The Soldier's Details

Surname:
Clarke
First Name:
Edwin John
Nick Name:
Nobby
Rank:
Private
Regimental #:
WX9360
Company:
'A' Company, No. 4 Platoon.
Enlisted:
3.10.1940
Discharged:
23.01.1946
DOB:
13.08.1902
Place of Birth:
Barking, Essex, England
Father's Name:
James Clarke
Mothers's Name:
Alice Clarke
Religion:
Church of England
Pre-war Occupation:
Dairy Farmer
Singapore:
Selarang Camp Changi, Johore Bahru, Adam Park, Selarang Barracks Changi
Force:
'J' Force Japan, Wales Maru Party (Osaka Group) 15/3/1943
Camps Japan:
Kobe House (Mitsubishi wharves, Toyo Steel), Maibara, Osaka sub-Camp No. 10 (irrigation works)
POW#:
4/5996, 700, 197
Japan:
Wales Maru Party
Return Details 1945:
Maibara-Yokohama by train, Yokohama-Manila, USS Goodhue Manila-Sydney, HMS Formidable, Sydney-Perth by troop train

General Description

 

Nobby was part of A Coy No. 4 Platoon

Nobby Clarke was recovered from Maibara 10/9/1945.  He entrained for Yokohama 11/9/1945 where he boarded U.S.S. Goodhue for Manila.

He arrived in Sydney 13/10/1945 onboard HMS Formidable and travelled by troop train to Perth.

 

Harry Tysoe (centre back row) , E.J. Clarke (right, back row)
Harry Tysoe (centre back row) , E.J. Clarke (right, back row)

 

Nobby Clarke

Copy of a photo of Nobby sent to his good friend Sparrow Tysoe’s  family. At the end of the war it was Nobby who brought back Sparrow’s meagre possessions after he had passed away at Kobe, Japan to give to Sparrow’s wife, Eileen.

Nobby was a member of ‘J’ Force transported from Singapore to Japan to a POW Camp at Kobe mid 1943. Some of the details of Kobe House are found at the story Kobe House, Japan.

 

Also about ‘J’ Force and ‘Wales Maru’ 

 

Jerry Arthur WX9011 was also at same camp Japan.

 

__________ .

 

Nobby was one of 12 children born to his parents James Clarke and Alice Sarah Elizabeth Leggerton who married 1895 Tollesbury, Essex, England.  He was known as Ted to his family.

Nobby set sail for Australia from England arriving November 1920 from London on ‘Orontes’ he would have been about 18 years of age.  He had arranged accommodation at the YMCA Murray Street, Perth.  None of Nobby’s siblings left /England.  He was quite brave!

In 1929 he married Ida Moseley Nichols.

 

As we read above, Ida and John Clarke acquired their farm at North Walpole before he enlisted and sailed for Singapore in fact he was the father of 4 children.  He would never have envisaged being gone for 31/2 years!

In the Electoral Rolls for 1936, 1937, 1954, 1958, 1963 Nobby and Ida are farming at North Walpole.  In 1980 they are living Walpole in vista Street, their house named ‘Tollesbury’ – where his family lived in England.

Nobby Clarke passed away in 1985 aged 82 years and is buried at Walpole Cemetery with his wife Ida.

 

Camp Locations:

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  • Johore Bahru, - Malaysia
  • Selarang Barracks Changi - Singapore
  • Selarang Camp Changi - Singapore
  • Kobe, Osaka #2-B - Japan ***
  • Maibara, Osaka #10-B - Japan
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