Corporal Henry Harold Clift, 4th Battalion, AIF
Australian War MemorialPopularly known as “Harry”, Henry Clift was born in 1897 to William and Hannah Clift of West Wyalong, New South Wales. He had six brothers and four sisters.
Henry attended the local school, and at around 13 or 14 went to work for Sharman Brothers as a shopkeeper. He was described as being “characterised by honesty, sobriety and uprightness, and he enjoyed the esteem and goodwill of all”.
Henry Clift enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1915 at the age of 18. He was posted to the 4th Battalion, and after a period of training in Australia was sent for overseas service. Clift first went to Egypt, where he continued his training before arriving in France to serve on the Western Front in June 1916.
Private Clift missed participating in the capture of the French village of Pozières by a few days but served throughout the rest of the battle at Pozières Ridge.
At one point he volunteered to take a party out to bomb the Germans out of a communication trench threatening the Australian position. He and three other men succeeded after a long bomb fight and were able to hand the trench over to an officer. His skill and daring saw him promoted to corporal after only a few weeks on active duty.
In September 1916, the 4th Battalion was withdrawn to a quiet sector of the Western Front around the Belgian town of Ypres to recover. Despite this being a quiet sector, the front line was still a dangerous place to be.
On 11 September 1916, Private Henry Clift was killed in action near Ypres.
Little is known of the manner of his death although the 4th Battalion’s war diary records that the line was subject to heavy mortar fire from the Germans during the day. Clift’s body was recovered from the battlefield and today lies in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground in Belgium.
A friend, Sergeant Albert Grellman, wrote to Clift’s parents in Wyalong:
“I heard of his death. I can assure you it came as a great blow to me. He was as game as any man in the Battalion. There is one thing that is very pleasing, he had the good word of every man who came to know him, and he died very bravely.”
Henry’s brother Ern also enlisted during the First World War. He sailed for active service overseas just two or three weeks before the war ended. Another three brothers saw active service during the Second World War.
Henry was the only one of the five to die on active service. A memorial tablet in his memory was erected in the Presbyterian Church in West Wyalong. Erected by his loving parents, it reads:
“Sacred to the memory of Henry Harold (“Harry”) Clift, who fell in France on September 11th, 1916, aged 19 years. Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Dr Meleah Hampton, Historian, Military History Section
- Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2278379
