51st (Graduated) Battalion, South Wales Borderers
Albert Edward Clutterbuck was a young soldier, who appears to have died very shortly after discharge on medical grounds.
He was born in Leonard Stanley in early 1899 (he was baptised on 12 March of that year). His parents were John James Clutterbuck (1865-1956) and his wife Eda Mary (née Rogers: 1866-1943). According to their marriage banns both worked in the (woollen) cloth trade. The couple had two children, Albert Edward and Arthur James (1893-1986).
At the time of the 1901 Census the family lived at The Marsh, Leonard Stanley and they were still living in the village by the time of the 1911 Census but would appear to have moved back to The Marsh sometime after. Unusually for the time, the 1911 Census records that Eda worked in a metal factory (her husband was still a woollen mill worker).
Fortunately, an Army Pension Record has survived for Albert. This reveals that when he enlisted (almost certainly conscripted) into the Army on 23 January 1917 he was employed as a miner in the South Wales Coal Field and was living at 15 Mill Street, Quakers Yard, Treharris, Glamorgan. He quoted his age as 17 years and 294 days. He was placed in the Reserve and mobilised on 17 April 1917. At this time there were lots of changes to the training process within the Army, as Albert’s record indicates. Initially he was sent to 72 Reserve Battalion, followed by 76 Battalion on 27 June 1917, then to 58th (Graduated) Battalion on 3 August 1917 and into 230 (Graduated) Battalion on 23 September 1917 and finally to 51st (Graduated) Training Battalion, South Wales Borderers on 1 November 1917. The 51st Battalion were stationed at Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
Albert reported to an army medical board held on 12 December 1917 that he had first experienced the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in June 1917, whilst training at Preece Heath Camp, Whitchurch. The board confirmed that he was suffering from this form of arthritis, seen as the ‘result of service during present war and ordinary military service, due to exposure to wet and damp in camp’. It was viewed to be an ‘old condition, aggravated by exposure to weather conditions’. He was granted a permanent disability allowance of 100%, subject to six months review. His discharge from the Army as ‘no longer physically fit for war service’ followed on 2 January 1918.
On 4 July 1918 Albert Edward Clutterbuck died, at home in Leonard Stanley, aged 19. Whether his death was directly connected with the condition which prompted his discharge is not known. The original CWGC printed register records he ‘died of sickness’ and a recently released Pension Record Card does not give a cause of death. He was buried in the churchyard of St Swithun’s, Leonard Stanley on 8 July 1918 and a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave. He is commemorated on the Leonard Stanley War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 28 May 2021