Reginald Eli James Clark

Story:
Reginald Eli James Clark was born in 1889 in Iwerne Minster, Shaftesbury, Dorset, and baptised there on 7th April 1889. He was the son of James Clark, a mason, and Sarah Anne Clark (née Burt). At the time of the 1911 Census he was single, working as a bricklayer and living at Tower Hill, Iwerne Minster, Dorset. He enlisted at Blandford, Dorset, on 17th August 1914 as a Private in the 5th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment (Service No. 9859). He was posted to the Balkans on 11 Jul 1915 was in action at Gallipoli and was awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1915 Star. He went missing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, and presumed killed in action on 21st August 1915 but he was not officially declared dead until 10th October 1915. His name appears on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey (Panel 136 to 139). He is remembered on the Iwerne Minster War Memorial, Shaftesbury. His mother was in receipt of a dependent's pension of 5s. (25p.) per week.

Reginald's brother Maurice Frederick (b.1893) also served with the Dorsetshire Regiment during the war, but survived.