and four sons, Arthur (9), Edgar (7), Herbert (4) and Clifford (2). The family lived at Kingmill House, Collumpton, and had a Governess and one domestic servant. By 1901 they had one further son, Douglas (born c.1895), and were living in Exeter at "Thornlea".

Clifford Reed was educated at Trull College, Somerset (per the 1901 Census).

Steve.

[chrisharley9]

From ODGW

KIA

[Audax]

Also remembered on the Royal Army Chaplains' Department memorial panels in the Royal Garrsion Church of All Saints, Aldershot.