Claverhouse (Claver) Beresford Young in WW1 Having visited his grave twice now, I realised I knew little of what happened to my great uncle Claver in the First World War, other than that he had been injured, and ultimately killed a few months before the wars end. I had first seen his picture when visiting my fathers cousin for the first time in 1977 - she had it on her mantelpiece - he was her godfather. I therefore decided to compile a narrative covering the 2 years from his enlistment in 1916 to his death in 1918. This comes from various sources, including his service records (66 pages, online), the battles in which the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion (Enoggera) fought, and probably most tellingly, the types of hospitals he was in. He was hospitalised 5 times, twice through illness, and three times from wounds sustained in the front line. The third occasion saw him in and out of a number of hospitals (which I have counted only as one). He was shot in the head twice, and suffered a shrapnel wound (from a bomb) to the right thigh, which had him out of action for 6 months. The last injury also resulted in admission to a hospital which treated war-related nerves and neuroses - but at the same time he was recovering from a shrapnel wound to his leg which immobilised him anyway. Here it is: Claverhouse (Claver) Beresford Young’s War I doubt that in the 96 years since his death, or the 98 years since he enlisted, anyone in the family has understood just what this young man went through after leaving Australian shores on May 1, 1916. Claver enlisted in the 49th battalion AIF on 3 February 1916, on leaving Brisbane Grammar School at age 18. He was 6’1”, and weighed 72kgs. His eyes and hair were brown. He intended to study law, as had 2 of his brothers (one being my grandfather). The story thereafter is one of illness and battle wounds, with 5 periods of hospitalisation, until his death on 5 July 1918. He left Australia on 1 May 1916, in Her Majesty’s Australian Transport (HMAT), the “Clan MacGillvray”, travelling via Sydney to Egypt, where he arrived on 13 June 1916. Claver remained in Egypt until 6 August 1916. The records are silent as to what transpired there, but he may have been ill. It seems likely that while there he made the copper name plate for his brothers (my grandfather’s) home in Toogoolawah. The name is “Ma’adi”, which is the name of a military hospital in Cairo. I have this. I was always told that this was made by his brother Rupert George Young while convalescing there, but the closest his record suggests he got to Egypt is Malta. . To have been in the military hospital Claver must have been ill. He was very artistic; there is in the family a lovely carved silky oak set of shelves he made, obviously before enlisting. The name plate is similarly artistically executed. In September 1916, he was transferred to the 42nd battalion. By November 1916 he was in England, and embarked for France from Southampton on 25 November 1916, which marked the 42nds entry to Europe.. Just before Christmas 1916, he was in trouble, for being “Improperly Dressed being absent from his billet without his belt”. As a result, he was confined to barracks for 2 days. On 1 January 1917 he was admitted to hospital suffering from the mumps. This developed into orchitis (very painful, dont ask me how I know) and he was in hospital until re-joining his unit a month later on 2 February 1917. All is silent until 2 July 1917 when he is again admitted to hospital, this time suffering from influenza. He re-joined his unit on 20 July 1917. On 1 August 1917, he was wounded for the first time, with a “severe” gunshot wound over his eyebrow. This was the day after the end of the battle for Warneton, in Belgium. On 27 August 1917 he re-joined his unit. On 4 October 1917, Claver was again wounded, this time in The Battle of Broodseinde near Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, with another gun shot would to the head. He returned to England for treatment at the Shorncliffe Military Hospital. Two months later, on 8 December 1917, he returned to his unit . By then the 42nd had moved south to France. Claver was only back 3 days when he was wounded a third time, on 12 December 1917, with shrapnel from a bomb explosion injuring his right thigh, apparently in the groin area. On 17 December he was invalided to England on a hospital ship, to the Shorncliffe Military Hospital once again. On 9 January 1918, he was moved to the Bevan Military Hospital, Sandgate, Kent, where it appears he underwent rehabilitation. On 30 January 1918 he was moved to the Australian Military Hospital at Dartford, in Kent. This was the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital (3AAH), at which war-related nerves and neuroses were treated. Clearly, his experiences had affected him, and not only physically. He must have been suffering from either or both of “war-related nerves and neuroses”, or he would not have been admitted to Dartford. This is not surprising: shot twice in the head, and sustaining what was obviously a massive wound to the thigh. These days it would be called PTSD. And no doubt seeing the carnage around him. On 22 February 1918 he was discharged from Dartford, and commenced furlough (a leave of absence) until 8 March 1918, at which time he was to report to Hurdcott, near Salisbury. Hurdcott was a Group Clearing Hospital (or Convalescent Hospital) for patients who would take at least 6 months to be fit to return to active service. On presenting at Hurdcott, on 9 March 1918, he was reassessed, as “Wound healed – stiffness – can’t walk far”. Hurdcott has some sort of lingering fame as the Australians carved a map of Australia, and the Australian Commonwealth Military Force badge, into the chalky ground. On 9 April he was given special exercises to do for his leg. However, on 7 May 1918, he “seems fit”. On Tuesday 14 May 1918, the second blemish on his record appears - being AWOL for 2 days. He was absent without leave from 10pm on Tuesday 14 May 1918 to 6.45pm on Thursday 16 May 1918 – essentially 2 full days. One hopes he spent it doing something he liked or with someone he loved, or both. This is probably wishful thinking on my part, as Hurdcott was a remote place on the Salisbury Plain and not a very nice place to be, if one can judge from the doggerel verse published about it at the time in an Australian newspaper. This included lines like: Inside the huts theres rats as big as any nanny goat, Last night a soldier saw one trying on his overcoat and Its miles away from anywhere, by gad it is a rumun, A chap lived there for 50 years and never saw a woman and Its sludge up to your eyebrows, you get it in your ears. It concludes by suggesting if Kaiser Billy is captured, shooting him would be too merciful and he should instead be sent to Hurdcott, to wilt among the rats and the clay. Clavers penalty was forfeiting 3 days pay, and being confined to barracks for 7. On 22 May 1918, he was assessed as “Quite fit, states no disability”. Three days later he “marched out” to return overseas. He eventually returned to his battalion on 22 June 1918. He had been away from his battalion for 6 months. It was to be a short lived return, as by 5 July, he was dead. He died at Le Hamel, a few miles from what is now the Australian War Memorial Cemetery at Villers Bretonneux. This occurred the day after Monash’s perfectly executed 90 minute plan to retake the village. There is some conjecture as to the circumstances of his death. The family story is he was shot by his own side, from behind – by what is now known as “friendly fire”. Certainly, there were others killed on 4 July 1918 from shells falling short during the advance on German lines. However, the battle was all over by the 5th, although there are some reports of some desultory response from the Germans that day. The family story is given added credence by a letter written by his father Charles in 1919, which appears in Clavers service record file. It recites a conversation Charles had with a sergeant of the same battalion, who visited him after Clavers death. It reads in part: “and he says that the boy had a wallet full of papers and his will and sundry other things that would be of interest to us on his person when killed, he also said that his body was taken to the 4th Divisional Head Quarters.” One imagines that the sergeant, having been there when Claver was killed, and having seen his body moved afterwards, would have given an accurate account of Clavers death to his father. I wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs in the 1980s, seeking more information about this, but they said that nothing was known. There is nothing in the file to indicate the nature of the wound that resulted in his death. It is possible that his grave was visited by his brother, my grandfather, when he had a lengthy European holiday in 1938. However, despite having all the souvenirs from that trip, there is nothing there to indicate this is the case. If so, I was the first person to visit the grave, in the 1980s. Until now, I had no appreciation of just what the “poor boy” (as described by his father in another letter on the file) endured. My father told me that his father (Clavers brother) told him that Claverhouse was a “crack shot”, who sighted with the wrong eye. There is nothing to confirm or disprove this story. My father also told me that Claver’s death deeply affected his mother Mary. He was the youngest of her many children. Dad told me she would engage the services of mediums, attempting to communicate with him. The impact on his father is not known, but he died in 1923, the year after receiving Claver’s various War medals. The inscription on his father Charles headstone in Dutton Park Cemetery reads “In loving memory of Charles K S Young died 23 September 1923 aged 74 years and also his son Claver killed in France 5 July 1918 aged 21 years”.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 09:27:03 +0000
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