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Major Henry Clissold
28th
September 1917
He
was born on 12th February 1871 in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire; his
father, William George, owned Nailsworth Brewery and his mother Julia died in
the late 1880s. He was educated at
Wycliffe
College
, Stonehouse and
Clifton
College
from
1885 to 1889, and at Trinity College Cambridge, where he took a first-class
degree in Natural Sciences, from 1889 to 1893. He became an assistant master at
Marlborough
College
in
1893 and then at
Clifton
College
in 1894, joined Clifton RFC in 1894-95 and was made Captain in 1900-01.
Above
an advert for the Clissold family business,
The brewery was bought and deliberateley closed down by Cheltenham Brewery to
stop their rival, Stroud Brewery, from acquiring it.
Above
Clifton
XV of 1902-03 Back
Row (L-R): H.
Clissold, A.J.
Gardner, ?, ?, J.H.
Inskip, V. Green-Armytage. Sitting; ?, H.B.F. Bingham, Mr H.W.
Beloe, F.J.
Hannam, E.F.
Eberle. On Ground: Claude Watkins Baker, D.A. Clark
Harry
taught at
Clifton
College
until
the outbreak of war, when he was given leave of absence to train a field company
of Engineers. He went to the Front in April 1915.
In
July 1917 the Royal Engineers moved northwards to take part in the 3rd
Battle of Ypres, which began on 31st July and continued for three
months. They remained in this area until the early part of October and sustained
heavy casualties. He was killed sheltering in a dug-out when a heavy shell came
through the roof and exploded inside on 28th September 1917.
His
death was announced in The Times on October 5th 1917 and said
MAJOR HENRY
CLISSOLD, D.S.O., R.E., aged 44, was the eldest son of the late W.G.Clissold, of
Nailsworth, Glos. From
Clifton
College
, where he held an entrance scholarship and a leaving exhibition, he went up in
1889 to Trinity,
Cambridge
, with an exhibition, afterwards increased to a scholarship. He took a First
Class in the Natural Science Tripos, and after taking his degree held a
mastership for a year at
Marlborough
. In 1894 he returned to
Clifton
, and in 1912 he became a house-master. At the beginning of the war he was given
leave of absence in order that he might train a field company of Engineers, and
since April, 1915, he had been serving at the front. A friend writes :- "A
brilliant man of science and mathematician, a most inspiring teacher, and
devoted to his profession, his tastes were yet catholic. Literature, music,
flowers, travel, football- all were dear to him, and above all his charms might
be placed his invincible good temper and optimism, and the wit and sparkle of
his talk. He always worked entusiastically for the
Clifton
O.T.C., a body of R.E.'s, and for some years was in command. In December, 1916,
he was awarded the D.S.O., and he had twice been mentioned in dispatches. On
September 28 he was sheltering in a dug-out when a heavy shell came through the
roof and exploded inside." The C.R.E. of his division writes :- "I
have had the greatest admiration for his splendid character, his gallantry, and
his unquenchable spirit. He will live in my memory as the ideal of what a
soldier should be."
Harry
Clissold
is
buried at
Duhallow
A.D.S.
Cemetery
,
Ypres
.
Harry
Clissold is included in the World War 1 Memorial chapter of For College, Club
& Country – A History of Clifton Rugby Football Club, printed by MX
Publishing in 2009. ISBN
9781904312758
email: patrick.casey@cliftonrfchistory.co.uk
http://sites.google.com/site/caseybooks/
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The
Rugby History Society