John William Clark. 8th Ardwicks Manchester Reg't.

[Clarky53]

Hello.
I have been directed to this Boer War forum by timberman. My name is Fred Clark, I'm 57 and from Manchester. I first joined the forum for assistance in finding John William's war records. All the team have helped but can't him at all for the forces. They have assisted in other ways by finding members of my extended family brilliantly. JW was born in Gommersall, Yorkshire in 1880. He is shown as a "iron planer" in the 1911 census. I am attaching a page from the National Roll, he is bottom right. I know this is JW because my dad  told me he lived in Hughes St, Ardwick as a kid. There is something amiss here as he can't be found. Can any one else please assist me in finding him. I have also been down to the museum in Ashton with no joy. If his record has been destroyed in the blitz then OK, but they would still have some record in the Manchesters at Ardwick. It is not JW Clark 4217 as he went to France in 1915.

                                                  Regards,

                                                 Fred Clark.

[sphinx]

Fred,

I have serched the Boer War Medal rolls for all the Battalions of The Manchester Regiment and there are NO soldiers with the details of "J.W. CLARK".

There are dozens of Clark's, Clarke's and many J. Clark's (Clarke's).

His 8th (TF) Bn would not be the same number that he had during the Boer War.

If he served in another Regiment in the Boer War, I wouldnt be able to check, and the name is so common that there would be hundreds of possibles.

regards

[timberman]

Hi Fred
It was worth a try.
Make sure you have notification of replies to your posts ticked you never know what will come up in the future.
The reason I say this. It was by accident in 2007 and after years of searching and getting nowhere looking for information on my Granddad. I happened to type in his name on Google. A lady on Roots was asking if any of the soldiers she had listed was related to anyone and she had my Granddad listed. She had an album that her relative who was a nurse at the Barrack Hospital in Ashton and got soldiers that were recovering from wounds to write something. That then got me directed to this forum and found out some more and I stayed ever since. What I’m saying is don’t give up and you never know where the information may come from.

Timberman

[Robert Bonner]

Fred.

In the Ardwicks muster roll of 1902 there are three Clarkes who had enlisted between 1895 and 1902.
They are: Albert,  Harold and Ernest.  None of course is your man.


There is always the possibility that he enlisted in the Manchester Artillery who had their headquarters on the other side of the Green at Ardwick.  People often get confused by this.