Clifford Frank Scott

A Private with 2nd Bn., Clifford died on 22nd of January 1916 at the age of 21.

Clifford was born at Benacre in 1894, a son of Isaac and Annie Maria Scott. In 1901 his family lived at The Turnpike, Shadingfield. By 1911 they were living at Meadows Cottages, Flixton, near Lowestoft, and Clifford was a yard boy on a farm. Later his family lived at 43 Kimberley Road, Kirkley, Lowestoft.

Clifford enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment at Great Yarmouth in March 1914. He did not immediately go overseas when the First World War began, rather he arrived in France on 3 December 1914 to join the 2nd Battalion. Clifford was a 'bomber' (a trained bomb - or hand grenade thrower).  

At 2 a.m. on 22 January 1916 the Germans exploded a mine beneath the 'Bluff' trenches, close to the Ypres-Comine Canal, held by the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment. The explosion created a crater 60 by 40 yards wide and 40 yards deep. About 100 men were killed, buried alive, or injured by the explosion. The Germans did not follow up the explosion with an attack, but hampered rescue efforts with rifle fire. Clifford was among those killed at that time.

In 1924 Clifford's body was found at Map Reference 28.0.4.a.60.95 and identified from his identity disc. He was reburied at Poelcapelle British Cemetery.