War Memorial Hall c1929
Hugh Curtis CLARKSON
Hugh Clarkson was born on 29 September 1897 in Castlemaine, Victoria. His parents were George and Lucy (née Curtis) Clarkson. He attended Scotch from 1912 to 1915. Hugh won an Entrance Scholarship to Scotch. He was dux of his form in 1915.
Hugh was a university student studying law at the University of Melbourne when he enlisted on 30 January 1917 at Melbourne, Victoria. He served in the 6th Field Artillery Brigade with the rank of Gunner. His Regimental Number was 34960.
Hugh died on 4 November 1918 at Rouen, France. He was 21 years of age.
Service record
Before enlistment, Hugh was a Lieutenant in the Melbourne University Rifles. He enlisted at age 19 with his parents’ permission. He was a big man: according to his enlistment papers 6 feet 2 ½ inches tall (189 cm, though The Scotch Collegian claimed he was 6 feet 3 ½ inches) and weighing 164 pounds (11 stone 10 pounds, though the Collegian says he weighed 14 stone!). After a few weeks as a Private at a Recruits Battalion at Royal Park, Hugh was transferred to artillery reinforcements at Maribyrnong in March 1917. In July he was allotted to the 27th Reinforcements to the Field Artillery, and with them he embarked from Melbourne on 9 November 1917. He travelled to England, via Egypt and Taranto, Italy. Hugh disembarked at Southampton on 4 January 1918.
On 27 March he sailed for France and in the first week of April 1918 was posted to the 106th Battery of the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, apparently as a signaller. He contracted influenza and was hospitalised on 29 October 1918. This necessitated a transfer to the 12th General Hospital at Rouen, where he died of ‘broncho-pneumonia’ on 4 November, just a week before the Armistice. The Master of Ormond College, to which Hugh had won a full resident scholarship, said ‘He made a good place for himself in Ormond, and was one of a group of exceptional men. He would have done excellent work at the University.’
At his father’s direction, Hugh’s epitaph reads: ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est/Pro Patria Mori’ (‘It is sweet and glorious to die for one's country.’) In 1917 Wilfred Owen called these words ‘The old Lie’, but many of those whose relatives died continued to believe them. So, it appears, did Hugh Clarkson himself, for in his obituary in The Scotch Collegian, is this line: ‘In discussing, in a letter to his father, the possibilities and dangers of life, he added: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”’
Hugh Clarkson is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension (Block S, Plot II, Row P, Grave no. 7), Rouen, France.
Sources:
- Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour and Red Cross Wounded and Missing file
- Mishura Scotch Database
- National Archives of Australia – B2455, CLARKSON H C
- Scotch Collegian 1918
- The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=54699
