Frank Clark
Born 9 Apr 1890 - Died 28 Aug 1915
- Service number
- WWI 13/892 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1 Trooper AWMM Auckland Mounted Rifles AWMM
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 9 Apr 1890 AWMM
- Date of birth
- —
- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
- —
- Address before enlistment
- Pre 15 Dec 1914 AWMM Te Pahu, Waikato, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- —
- Next of kin
- Thomas Clark (father), Te Pahu, Waikato, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 17 Apr 1915 AWMM Single AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1915-1916 AWMM Gallipoli AWMM
- 1914-1916 AWMM Egypt AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 13/892 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- 1914-1915 Star AWMM
- British War Medal (1914-1920) AWMM
- Victory Medal AWMM
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW1 15 Dec 1914 AWMM
- Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 17 Apr 1915 AWMM
HMNZT 21 or HMNZT 22 or HMNZT 23 AWMM Vessel was Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo AWMM Trooper AWMM Auckland Mounted Rifles AWMM 4th Reinforcements AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
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- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 Trooper AWMM
Auckland Mounted Rifles AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Frank Clark was born in England on 9 April 1890, the son of Thomas and Mrs Clark of Te Pahu, Waikato. He later settled in New Zealand and worked as a farmer for his father at Te Pahu. Before World War I he had served with the 4th (Waikato) Mounted Rifles in the Territorial Force and had passed the Fourth Educational Standard or its equivalent.
Clark enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 15 December 1914. His attestation recorded him as 24 years and eight months old, 5 ft 10 in tall and weighing 164 lb, with brown eyes and brown hair. He gave his religion as Wesleyan.
He embarked as Trooper 13/892 with the 4th Reinforcements, Auckland Mounted Rifles, on 17 April 1915. After reaching Egypt, he trained at Zeitoun Camp near Cairo before proceeding to Gallipoli.
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira holds Frank Clark – Letters (MS-1998-8). The collection contains eight letters written to his brothers Herbert and Fred from New Zealand, Egypt and Gallipoli, together with a telegram and official correspondence sent to the family after he was reported missing. The letters were made accessible through Pou Kanohi New Zealand at War.
Writing from Zeitoun Camp on 25 July 1915, Clark described visiting the pyramids and ancient tombs at Saqqara. He was less impressed by travelling there on a camel, describing them as “horrible things to ride” and recalling the discomfort of the nine-mile journey each way (Letter to Herbert Clark, 25 July 1915, MS-1998-8-3).
Clark sailed from Alexandria for Gallipoli and joined his unit at the Dardanelles on 16 August 1915. In a letter dated 21 August, he described watching another transport being torpedoed by a submarine. The soldiers put on their lifebelts while their own vessel increased speed and escaped. Clark recalled feeling “like rats in a trap” because the transport carried no gun with which to defend itself (Letter to Herbert Clark, 21 August 1915, MS-1998-8-4).
After landing, Clark and another soldier dug a small shelter into the side of their trench, measuring approximately six feet by five feet and only three feet high. He described the constant noise of artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire, with shells passing overhead and shrapnel bursting throughout the day.
His letter also records the flies, falling earth and difficulty of carrying water uphill from a supply point about half a mile away. Despite these conditions, he wrote that the soldiers received bacon, bully beef, dried vegetables, rice, raisins, jam, hard biscuits, tea, sugar, tinned milk, tobacco and occasionally eggs and bread.
Clark was deeply affected when he learnt that several men from his district had been killed in an earlier action. He told Herbert that he had been shocked by the news but could provide few details because soldiers’ correspondence was censored.
Only a week after writing the letter, Clark took part in the second assault on Hill 60. He was reported missing on 28 August 1915. A subsequent enquiry concluded that it was reasonable to presume he had been killed that day. Lieutenant W. F. Massey notified the family by telegram on 28 September 1915, with further official information supplied in April 1916.
Clark has no known grave and is commemorated on the Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial at Gallipoli and in the World War I Hall of Memories at Auckland War Memorial Museum. He was awarded the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. His Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll were issued to his father, Thomas Clark, at Te Pahu.
His brothers included Herbert Clark (46116), who later served during World War I, and Fred Clark. AWMM
About death
- Death
- 28 Aug 1915 AWMM
- Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action AWMM
- Death notes
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- Cemetery
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- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
- Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial, Hill 60 Cemetery, Turkey AWMM
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
Related objects
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R21894445
Further Reference - Frank Clark. Letters with photographs. Video commissioned by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Producer Storyboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5uFzwzEVhQ
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/1739207/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1739207
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- Stowers, R. (2005). Bloody Gallipoli: the New Zealanders' story. Auckland, N.Z.: David Bateman.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Vol1: 127 - Clark, Frank. Letters, 1915 - 1916. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS 98/8.
- Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
- Waite, F. (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Auckland, N.Z.: Printed and published under Authority of the New Zealand Government by Whitcombe & Tombs.
- Nicol, C.G. (1921). The story of two campaigns: Official war history of the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment 1914-1919. Auckland, N.Z.: Wilson & Horton.
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