BORN HULL 1884. ONLY SON OF SARAH CLIFF (SECOND MARRIAGE) OF HODGSON STREET, HULL. HE HAD FOUR SISTERS. HIS FATHER DIED WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. HE MARRIED IN 1908. HUSBAND OF AMY ELIZABETH (KEMP), OF 18 CRANBOURNE TERRACE, WILLIAMSON STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS), 16 GROVE TERRACE, SPYVEE STREET, HULL AND THIS ARMY RECORDS ADDRESS. HE HAD FOUR CHILDREN, ONE OF WHICH DIED IN INFANCY. A FORMER BRICKLAYER AND KEELMAN. DESCRIBED AT 5 FOOT, 4 INCHES TALL, 36 INCH CHEST, AND 126 LBS WEIGHT, “GOOD” PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL, ON 13/12/1915. POSTED TO FRANCE, ON 12/12/1916. SERVED WITH THE 13TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD ON 03/05/1917, AGED 34. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING. HE HAD SERVED IN THE ARMY FOR 1 YEAR AND 144 DAYS.
HE HAD BEEN MISSING SINCE 03/05/1917 AND WAS SORELY MISSED. HIS WIFE APPEALED FOR INFORMATION ABOUT HIM, IN THE HDM 16/01/1919.
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
