Harry Eugene Clarke 1899-1987

My grandfather was born in Clerkenwell, London on 10th February 1899, although for many years, up to early adulthood, his birthday was incorrectly celebrated on the 9th February.

Harry Eugene Clarke, whose father was also named Harry Eugene, was the second child to his parents, who already had a daughter, Dorothy Eugenie. To avoid any confusion Harry junior was called Lal by his immediate family. Harry later had a second sister Mabel Eugenie. It seemed every family member was given a second name of either Eugene or Eugenie, a tradition that continued to a lesser extent for two further generations, with my mother, Joan Eugenie Dorothy and my brother, Kevin Eugene.

1914 was a momentous year with the outbreak of the first world war or the great war, as it was called at the time. Many young men were eager to join the army and fight for king and country, in fact many boys as young as 14 or 15 would lie about their age and join up and find themselves on the front line of hostilities in France.

Harry was 15 at the outbreak of war, but looked much older than his age. It was a common occurrence at this time for men that were not in the army to be given a white feather, this was given as a symbol of cowardice. Harry would be walking down the street or standing in a queue and be handed a white feather, or he would be at work were fellow work mates would present him with a white feather. White feathers would also appear through the letter box on many occasions at home.

Eventually, Harry decided to do something about continually being called a coward, and also in an effort to impress the girls, who apparently more often than not handed out these white feathers. Soon after his 16th birthday in 1915 Harry appeared at the local army recruitment office and signed up for service, lying about his age, and making him eligible for active service, which in those days was at an age of 19.

One document I have that shows Harry lied about his age in order that he would be accepted into the army

For the next four years he was in HM Forces, being discharged from service in 1919, when 20 years of age, or 23 years as the army believed. Luckily, Harry did not suffer any immediate injuries during the duration of the war, although the environment he was in was damp, dirty and infested with vermin and other pests that caused many fellow soldiers that were not injured to be taken seriously ill or even die due to these conditions. It's highly probable these surroundings did not help Harry with health problems he experienced later in life.

Forces from many countries were involved in the great war, including Australia. During the war Harry's two sisters both met and fell in love with Australian soldiers and at the end of hostilities it was decided that the family would go to Australia. Dorothy and Mabel set sail first, were they married. Harry and his mother were to follow soon after.

Soon after Dorothy and Mabel left for Australia, Harry met Elsie Smith, who was the second daughter of 2 daughters and 3 sons of Henry and Grace Smith. They fell in love, and this presented Harry with a problem, should he abandon his newly found love and travel with his mother to Australia to join his married sisters or stay in England. Harry decided to travel with his mother to Australia. So arrangements were made, everything was packed, then at the last moment he changed his mind and decided to stay in England. His mother travelled to Australia alone and he never saw his mother or sisters again. The only contact being through letters, Christmas and Birthday cards.

Boxing day, 26th December 1925 was a big day for Harry Eugene Clarke and Elsie Grace Smith, as this is the day they were married at Sanderstead Parish Church, Croydon, Surrey.

Harry and Elsie's Wedding in 1925.
Harry was given a telling off for wearing his hat in this photograph

On 4th October of the following year their daughter Joan was born. The Clarke family lived in Croydon, Surrey for many happy years, including the years of the second world war from 1939 to 1945. Unfortunately, due to the affects of being in the trenches during the first world war and his post war occupation of a cold meat store-man, Harry's health began to deteriorate, which denied him from taking an active part in the second world war and eventually involved several operations on his arms, and having replacement plastic elbows.

The year is 1947. To the left are Dorothy, Harry's mother and Mabel at Bondi Beach Promenade, Sydney, Australia.
To the right are Harry and Joan in Croydon, Surrey, UK

Continuing health problems forced Harry to retire in 1952, at the age of 53. Harry, Elsie and Joan moved to Eastbourne soon after Harry's retirement. They found a house fairly close to the seafront and for many years took in holiday makers during the summer months to help supplement their pensions.

In 1958 Harry's daughter Joan married William Wright and the following year his first grandchild, Jeffrey was born.

To the left the 1958 wedding of Joan to Bill (Harry and Elsie are to the extreme right of the photograph).
To the right Harry and Elsie with their first grandchild in 1959

The Clarke and Wright families lived fairly close to each other and soon more grandchildren arrived, with Kevin in 1960 and Ian in 1963. In the mid 1960s Joan and husband William (Bill) started a business running a cafe just a short distance away, which meant the three grandchildren spent much time during weekends and school holidays with Harry and Elsie. Two most enjoyable family holidays also took place in the 1960s with all three generations, one to Greatstone in Kent and another in Seaton, Devon.

To the left are Ian, Elsie, Harry, Kevin and Jeffrey in 1966 in Greatstone, Kent
To the right are Ian, Harry and Jeffrey in 1968 in Seaton, Devon

Harry and Elsie celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on 26th December 1975, and as part of the celebration the annual Christmas cake that Joan cooked was this year made into a 3-tier wedding cake, which was a joint venture made by Joan and Bill.

Harry and Elsie on their Golden Wedding Anniversary cutting the celebration anniversary cake

In 1978 Harry had reached the age of 79 and Elsie was 80. Harry was suffering with Rheumatoid Arthritis, his plastic elbows were causing him problems and to cap it all he needed a hip replacement. Elsie was in no fit state to cope with the care and attention Harry would need, not being in the best of health herself, with ulcers on her legs and also suffering with Arthritis. Harry had his operation, which at his age was quite a dangerous procedure to endure, but it was a success and shortly after this it was decided that Harry and Elsie would come and live with Joan, Bill and the grandchildren.

So Joan, Bill, Jeffrey, Kevin and Ian all moved into a much larger house followed shortly after by Harry and Elsie. This was a house that had an extension built to accommodate Harry and Elsie. I am not going to say that this arrangement was perfect, unfortunately it's a fact of nature that three generations of a family living together can cause friction, but despite the odd hiccup the family were able to give the love, care and attention to Harry and Elsie that they were finding increasingly difficult to give themselves.

Devastating events occurred in 1981 that shook Harry and the rest of the family with firstly the death of Elsie in June, and then later in the year news that Joan had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Joan died in March of the following year. To see one's father and grandfather cry is not a pretty sight, but families are there for helping each other and we helped each other to live through these tragic events.

Final photograph of Harry taken in 1987

Harry's failing health in the 1980s meant that he needed a full time carer, and Bill took on this role until he himself had to go into hospital suffering with gall stones.

During this time Jeffrey took over the role of carer, which was quite an experience I must say. It's not until you are placed into such a role that you realise now tiring and demanding it can be, having to be on call 24 hours a day to be there to wash, dress, cook, make sure drugs are taken on time, and just generally be there to offer support. Albeit my role of carer was only for a few weeks, it certainly made me appreciate the hard work of my father during these years.

Bill returned from hospital and after some time of convalescence resumed to his role as Harry's carer. Then suddenly in 1987 after a short illness Harry sadly died.



Postscript:
Twenty five years have now passed since my grandfather's death, and one thing that I am sure would not occur, in these days of easy global communication at little cost, and international travel is the permanent goodbye my grandfather made to his two sisters. I know for a fact he dearly loved his two sisters and to not see them from an age of about 20 must have been heartbreaking.

Another very unfortunate occurrence, since grandfather's death, is the fact that all links to the family in Australia have been lost. I know my father wrote to the family in Australia giving the news of grandfather's death to which they replied, but my father did not continue any further with the correspondence, and I have no idea of there whereabouts in Australia, apart from the Sydney area.

And so ends the story of Harry Eugene Clarke, perhaps a bit of self indulgence on my part in relating this story, but I know if I don't write down this piece of family history it will eventually just be forgotten.

One final item, which is quite amusing is an audio recording I have. This was recorded on the occasion of my 18th birthday in 1977. Unfortunately, I have no video or films of my grandparents but this is a little gem that is well worth hearing. I've put it up on YouTube and share it here as a video with photographs from 1925, 1947 and 1968.