Family :

Education & Career :

Harrow, Bailliol Collge Oxford
Professional Soldier

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

France & Flanders covers all the dates and corresponding locations which are outside the official battle nomenclature dates on the Western Front. Therefore the actions in which these men died could be considered 'normal' trench duty - the daily attrition losses which were an everyday fact of duty on the Western Front.

Detail :

Balliol College Chapel Passage, West Wall The names on the WWI Memorial in the Chapel Passage are arranged according to the year of entry into the College, with rank, unit, theatre and date of death. These details are given in the biographical accounts which appear in the Balliol College War Memorial Book, which also gives photographs of the men and of the Memorial. The names of German fatalities (eg Friedrich von Bethmann Hollweg, Balliol 1908, killed in action 1915) are not given, and there are other, accidental, omissions as well: see JM Winter, 'Balliol's Lost Generation', Balliol College Annual Record, 1975, 22. 1899 Harold Christopher Richmond Lionel Pilleau Clay CAPTAIN L. P. CLAY Queeris Own Yorkshire Dragoons HARROW 94'-99' Aged 37 February i8th, 1918 Elder son of John William Clay, of Rastrick House, Brighouse, Yorkshire, and of Mrs. Clay. Entrance Scholar : Monitor, 1896 : Head of the School, 1898 : Botfield Scholar, 1898. Balliol College, Oxford, 1st Class Mods: B.A. 1905, M.A. 1907. Called to the Bar of the Inner Temple 1906. Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Somerleyton.

Married, in 1911, Mary Winifred Muriel, younger daughter of William Ralph Walker, of Scotnish, Lochgilphead, N.B., and leaves a son and two daughters. Captain Clay joined the Yorkshire Dragoons in 1906, but was trans- ferred to the T.F, Reserve in 191 3. At the outbreak of the War he rejoined the Yorkshire Dragoons and went to France with them in July, 1915. From September, 1916, to October, 1917, he commanded a Squadron, and was then made Court Martial Officer. He was killed by a bomb on February i8th, 1918, and is buried in the military cemetery at Tincourt-Bouchy, east of Peronne.

Lieut.-Colonel J. Gilbert Mellor, Deputy Judge-Advocate-General, wrote : "His exceptional abilities gave me great confidence in his work. Such Officers are not easy to find, and his death is a real loss to the Army". Captain Douglas Long wrote : "I had a great regard for his strong character, powers of judgment, and quick dry humour. He gained the esteem of all those with whom he came in contact". His servant wrote : "Who is there who knew my late dearly loved Commanding Officer intimately who could ever forget him". All his thoughts were for the comfort and welfare of his men.

He was killed in action at Templeux la Fosse [18th February 1918].
He was buried at Tincourt New British Cemetery, France [Grave Ref V B 5].
He is remembered on the Memorial at Halifax Freemasons, on Brighouse War Memorial, on Rastrick War Memorial, and on the Memorial at Saint Matthew's Church, Rastrick

He left bequests for Harrow School and for an annual prize to be awarded to the boy or boys considered to be the most efficient in general knowledge and intelligence.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Researcher : Rod Taylor