Clarke John Brasnett

Born: 14 May 1892

Died: 27 September 1916

Rank and Regiment: Private 12820 in the 5th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment).

Resting Place: Contay British Cemetery, Somme, France (I.E.4)

Memorial: All Saints Runhall, United Kingdom

Clarke Brasnett was born in Runhall on 14 May 1892; he was the younger brother of Archibald Brasnett, q.v. He was baptised at Runhall on 26 June 1892.

He joined Runhall School on 7 April 1896, curiously after his older brother was described as having left the village. There is a note of him being reported, presumably for poor attendance, in January 1904.

Some records (including those of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) note him as John Clarke rather than Clarke John, and on 16 March 1911, a J. Brasnett aged 21, so born about 1890, occupation farming, left Liverpool, England on the ship Montrose, (Capt A E Moscap) to St John Canada. This may or may not have been Clarke Brasnett; but he certainly did emigrate to Canada, as, at about the same time, did his youngest brother Hedley.

Clarke joined the Canadian Army, 16th Light horse, probably in Regina, Saskatchewan. Then he was attested to the Canadian expeditionary force in Valcartier, Quebec, on 18 September 1914. He stood 5 ft 9 in tall and had fair hair and blue eyes.

His brother, Hedley, served with the 31st Canadian Infantry Battalion and was wounded in the battle of Armienes, spending three years in military hospitals but surviving the War and living to the age of 95.

Clarke was less fortunate. He was killed on 27 September 1916 in the Battle of Thiepval Ridge. Unlike over 70,000 of his comrades, his body was recovered and he is buried at Contay British Cemetery, Somme, France (I. E. 4). The inscription on his grave reads:

FOR THEM – ETERNAL GAIN

FOR US – A MEMORY.

Contay British Cemetery, France