Clarence Tasman MUMMERY

Regimental number59
Place of birthTasmania
SchoolState School, Victoria
ReligionProtestant
OccupationClerk
AddressBroome Crescent, Wonthaggi, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation20
Next of kinFather, C S Mummery, Broome Crescent, Wonthaggi, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed in the Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date18 August 1914
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll25 August 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name8th Battalion, H Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/25/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board Transport A24 Benalla on 19 October 1914
Rank from Nominal Roll2nd Lieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll8th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Military Cross


'Conspicuous gallantry at Pozieres.'
Recommendation date: "31 July 1916

Military Cross


' Conspicuous gallantry in rescuing wounded at Pozieres.'
Recommendation date: 25 August 1916

Bar to Military Cross


'Great gallantry and devotion to duty during the attack, setting splendid example throughout.' (Polygon Wood 20 September 1917 ).
Recommendation date: 27 September 1917"

FateKilled in Action 20 October 1917
Place of death or woundingYpres, Belgium
Age at death22
Age at death from cemetery records22
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
53
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Christopher and Isabella MUMMERY, Broome Crescent, Wonthaggi, Victoria. Native of Tasmania
Medals

Military Cross

'For conspicuous gallantry during operations. he has set a fine example and displayed an utter contempt of danger. On one occasion, he assisted another officer to bring in wounded men from near the enemy's parapet under heavy fire.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 62
Date: 19 April 1917

Bar to Military Cross

'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as adjutant of his battalion during an attack. He did excellent work in getting his battalion into the assembly position. Though wounded early in the attack, he refused to go back, but remained with the battalion, assisting and encouraging all ranks. He led a party against an enemy strong point and captured the garrison. He set a magnificent example throughout.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 110
Date: 24 July 1918

Other detailsMedals: Military Cross and Bar, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal