Clough,+Alan


 * Alan Clough** Captain, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), 16th Bn.



Age: 21 Date of Death: 01/07/1916 Son of Henry Smith Clough, and Elizabeth Clough, of Red Holt, Keighley. Grave/Memorial Reference: Pier and Face 2 A 2 C and 2 D. THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

Alan was born in the third quarter of 1895 and his birth was registered in Keighley. He was the son of Henry Smith Clough, and Elizabeth Clough. In 1901, at five years of age, he was living at Redholt Mansion in Keighley with his brothers John and Hugh and sister Hester. Alan was the third son of Mr H. S. Clough, of the firm of Robert Clough, Grove Mills, Ingrow, and Becks Mill, Keighley, and a grandson of Sir John Clough, the president of the Keighley Liberal Division. He was a Captain in the ill fated First Bradford Pals Regiment which lost a huge amount of men during the Battle of the Somme and he died on the first day of that battle, shortly after 8.00 am. He was only 21 years of age and an officer of exceptional promise and was held in high esteem by his brother officers and the men serving under him. He had been gazetted Captain at just 19 years of age. Educated at Tonbridge, he was to have gone to Trinity College, Cambridge. A quotation from the book ‘The Bradford Pals’ by David Raw: In October 1915, his headmaster at Tonbridge School supplied a reference for young Clough to Colonel Muller: "Small in stature, a family trait, but in all respects most desirable as an officer. Afraid, he is not." //Contemporary accounts of his death taken from men in his Company as they lay in hospital after the battle:// //16/186 Private Ernest Warhurst:// “I saw Captain Clough hit with a bullet in the wrist. He fell and got up again. He was hit later in the shoulder and then again in the body. He fell and got up three more times. I was hit and lay just behind him where he finally fell. He was still lying there when I got back into a Sap.” //16/1401 Private Joseph Sheldon:// “I saw Captain Clough hit three times. On the last occasion he failed to rise. He was 15 to 20 yards from the German trenches.” He was listed as one of 'Keighley's Gallant Sons', all the volunteers who enlisted in the first part of the war, before conscription was introduced. Alan is named on the following war memorials: Thiepval Memorial in France; Ingrow War Memorial, St John's Churchyard; Trinity College Memorial, Cambridge; The Keighley Great War Roll of Honour Book in Keighley Library; Keighley Golf Club Roll of Honour. Awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service. Alan Clough's body was never found. His second in command Lieutenant John Holdsworth Robinson took over command for a matter of moments before he too was killed.