Percy CLUELOW

34945, Private, b. 1884, Bradford d. Tue. 5th June 1917 (aged 33).

Percy lived with his wife at Hillcrest, Cockin Lane in Clayton and worked at Summerscales Ltd. in Keighley until December 1916 when he enlisted into the (Prince of Wales Own) West Yorkshire Regiment in Halifax and was given the service number 47861 and later 58297.

Before his time in the army he had worked for many years as a clerk. His entry in the 1901 census records his having this occupation in Clayton before moving to Summerscales.
He trained with his original regiment until he was sent to France in May 1917 but on arriving, similarly to Ernest Briggs, found that the West Yorkshire’s did not need any replacements so was moved to a new unit, the 20th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers. This was known as the 1st Tyneside Scottish battalion, as it was a Pals battalion raised in Newcastle and was originally populated by those of Scottish descent who lived or worked in the Tyneside region.

Unfortunately, after the battle of Oppy Wood (near Arras) on the 3rd May 1917 many of its men had been wounded or killed and the 20th battalion was in desperate need of replacements. This was the battalion’s second main engagement, the first being on the Somme on 1st July 1916 where it again sustained huge casualties.

On the day that Percy was killed, the Tyneside Scottish were mounting an attack on the German trenches opposite them, and when Percy’s company went over the top at 8.05pm on 5th June it was blasted to pieces in a hail of German machine gun fire. Three of the battalions companies attacked in this particular engagement, the outer companies taking their objectives and only suffering light casualties, but Percy’s company (who was in the centre) was all but wiped out, with not a single man reaching their intended objective of the German front line.

Percy is remembered on the Arras Memorial.