Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Frederick Clarke a framework knitter, born 1860 in Hinckley, Leics., and his wife Ann (Hannah) (Annie) (Amy) a factory worker, born 1861 in Hinckley, Leics. John was born in 1888 in Hinckley, Leics., his siblings were, Mary A., born 1883, Elizabeth (Eliza), born 1885 and Ellen (Nellie), born 1891, all his siblings were born in Hinckley, Leics., in April 1891 the family home was at 10, Britannia Yard, Stockwell Head, Hinckley, Leics. In March 1901 John was employed as a hosiery trade runner on and was residing in the family home at 3, Stapleton Road, Bath Terrace, Hinckley, Leics., together with his remarried mother, and step father Arthur Wilson a shoe trade riveter, born 1868 in Leicester and his siblings, Mary, Eliza and Nellie, also residing in the family home were his half blood siblings, Albert Wilson, born 1896 in Hinckley, Leics., Horace Wilson, born 1899 and Ethel Wilson, born 1901, the latter two half blood siblings were both born in Barwell, Leics. John’s father passed away in 1892 – 93 in Hinckley, Leics., and his mother remarried in the October, November, December quarter of 1895, in the Hinckley, Leicestershire marriage registration district.