Sometimes It Can Take More Than A Lifetime To Correct History...

15/05/2023  -  2.26

Roger Slater

But with perseverance, it can still happen!

Anyone who has done research, whether it be through old documents or newspapers on microfiche or through any number of sites on the internet will fully understand two things: firstly, it is incredibly easy to get side tracked when you find something that piques and interest, and valuable hours can be lost diving into a rabbit hole and following the warren of threads that lay hidden below. Great entertainment no doubt, but rarely in truth with any purpose other than to satisfy an interest, normally for something you had no idea existed. Second, is the existence, in the darkest corners of your mind, the mental filing system that will remember the unusual facts or comments both from your intended research and those rabbit holes that you come across, to be recalled with far greater clarity than often they are due, triggered by something (often completely unassociated) in daily life.

This story I think is a perfect example of that, but with impeccable timing, it is also a story with a very satisfying end, honouring a man that history has all but forgotten.

With some form of an historical timeline, let me explain.

In the early days of the internet, 1997 to be precise, I started to research the history of Wealdstone Football Club, dear to my heart, a club I have supported for far longer than my memories last. The club was approaching its perceived centenary and I thought it would be a nice project to document the club far better than ever before. The research started at a local library where records of The Harrow Observer and The Harrow Gazette among others were held, dating back to the later quarter of the 1800s. Not stored electronically, I started with 1899 (the perceived year of foundation), the newspaper stored on rolls of microfiche and viewed on a big old CRT screen with the definition and resolution of charcoal, but that is all that was available, so on I went. Without going through the whole history, the “first” match report, perceived to be the first match the club had ever played, informed me in black and white that “…the club wore the same colours” and later “…the club used a number of the same players”. Not the first match then. Down the rabbit hole of preceding years I went, eventually uncovering seven or eight associated clubs that were in fact related to the history of Wealdstone FC.

One of these was a club called Harrow Athletic, with whom the ‘first’ Wealdstone FC had merged in 1894. Among others, I read match reports and where possible AGM minutes as recorded by the newspaper to build the history and family tree of my club….

The “History” as best as it could be at the time was published in 2002. Research has continued and further information about those former years has come to light, so it may be updated and republished in the next few years, indeed, the History of The First Wealdstone FC has also now been published clarifying the period between 1883 and 1895, but lets not dwell! Jump forward to 2016, and the impending 100th Anniversary of the Armistice that brought the Great War to a close. With World War One another major interest of mine, I had annually produced information for the Wealdstone FC Match Programme to commemorate Remembrance Day, published for the home match nearest 11th November. With the list of names of Wealdstone FC’s fallen in both wars as a start point, I thought it would be good to add some detail to those from The Great War for such an auspicious occasion, in an effort to make those names from the 14-18 era ‘real’.

It was back to the newspapers initially, thankfully now an electronic copy of all issues from 1914-1919 which made the process much easier. Excellent records initially of all those that joined up in Harrow in the early days and weeks of war, found many names I recognized from the squads of 1912, 1913 and 1914 and also some names that popped out from the page that I had come across and recognized from twenty years earlier. One, in fact two, were brothers - HW Clowes and WH Clowes, Harrow Athletic players from the mid-1890s, William Harold having been a player for the merged Harrow club when the first Wealdstone FC had joined. I have no idea why these two names stuck as they were two of twenty or thirty I had previously read, but once again, they popped from the page.

Week by week, page by page, I religiously read the newspapers I had stored on a USB drive, looking for any mention of the Wealdstone players, both those that fell in service and those that survived, adding to each personal history in preparation of the memorial information to be included in the match programme and also on the Wealdstone FC History website.

But back to William known as “Tut” Clowes. He was one of three children of William and Eliza Clowes and he had remained a Harrow Athletic player until 1900.  A newspaper report from August 1916, mentioned that he had been severely gassed on The Somme on 4th May and had been invalided home to recuperate at which point, he was no more than a footnote in the history that I was researching at the time and that was all.

Spring forward a couple of years again, and during one of Covid’s enforced lockdowns, I thought I would turn the information I had on ‘our’ fallen from both wars into two booklets, one for each war, adding what I could ascertain from military and regimental diaries to the newspaper information, allowing me to construct a basic historical timeline of the service of the Wealdstone FC players throughout the wars. The timeline was also interspersed with ‘local’ information relevant to the club – the inception and building for example, of RAF Northolt (in truth RFC Northolt when it opened in 1917), quite close to where the club now has its home in Ruislip, and the Gun Turret constructed in 1941 that stands in the corner of the ground, a constant reminder of the club’s part in both wars…. And once again, up popped William Clowes.

I knew of Clowes repatriation in an effort to recover from the gassing but once again his name popped from the pages of the local newspaper. He had served as a Sergeant with the Machine Gun Battalion of the 13th Middlesex Regiment. He joined up in September 1914, aged 36 and he had fought in France and Belgium before he was invalided home. All this I gleaned from the later newspaper report from May 1917, that reported his death at home in Eastcote Road, Harrow. Since his repatriation, he had spent time in the Great Eastern Hospital in Cambridge, the Cottage Hospital in Hounslow and eventually in Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood, where he resided for four months, all to no avail, as his condition slowly worsened until he was discharged home shortly before his death on 4th April 1917.

Source: Harrow Observer, 20th April, 1917

Rabbit hole Number 2 - Still little more than a footnote in the club history, something made me look at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website to research him further, perhaps looking to see where he was buried – I really don’t know. Entering his name, age service number et all, I drew a blank. Quite simply, he wasn’t there. 

I knew a friend of mine, Nathan Whitehouse (who some of you will I’m sure have come across on Twitter as the excellent @CFCGraves - Chelsea Graves Society) volunteered with the CWGC. I mentioned William Clowes to him, and the fact that I thought he should be on the database but wasn’t. He took all of the information I had, as well as the press cuttings and approached his CWGC Supervisor, Janice Wilburn, the Eyes on Hands on Coordinator (London) and she registered a Non-Commemoration case submission.

And there it sat for about 20 months until late April 2023, when Nathan received an email from Janice that included correspondence from James Wallis, Commemorations Policy Manager at the CWGC, which he forwarded to me… 

“…Subject: FW: Adjudication - Non-Comm Submission for Sgt Clowes

Nathan,

It has taken a while but I have just had an update from the commemorations team – please could you pass this information onto your friend. (me!)

Janice…

…Dear Janice,

I hope this finds you well. 

I am contacting you with an update about a Non-Commemoration case submission. This was forwarded on to Commemorations by yourself in April last year, you having been notified by a EOHO Volunteer. I’m unclear whether you or the Enquirer were ever notified that the case had been logged, but its allocated reference number was NC 11598. The case pertained to G/1146 Sgt William Henry Clowes of the Middlesex Regiment, who died in April 1917.

I am pleased to relay that this casualty has been accepted for commemoration as a Commonwealth War casualty, following a recent adjudication decision from the military service authorities. A listing for him has now been created on the CWGC Casualty Database, which can be accessed via the following link.

Where applicable, we will now commence a ‘Grave Found’ investigation to see if we can identify and mark the original burial location for this individual. 

As we did not have original contact with the Enquirer who submitted the case, I would be grateful if you could relay this outcome to Mr Whitehouse directly, assuming that you still have his contact details. Please thank him on our behalf for bringing this Non-Commemoration case to our attention and for his shared commitment towards ensuring correct and fitting commemoration of those who served.

Please let me know if I can clarify anything, otherwise my thanks for your help in forwarding on this message.

Kind Regards,

James Wallis”

William Clowes may remain a footnote in the history of Wealdstone FC, but he is now properly remembered and recognized for his service and the life he gave for his country. We continue to search for his final resting place so that it may be marked with a CWGC Headstone. 106 years after his death and counting…

Note: 

Should you wish to find out a little more about The First Wealdstone FC or Wealdstone FC’s part in both world wars, the booklets referenced above can be purchased from www.wfcmegastore.co.uk/7-books-progs 

Biography

Roger Slater was born in Harrow in the late 1950s and has moved around a bit and retired to Devon with wife of 24 years, Helen. He originally trained as an Electrical Engineer but worked for almost 40 years in Building Services Technologies, primarily HVAC control systems and Electronic Security. Roger retired in 2018 having run his own Engineering Consultancy for almost 15 years.

For relaxation and hobbies, he writes, mainly about his football club, Wealdstone FC and has published eight books including a club history since 2002. He does not class himself as a historian, just an enthusiastic amateur.

He also writes for a fanzine/magazine called Where’s The Bar that has just relaunched.
Otherwise, hobbies are upcycling and building ‘strange’ lighting out of people’s rubbish and occasionally painting, though he also buys and sells at auctions and on the internet (mainly football related or antiques).

In respect of other sports, he will watch most but follows the Toronto Blue Jays avidly in baseball, as a result of working on and off in Canada in the early nineties.

Roger also reads and collects books on World War One, in particular personal biographies and war diaries as opposed to battle histories…

All of that could change tomorrow or on any other day if something else takes his fancy as he will give most things a try if they appeal!