Ahead of Remembrance Day on November 11, Jenny Donohoe shared the story of Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries VC
Lieutenant Clarence Smith Jeffries enlisted on 30 April 1916, age 21, occupation surveyor, son of Joshua and Barbara Jeffries, General Manager, Abermain Collieries, Abermain NSW.
Clarence’s story begins in Helensburgh where his father was the Metropolitan Mine Manager from 1901. Clarence was born on 26 October 1894 in the Hunter Region and he lived with his parents and went to school in the district of Helensburgh between the ages of 7 to 11.
Clarence later attended Newcastle High School and joined the 14th Hunter River Infantry CMF on 1 July 1912 at age 18. He was promoted to Sergeant on 1 July 1913 and appointed Second Lieutenant on 22 August 1914. He gained a Certificate at School of Instruction, Duntroon 1914-1915. His present rank was Lieut. (Prov) 14th Infantry.
He enlisted in WWI and was appointed Second Lieut. on 1 February 1916 and allotted to 34th Battalion. Clarence embarked on board A20 Hororata on 2 May 1916 and disembarked in England. While in England he attended the Officers’ School before employment to France, where he was wounded at Messines on 9 June 1917.
He was wounded in action from a machine gun bullet to the left thigh and spent months recuperating before being sent back to France.
Clarence was promoted to Captain on 26 June 1917 and rejoined his unit on 8 September 1917, four weeks before he was killed in action on 12 October 1917, aged 23.
On the 21 December 1917 Captain Clarence Smith Jeffries was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross after an act of gallantry at Passchendaele (Ypres Phase 5) in Belgium. He organised a party of men under machine-gun fire that successfully captured four machine guns and took 35 prisoners; again his group successfully disengaged further machine guns and he was killed in the engagement. He is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium, plot XL.E.1.
His Military Service Records are some 84 pages. His father visited the Passchendaele Theatre in July 1920 in an endeavour to locate the grave of his son, prior to the body being exhumed on 14 September 1920. Letters from his father to the military questioned how they identified the body to be his son and it was the first time a reply of this kind was sent as it was not the normal procedure.
Joshua made a pilgrimage to his son’s grave on 31 January 1924. RIP.
NOVEMBER 11: Remembrance Day Service
Helensburgh RSL will conduct a Remembrance Day Service on the 11th at 10.45am. It will be held in line with Local Government Requirements. Any concerns, please ring 0418 974 074.
