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Rank : Lieutenant Quartermaster

Army Number : 10108

Unit : 6th Bn, 7th Bn

Biography :

John Clay enlisted in the Grenadier Guards on his 18th birthday in May 1896, and first witnessed active service in the Boer War. By that stage he was serving as a Corporal in the 2nd Battalion's Machine-Gun Section, and witnessed, among other bloody actions, the ill-fated attack on Biddulphsberg on 29.5.1900, when The Grenadiers were badly mauled. Clay was subsequently Mentioned in Despatches by Lord Kitchener (L.G. 29,7.1902). He was discharged on 11.5.12.
On the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 he enlisted in The Leicestershire Regiment and, as a result of his previous military service, was quickly appointed an NCO. Going out to France at the end of July 1915, as a CSM in the 6th Battalion, he remained on active service in that theatre of operations for the remainder of the War, a rare visit home being in December 1917, when he collected his M.C. at an investiture at Buckingham Palace. He won his M.C. for bravery on the Somme, not least in the 6th Battalion's gallant assault on Bazentin-le-Petit Wood on 14.7.1916, when it suffered over 400 casualties (L.G. 26.9.1916: "—For conspicuous gallantry in action. When his company officers became casualties he took command and led the company with great skill and courage. Owing to his fine personal example the company was able to consolidate and hold its position."). The Battalion returned to the Somme in September 1916, and suffered nearly 300 more casualties in the attack launched near Gueudecourt on the 25.9.1916 - it was on the following day that the award of Clay's M.C. was announced in the London Gazette, by which time he was RQMS of the Battalion. He was also awarded the Russian Medal of St. George for Bravery (L.G. 15.2.1917).
Commissioned as a Lieutenant and Quartermaster in the 7th Battalion on 11.2.1918 and remained in France until the end of hostilities. He was given the appointment of Quartermaster on the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, General List, on 22.1.1922.

Date of Birth : 8.5.1878

Place of Birth : Enfield, Middlesex

Date of Death : 15.3.1962

Place of Death : Leicester

Period of Service : 1896-1912; 1914-1922

Conflicts : Boer War, WW1

Places Served : South Africa, France and Flanders