| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Clarence was born in Beverley the 1 Aug 1897 and baptised at St Mary's church on 6 Oct 1897, the son of George Winter and Harriett (nee Mowthorp). They both came from the Everingham area and married there in 1877. The family lived at 7 Mill Lane, Beverley. Clarence moved in Hull and worked as a dairyman and later as a milk trade foreman. His application to be exempted from military service was rejected by a tribunal in the summer of 1916.
Clarence joined the 1st/4th East Yorkshire Regiment at Beverley on 25 Aug 1916 as a private but by November of that year had been promoted to Lance-Corporal. He arrived in France on 6 Jan 1917, but on 23 Apr 1917 at the Second Battle of the Scarpe he received gunshot wounds to the leg and was repatriated to hospital in the UK. Recovered he returned to France on 2 Nov 1917.
On 23 Mar 1918, in the midst of the devastating and massive German offensive launched a few days before, Clarence was reported missing. Later it was established by the International Red Cross that he had been taken prisoner at Vrainges. It seems that he was not transferred to a camp in Germany, rather he was required to work at the Pherde Depot 203, a Veterinary Depot at Beaurevoir. Later reports indicate that he died there of "Spanish sickness" (Flu) at some point between 18 Aug 1918 and 30 Sep of that year. His body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Soissons Memorial in France. The CWGC incorrectly reports his death as being on 27 May 1918. He was awarded the War and Victory Medals. Clarence is also remembered on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Two of Clarence's brothers also died in France in 1918. Sergeant Harry Winter of the 2nd Yorkshire Regiment was killed on 6 Nov and younger brother, Victor Winter of the RFA, died of gas poisoning on 17 Sep.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |