Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son Elizabeth, and the late George Clarke of Hallaton, Leics. In April 1911 George, who was born in 1882 in Northampton, was employed as a painter with the London and North Western Railway, and was residing as a lodger at 47, Roe Road, Northampton, this being the home of his uncle, Isaac Pancoust a foundry labourer, born 1856 in Little Houghton, Northants., and his wife, Jane, born 1858 in Blisworth, Northants, also residing in the family home were his cousins, Hilda Ann, born 1890 and Elsie Evelyn, born 1898, both cousins were born in Northampton.

Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
George came from another railway family – the railway being a big employer in Hallaton with a lot of movement of cattle and horses in the hunting season. His father, also George was a platelayer but progressed to the position of Permanent Way Inspector on his move to Hallaton in the early 1890s. George junior attended school in Hallaton and also sang in the Church choir, concerts and also played in the choir cricket match although only scoring a lowly four runs in two innings. On leaving school aged about 12, George went to live with his aunt Mrs Pancoust and her family in Northampton where he worked as a painter for the London & North Western Railway Company. Being already 30 years old when war broke out, he was not immediately called to the colours but was attested on 7th December 1915 into the Coldstream Guards with service number 17620 and underwent initial training at Caterham Barracks. The discipline and drill must have come as a shock to a mature man but he had the pride of serving in one of Britain’s most famous regiments. He was sent to France on 26th June 1916 and was posted to 2nd Battalion, part of 1st Guards Brigade, Guards Division with their flash of the all-seeing eye. On 15th September the battalion was heavily involved in an attack on Ginchy just north of the river Somme and part of the ongoing maelstrom which was the Battle of the Somme. The objective was to hold onto gains made earlier against fierce German counter-attacks. It was a blood-bath. Four officers and 440 other ranks killed, wounded or missing. George somehow survived. Inevitably there was much marching and counter-marching, in and out of trenches and billets with a steady stream of casualties. On 12th March 1917 the Battalion relieved 2nd Bn. Scots Guards in trenches at Pregicourt. The War Diary states merely “1 O.R. killed” that Other Rank was Private George Clarke and that was his anonymous Regimental obituary. Although George himself had only lived briefly in the village some years previously, understandably his parents who still did, wanted his name on the Hallaton War Memorial and his was among the first 21 names inscribed at the time of the dedication in April 1918. He is commemorated on Northampton’s main town memorial at Abington Square along with his cousin, James Pancoust with whose family he had lodged and is buried at Sailly-Saillisel, one of those hauntingly beautiful war cemeteries managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Information supplied by Dennis Kenyon.