Andrew Leonard Clark was born on 23 October 1897 the son of Andrew Thomas Clark (1866-1941) and Eliza Clark née Nottage (1862-1959). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1897 in the Marylebone registration district, London. He was baptised on 19 December 1897 at St Barnabas Church, Bell Street, Marylebone and the baptismal register shows the family were living at 92 Miles Buildings, Penfold Place, London, N.W.1 and that his father was a police constable.
In the 1901 census he was shown as Leonard Clark, aged 3 years and confirms he was still residing at 92 Miles Buildings, with his parents, two sisters: Hilda Minnie Clark (1895-1922) and Winifred Charlotte Clark (1900-1969), together with his paternal aunt, Emily Clark, who was a school mistress.
In the 1911 census he was again shown as Leonard Clark, an 11-year-old school boy, living in four rooms at 10 Married Quarters, Police Station, 62 Harrow Road, Paddington Green, London, with his parents and two sisters. When his father retired from the Metropolitan Police on 28 April 1913 his pension records show that he was still living at 10 Married Quarters, Paddington Green, but that his father intended to reside at 26 Shirland Road, Paddington.
In May 1914 he was appointed as an Assistant Postman in the London Postal Service.
He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, service number Z/5033 (Ch) and was on board S.S. Artist, a defensively-armed merchant ship, when it was torpedoed and sunk without warning in a heavy gale by the German submarine U-55, about 58 miles off The Smalls, South Wales, whilst carrying a cargo of coal from Newport, Monmouthshire, to Alexandria, Egypt, on the 27 January 1917. 35 lives were lost, including the master. There were only 7 survivors who were picked up after 3 days. His body was never found and he died aged 19 years. As he has no grave he is commemorated on Panel 27 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, 61 King's Bastion, Gillingham, ME7 5DQ. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent to his father who was living at 59 Saltram Crescent, Maida Hill, London.
He is shown as 'CLARK, A. L.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1 and as 'CLARK A.L.' on the bronze plate listing the names of those lost on S.S. "Artist" (Liverpool) on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the A Street Near You website, on page 70 in the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920 and incorrectly as Alfred Leonard Clark on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War One website,
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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