toofatfortakeoff Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 Afternoon I have looked throught the records of Rouen Cemetery but drawn a blank. This young fella lived in Queen St Barton upon Humber prior to the war, and as you can see from the old scrapbook he was gassed and died at Rouen. No CWGC record no nothing really. Any ideas from Canadian friends as we have a committee going to put more names on our war memorial and he might be a candidate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 What is the date of this article so we can ascertain his date of birth (we know he was 25 at this time) Ralph. Edit:- Found him on the 1911 census at Queen Street, born 1890 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 The Canadian Virtual War Memorial has no one by the name of William Clay thereon. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin ss002d6252 Posted 3 May , 2013 Admin Share Posted 3 May , 2013 I can't see any obvious canadian service records for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pylon1357 Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 Is it possible we are looking at Herbert William King Clay? Only Clay I see with the name William appearing anywhere in his name. Don't think so as his age was 38 years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pylon1357 Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 This could get difficult, but I hope we get some help. As stated, no William Clay is shown anywhere in either CVWM, or CWGC. Having to work on theory only, the Canadian Highlanders were the 96th Bn. They were broken into the 92nd BN, which in turn supplied a good number of men to the 13th, 15th and the 42nd Bn. A date to work with, or any other additional information would be great. I have to wonder if he may have joined under an assumed name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 3 May , 2013 Share Posted 3 May , 2013 Beginning to think the same as Pylon, cannot find a William Clay of this age on Ancestry emigrating anywhere either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofatfortakeoff Posted 4 May , 2013 Author Share Posted 4 May , 2013 Hi again-the newspaper clip is from an unknown source-Joycie Welch from Barton upon Humber Lincs collected loads and stuck them down in a scrapbook.(See blog on my profile link) Most I would say are from the Hull Evening News Scunthorpe Star or the Lincolnshire Times (the latter I dont have access to) I would imagine that he is the William Clay of Queen St Barton upon Humber rjaydee. He was gassed at Hill 60 and the news was being received in the Hull Evening News at least within a month. Ah he was 21 in 1911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted 4 May , 2013 Share Posted 4 May , 2013 Sean Your not the only one to be baffled by this man. PB from Gainsboro finally sorted it. http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/84206/McCLAY,%20WALTER Have a look at his attestation papers on Candian site to confirm the Barton link. C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 4 May , 2013 Share Posted 4 May , 2013 Well done that man ! How on earth did you find that ! Wimereux is a bloomin long way from Rouen as well. Sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Bulloch Posted 4 May , 2013 Share Posted 4 May , 2013 Well Done on McClay. This photograph from CVM. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pylon1357 Posted 4 May , 2013 Share Posted 4 May , 2013 Sean Your not the only one to be baffled by this man. PB from Gainsboro finally sorted it. http://www.cwgc.org/.../McCLAY, WALTER Have a look at his attestation papers on Candian site to confirm the Barton link. C Excellent find. I had started to work through different spellings but the likelihood of me coming up to the result Walter McClay would have been some weeks or months down the road, if ever. Congratulations!!!!!! I must bow in the presences of greatness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted 5 May , 2013 Share Posted 5 May , 2013 Can't take any credit for the detective work, that was all down to PB. He had been looking for him for a while, and i think from memory it was by chance he came across him. When i next speak to him i will ask. Nice that pic Rob which matches to Seans. Not sure why he was buried at Wimereux though, given as rjaydee says it was a long way from Rouen. C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofatfortakeoff Posted 6 May , 2013 Author Share Posted 6 May , 2013 Blimey he must be the same man in the census-what the clucking bell?? Thanks a lot folks is he the same man in 1911 census at Queen St? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofatfortakeoff Posted 6 May , 2013 Author Share Posted 6 May , 2013 http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.02-e.php?image_url=http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat4/135628a.gif&id_nbr=161446 cheers everyone looks like the either Census return folks thought a lot of the Mc prefix or The mother had dropped it she is the same on cwgc an census-but would she call herself Clay rather than McClay? http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.02-e.php?image_url=http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat4/135628b.gif&id_nbr=161446 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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