2nd Lt. H. Clidero

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FIRST NAMES: Herbert

UNIT: 8th West Yorkshire Regiment

STATUS: Killed in Action

DATE OF DEATH: 1st September 1918

CEMETERY OR MEMORIAL: Vaulx Hill Cemetery, Vaulx-Vraucourt, nr. Bapaume, France

AGE: 22


Herbert Clidero was born in October 1896 baptised in Northallerton on 2nd November 1896. He was the son of Dora Angus and Herbert Clidero of Waverley House, Thirsk Road, Northallerton. His father was a watchmaker, and a well known figure in the town at that time.

Herbert enlisted as Pte. 36018 Clidero in the 4th Yorkshires on 11th September 1914, a month before his 18th birthday. When he enlisted he was described as being 5ft 6ins tall, single, and working as jeweller, presumably in his father's business.

On 29th May 1915 he was transferred to the 24th Provisional Battalion which was made up of those men from 1/4th and 1/5th Battalions who were either deemed medically unfit or had chosen not to volunteer for overseas service. He remained with the 24th Battalion on coastal defence duties (mainly around Clacton) until 16th July 1916 when he was posted to his old Battalion the 1/4th Yorkshires, and he arrived in France the following day.

On 4th September 1916 he was transferred to the 7th Battalion where he served as a signaller. Shortly afterwards he was wounded in the left thigh by a bullet which entered about 5ins above the knee. He was sent back to England on 20th September and taken to the Ontario Military Hospital at Orpington in Kent, where the bullet was removed under a general anasthetic.

He left hospital on 5th December 1916 and rejoined his Regiment at the Depot in Richmond, while he recovered fully from his wound. He was promoted to Acting Lance Corporal on 29th June 1917 and on 6th October 1917 he was attached to the 5th Officer Cadet Battalion. Herbert was commissioned on 29th January 1918 and went back out to France in June 1918.

He appears to have moved around quite a lot during his second period of overseas service. He was posted to the 5th Yorkshires on 10th July and then to the 2nd Yorkshires on 21st July before finally joining the 8th West Yorkshire Regiment on 29th July 1918.

Herbert was killed, aged 22, during the final Allied advance in 1918, just beyond the town of Bapaume, near a village called Vaulx-Vraucourt. He was originally buried in a cemetery called Vaulx Churchyard British Extension, but after the war a number of graves, including Herbert's, were moved and concentrated in the present Vaulx Hill Cemetery.

His parents' grief at the loss of their son must have been compounded when they were informed that Herbert's personal effects had been lost. An investigation concluded that they had been sent from the Base but must have been in some boxes which were stolen by Chinese coolies who were working on the railway sidings at Boulougne. The effects which had been sent from the base were:

1 Pocket Wallet containing cards & 36 photographs
1 Fountain Pen
2 Letters
1 Address Book
1 Drivers Licence
1 Part used Cheque Book
1 Note Case
1 Postal Order Counterfoil
1 Packet of Visiting Cards