CLOUGH, Harold

5126794, Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

Born 1923 Burnley

Died 29/03/1942, Age 19, Brickpits, Cleethorpes

Buried 04/04/1942

Son of George Osmond Clough (1893-1955) and Jane Alice Clough (nee Gregson-Walmsley, 1898-1936) of Burnley, Lancashire, married 1920 in Burnley

Brother of Walter (b. 1921), Elsie (b. 1924) and Beatrice (b 1926)

Harold lost his mother when he was 13 years old. In 1939, his widowed father, an unemployed wood machinist, is living in Hollingreave Road, Burnley, with the children. Older brother Walter is a cabinet maker.

Address at time of death: 77 Poplar Road, Cleethorpes

An article in the Burnley Express on 04/04/1942 reveals what happened to Harold:

“Drowned while bathing – Mr G.O. Clough, 78 Hollingreave Road, Burnley, has been officially informed that his son, Pte. Harold Clough (19) who joined the Army two months ago, has drowned while bathing near his billet.

Educated at Burnley Wood School, Pte. Clough attended Lanebridge Methodist Sunday School, and worked at Grey’s Livingstone Mill before joining the Forces.

His father served with the Suffolk Regiment in the East for four years in the last war and his brother Walter is now in the East Lancs.”