Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Frank Charles Clifford a tailor, born 1865 in Cheltenham, Glos., and his wife Fanny a laundress, born 1868 in Basingstoke, Hants. Frank John was born in 1888 in Basingstoke, Hants, he had one sibling, a sister Grace, born 1890 in Basingstoke, Hants., also residing with the family was his widowed maternal grandmother, Eliza Bloom a nurse, born 1828 in Lincoln, in April 1891 the family home was at 20, Victoria Street, Basingstoke, Hants. In March 1901 Frank was employed as an errand boy and was residing in the family home at 20, Victoria Street, Basingstoke, Hants., together with his parents and siblings, Grace, Victor, born 1892, William, born 1895, Augustus, born 1896, Percival, born 1898 and Elsie, born 1900, the latter five siblings were all born in Basingstoke, Hants., also residing with the family was his widowed maternal grandmother, Eliza Bloom. In April 1911 Frank was employed as a paperhanger and was residing as a boarder at 1, Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London, Middx. In the October, November, December quarter of 1911, Frank married Elizabeth Ann Wade in the Reading, Berkshire marriage registration district. His widow later remarried and became Elizabeth Ann Skilkow of San Diego, California, U.S.A. He embarked for France on the 28th June 1917 and took part in the Battle of Cambrai, and during the retreat at the second Battle of the Somme, March 21st to April 3rd 1918 where he was reported as missing in action. The British Red Cross made constant enquiries, but never succeeded in hearing anything of him. The communications sent to his widow, throw a sidelight on the desperate character of the struggle in which our troops were engaged, and also on the efforts made to obtain information about missing men:- “Our reports show that in the fourth week of March 1918, the 2nd/4th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment were on the St. Quentin front and took part in the general retirement caused by the great German offensive which began on March 21st. The first fighting seems to have been near Fresnoy, Maissenny and Marteville, just north-west of St. Quentin, but at the end of a fortnight they had withdrawn almost to Amiens. We cannot trace the march of each day with any certainty, but the following statements, by men who were in the prolonged retreat, gives some idea of the desperate fighting, and explain why the lists were not made up for so many days. A great number of prisoners were afterwards reported from Germany.” -- “We were defending Spooner’s Redoubt in front of Holnon Wood west of St. Quentin on the morning of March 21st. The Germans were coming up all round. We made an attack but retreated.” – “About 6 a.m. we had been outflanked by the Germans and were retiring. We had to pass through a gap in our wire and some of our men were caught and taken prisoners.” – “On March 22nd about midday, in front of Beauvois on the St. Quentin front, the Germans were heavily attacking us and we had to retire. We lost the ground about 2 p.m.” – “On March 28th we were about four kilometres in front of Villers Bretonneux, which is east of Amiens. We were attacking in waves from Marcelcave to Lamotte and held the ground some time. We had to retire in the evening further than we started from because the German attack was so rapid. All our dead and wounded had to be left behind; the firing was so thick and the enemy right on top of us. We had to retire quickly and they got the ground.” – “I saw one of our officers killed by a sniper’s bullet in the open on April 4th near Hangard Wood, south of Villers. We had to retire, and his body was left on the field.” Private Clifford’s name was left on the Red Cross list for months, and all the men of his unit whom they were able to see, both in English hospitals and bases abroad, were interrogated, but none could throw any light on his casualty, nor from relaesed prisoners who were questioned could anything be learned. He was simply one of the many thousands of British heroes who went down to an unknown grave, which no headstone marks, but whose name will, at any rate, live in the history of Rutland.