Biography of Private Herbert Percy Cleary (12910)
6th battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
Died 9th August 1915

Mother

• Name: Harriett Mary Gale
• DOB: 1853
• Place Of Birth: Marylebone, Middlesex, England
• Marriage: 1877 Marylebone District

• None found

Marriage

• No marriage for Herbert has been found and we can assume that he never had the opportunity to marry.

Newspaper Mentions

• Grantham Journal Saturday 5th October 1914
  HEARTY SEND OFF FOR RECRUITS – On Monday morning, a company of fifteen left Bourne Station to join the Lincoln Regiemt of Lord Kitchener’s Army.  The company met at the recruiting station in West Street and were escorted to the station by the Bourne Brass Band and a large number of the residents of the town.  The names were :- Arthur Maxon, Fred W Savage, John Thos. Baldock, Geo. Sherwin, George Carver, Frank Baldock (married), H Cleary, W Herbert Bloodworth, Percy J. Vickers, Walter Parker (married), Ernest Robinson, Harry Darnes (Bourne), Jos Smith, Walter Archer and Percy cave (Witham-on-the-Hill), the latter three being the result of a meeting at Witham-on-the- Hill on Sunday evening, addressed by Lord Kesteven and Lieut. K. R. G. Fenwick and presided over by Col. C. Birch-Reynardson.

• Grantham Journal Saturday 4th September 1915
  KILLED IN ACTION – News has been received here this week that Pte. Percy Cleary has been killed in action at the Dardanelles.  Pte. Cleary was one who joined the Forces from Bourne immediabely after the outbreak of the war, and who recently went to the Dardanelles. During the time of his residence in Bourne, Pte. Cleary was engaged as a ticket collector on the G.N.R.,  and his genial temperament and courteous manner won for him many friends.  The news has been received here with many expressions of regret and sympathy for his widowed mother, who resides at Sleaford.  Pte. Cleary had another brother, who recently jointed the Forces.

• Boston Guardian Saturday 11th September 1915
  Sleaford Signaller Killed in Action.
  Signaller H. P. Cleary, who was attached in the Headquarters Staff of the 6th Lincolns, in the Dardanelles, has been killed in action.  He was the eldest son of the late Sergt. Instructor Cleary, of Sleaford and was an expert signaller.

• Grimsby Daily Telegraph Tuesday 14th September 1915
  Casualties In the Lincolns
  Heavy List from the Dardanellas
  The following casualties in the Lincs Regt. are reported:-
  DARDANELLES 6th BATTALION.
  KILLED
  Cleary, 12910, H.P.

• Grantham Journal Saturday 18th September 1915
  EASTGATE MISSION ROOM – The Bishop of Lincoln has granted a licence for the holding of Divine service and the celebration of Sacraments in this Mission Room.  This will be a great convenience to the inhabitants of this partion of the parish, where many of the houses are more than a mile away from the Abbey Church.  Preaching in the Mission Room last Sunday.  Mr Davies made touching reference to the death of Percy Cleary killed in action in the Dardanelles and to others of our men there who have been wounded.  The references were all the more sympathetic because only the day before news had reached the town that Mr Victor Davies of the R. A. M. C. had been badly wounded in the Dardanelles in five or six places.  The fighting in that field is having a beavy strain upon may in the town who have relatives amongst the various units.  At a meeting of the Eastgate Mission Room Committee, a vote of sympathy to Mr davies and the others whose relatives have been wounded in the recent fighting was passed at the proposal of Mr Malkinson, seconded by Mt Browning.

• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 25th December 1915
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 18th December 1915
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 18th March 1916
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 8th April 1916
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 15th April 1916
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 9th September 1916
• Sleaford Gazette Saturday 30th December 1916
• OUR FALLEN HEROES
  “Greater love hath no man than this, That a man lay down his lifefor his friends.”
  Signaller P. H. Cleary (12910) 6th Lincs., of Sleaford, Killed in action in the Dardanelles, August 9th, 1915

Military Records

Medals

• The British Medal
• The Victory Medal
• The 15 Star

Memorials

• UK:
• Bourne, Roll of Honour in Abbey Church
• Bourne War Memorial in the Memorial Gardens
• Quarrington St. Botolph’s Church yard (Mentioned on his Dad’s grave)
• Quarrington, Roll of Honour in St. Botolph’s Church
• Sleaford, War Memorial Market Square

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
• In memory of Private Herbert Percy Cleary, 12910, 6th Bn., Lincolnshire Regiment who died on 9 August 1915
• Remembered with honour, Helles Memorial
• Panel 45 to 47.

© The War Graves Photographic Project

© Louise Annette

Military Service Timeline

• Enlisted in Bourne

• This is ongoing research and will be posted when completed

Sources

• WW1 Soldier’s Records (www.ancestry.co.uk)
• British Newspaper Archive.
• Fold 3
• Find My Past
• Genealogist
• Forces War Records
• British Army Service Numbers
• War Gratuity Calculator
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• National Archives – Battalion War Diaries
• General Registry Office
• The War Graves Photographic Project