Maurice Frederick Clark

Story:
Maurice Frederick Clark was born in Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 26th May 1893 and baptised there on 6th August 1893, the son of James Clark and Sarah Anne Clark (née Burt).  He lived all his life in the Iwerne Minster area.  He enlisted and joined the 5th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment as a Private (later Corporal) (Service No. 10143).  He served with them in the Balkans.  He later went to France and Flanders and whilst there transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment (Service No. 28887)  He took part in the Battle of the Somme which commenced on 21st March 1918 but was taken prisoner on 24th March, 1918 at Fremlicourt, Cambrai, Somme, France, and spent time in a POW Camp in Germany.  Following his repatriation he was discharged on 6th April 1919 and awarded the Victory and British War medals as well as the 1915 Star.  By the 1921 Census he was living in Tower Hill, Iwerne Minster, working as a Bricklayer for the Ismay Estates.  He married Elsie Mabel Pike at Iwerne Minster, Dorset, on 26th September 1925.    (No record of the whereabouts of his wife has been found after this time though she is thought to have died in 1994).   By the time of the 1939 Register he was living at The Hollow, Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, and still working as a Bricklayer.   He died at Damers Hospital, Dorchester, Dorset, on 17th August 1961 and probate was eventually granted to another person other than his wife. Maurice's brother Reginald Eli James also served in the war with the Dorsetshire Regiment and was sadly killed at Gallipoli in 1915. Printed source: "Iwerne Minster Before, During, and After the Great War", edited by P. Anderson Graham, printed for Private Circulation only.