KevinMurrell: Created page with " === Private Clifford Campbell aged 18 === Clifford Campbell was born on 3rd Sept 1899 in Mirfield. The family relocated shortly after his birth and in the 1901 census the Campbells are living at 7 Duke Street. His mother died in 1906. His father Charles remarried and in the 1911 census, the family are still on Duke Street, Clifford with his 2 brothers Colin and Herbert and a sister Nellie. Clifford worked for R T Riley and Co at Peel House Mills. His father Charles, muc..."

2026-09-06T07:09:49Z

Created page with " === Private Clifford Campbell aged 18 === Clifford Campbell was born on 3rd Sept 1899 in Mirfield. The family relocated shortly after his birth and in the 1901 census the Campbells are living at 7 Duke Street. His mother died in 1906. His father Charles remarried and in the 1911 census, the family are still on Duke Street, Clifford with his 2 brothers Colin and Herbert and a sister Nellie. Clifford worked for R T Riley and Co at Peel House Mills. His father Charles, muc..."

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=== Private Clifford Campbell aged 18 ===
Clifford Campbell was born on 3rd Sept 1899 in Mirfield. The family relocated shortly after his birth and in the 1901 census the Campbells are living at 7 Duke Street. His mother died in 1906. His father Charles remarried and in the 1911 census, the family are still on Duke Street, Clifford with his 2 brothers Colin and Herbert and a sister Nellie. Clifford worked for R T Riley and Co at Peel House Mills. His father Charles, much later in life, ran the Fish and Chip shop on Luddenden High Street just across the road from the Granby Pub, now Granby House. His elder brother Colin would also likely have served in the war. We know he survived as he was married in 1922 at St Mary’s. Clifford was conscripted on 8th September 1917, five days after his 18th Birthday. He became Private Clifford Campbell 53888 of the 2nd/5th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. He was reported missing in Action on 31 July 1918, 4 days before his 19th birthday. His Battalion had been engaged in action for a couple of weeks around Bois de Pourey to the West of Reims in the Champagne region of France. The War diaries show that the West Yorkshires were fighting alongside French, Italian and American troops and the hills around Bois de Pourey are dotted with the military cemeteries from all of these nations, indicating the ferocity of the fighting. There are no references to Clifford himself in the war diaries, but they do show that the West Yorkshire Regiment were involved in a period of heavy fighting throughout July. A map in the diaries show all the troop positions in mid July, the West Yorkshires were only a small number of the amassed troops, with only 60 men. The troops would fight in the front line for a few days before going back to the support trenches to rest. The Germans had planes in the air so even these manoeuvres weren’t without threat. The dairies report that on the 30th July (the day before Clifford’s death) the battalion had managed to move from the wagon line to the front line without casualties from air attack. There are some dispatches that have survived in the diaries from a Lt Walker of the West Yorkshire Regiment, which gives a flavour of what Clifford was experiencing. Having advanced from the front line Lt Walker was stuck in a shell hole in no man’s land. He sends a runner back to report his situation to HQ ‘Am occupying 2 shell holes South East of Chaumezy only 6 men of ours left and 8 men and one officer of the Devon’s. I’m in touch with Hampshire’s on the right (150 yards) but nobody on the left. What am I to do? Holding on and consolidating' 4 hours later, another report back to HQ. They are still stuck in a shell hole but now Lt Walker is wounded, still awaiting instructions and surrounded by snipers. I don’t know whether Lt Walker survived. Clifford is buried alongside 244 comrades at the Chambrecy British Cemetery close to where he fell. Half of the graves are of unknown soldiers. Gill and Phil Radford were driving through France a few years ago and took the opportunity to visit his grave. He’s surrounded by his fellow West Yorkshire regiment pals and the Devon’s and the Hampshire’s mentioned in the War diaries. Of the 60 West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers that fought in this engagement, 31 are known to be buried here, another 5 in the nearby cemetery at Courmas, all of these 36 men died in the last few days of July. The cemetery is in the rolling hills where they fought, now surrounded by cereal fields, vineyards and the remnants of the forest that once covered these slopes. You walk amongst the gravestones, in the sunshine with the smell of herbs hanging in the air. It was so very difficult to imagine the horror of July 1918.

Private Clifford Campbell aged 18 - Revision history