SPRATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY


Private Joseph Ernest CLARKE (known as Ernest)

Royal Fusiliers 5523
Royal Army Service Corps, Bakers Section 388262


Ernest Clarke was born in 1880 in Stanwick, Northamptonshire, the son of Chaney, a labourer, and his wife Elizabeth. By the time he was 20 he was working as a shoemaker in Spratton and boarding with a local family. In April 1901, he married Kate Dickens, a Spratton girl whose family were long-established in the village. The couple lived in the High Street and set up a business together as pork pie makers.

Ernest was originally drafted into the Royal Fusiliers in November 1915 but in 1917 he transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps, Bakers Section - very appropriate for a pork pie maker! He was wounded before being discharged from the army on 15 February 1919 and awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was also issued with a Silver War Badge to wear at home to show that he had been wounded in the war.

Royal Army Service Corps badge
Royal Army Service Corps badge
Royal Army Service Corps badge
Royal Army Service Corps badge
Silver War Badge
Silver War Badge
Silver War Badge
Silver War Badge