Seaforth St John Clarke, 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders

[NJMCCARTHY]

Dear All,

I wonder if anyone can help me.

I am currently looking into a chap by the name of Seaforth St John Clarke, who served with the 2nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders.

i have looked on all the usual places for information relating to him: ancestry, cwgc etc and I have seen that he was born on the 13th October 1898, enlisred in Kingston on Thames, Middlesex in 1917 and was killed on 26th March 1918.

What I hoping to find out is any war diary references there may be for this date and the week preceeding it and a picture of the 2nd Battalions activities from the middle of 1917 to the time of his death in 1918.

Any help that anyone can provide would be most appreciated. Many thanks, N

[GraemeClarke]

Morning

You can download the War Diary for £3.36 here

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C4554634

and all your questions will be answered,

Regards,

Graeme

[NJMCCARTHY]

oh wow thanks graham, absolute bargain

[Tom Lang]

The 2nd Bn Diary for 26 March, 1918, is as follows:

In the Field

March 25: The Bn relieved the Duke of Wellington’s in Front line N of the River. ‘A’ Left Front Coy, ‘B’ Centre Front Coy, ‘D’ Right Front Coy, ‘C’ in Support in CORDITE, CORAL & CYCLE. Bn Headquarters in CRETE. 1 Coy of Dukes left in support under Bn Orders in CORAL. Relief successfully carried out.

March 26: Quiet day. The Coy of Duke of Wellington’s in support were withdrawn S of the River.

March 27: Early in the morning the enemy put down a heavy barrage on our Front line, & at about 6 am the S.O.S. went up from left Front Coy & also from Bn on left.

A party of about 30 Germans attempted to raid opposite our left Front Coy but were driven off.

Tom.

[Tom Lang]

Here's the specific page from the Diary

[NJMCCARTHY]

The 2nd Bn Diary for 26 March, 1918, is as follows:

In the Field

March 25: The Bn relieved the Duke of Wellington’s in Front line N of the River. ‘A’ Left Front Coy, ‘B’ Centre Front Coy, ‘D’ Right Front Coy, ‘C’ in Support in CORDITE, CORAL & CYCLE. Bn Headquarters in CRETE. 1 Coy of Dukes left in support under Bn Orders in CORAL. Relief successfully carried out.

March 26: Quiet day. The Coy of Duke of Wellington’s in support were withdrawn S of the River.

March 27: Early in the morning the enemy put down a heavy barrage on our Front line, & at about 6 am the S.O.S. went up from left Front Coy & also from Bn on left.

A party of about 30 Germans attempted to raid opposite our left Front Coy but were driven off.

Tom.

Hi Tom,

Thanks for this really useful piece of information, and the scan of the page to go with.

Wonder if you might be able to help me somewhat further? I am trying to piece together the 2nd Battalions movements from April 1917 to March 1918 so as to build a picture of what engagements Seaforth would have been involved in and to see whether perhaps he was wounded prior to March 26th, given that it is described as a quiet day?! (Also do you have any idea as to where the battalion was on that day - from what I can tell they were in Etrun)

Any help you can provide would be most useful and greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Nick

[Tom Lang]

Nick,

I have a (paid) copy of the Diary and have fully transcribed it into Mickey$oft Word with side-by-side pages of the Diary and the transcription.

I'll PM you.

Kindest Regards,

Tom.

[NJMCCARTHY]

Nick,

I have a (paid) copy of the Diary and have fully transcribed it into Mickey$oft Word with side-by-side pages of the Diary and the transcription.

I'll PM you.

Kindest Regards,

Tom.

Thanks Tom, much appreciated. Your help will be duly credited