Born in September 1895, Clifford Edward Gilders was one of five children. He was the son of Bertha Beatrice and Cecil Edward Gilders, a shipbroker. In 1911, the family were living at 117 Fellbrigge Road, Goodmayes, Ilford. He attended the Coopers Company School in Bow from 1908 to 1910. Prior to volunteering to the 9th Battalion, the London Regiment and serving as a Lance Corporal, he was a shipping clerk with the Port of London Authority.
Clifford was with the Queen Victoria’s Rifles Battalion during the attack on Gommecourt, France, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. By midday the Londoners were running short of grenades and were under bombing attacks. There was a total of 6,769 British casualties at Gommecourt and one of them was Clifford at the age of 21.
Clifford’s brother Bertrand had been killed in action the previous year during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.
Clifford’s name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Some information / extracts have been reproduced with kind permission of Karen Pack from her book ‘Coopers’ Boys & Coborn Girls: Their Part in the Great War’ © Karen Pack, 2015
Sources:
Ancestry.com
ICHS school records and magazines
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Cliff Gilders was one of the most lovable lads one could meet. There was about him a winsomeness of manner and charm of personality that won for him many friends. His adventurous and chivalrous nature could not keep out of the war and he enlisted in the 9th London in September 1914. His first ten months in France were comparatively uneventful, but after his leave he was in the thick of it, and probably fell in the terrible struggle around Gommecourt on July 1st, 1916.
Cliff was educated at Coopers' School, Bow, and employed as a Clerk by the General Steam Navigation Co. He was deeply interested in our Church and seldom missed Morning or Evening Service. The Bible Class also had no more regular member; in everything concerned with sport he was a leader.
His war experiences deepened his nature; the death of his brother was a heavy blow. We believe they are together in the higher service.
Reproduced from Homage: A Record of Our Heroes (a commemorative booklet produced by Seven Kings United Methodist Church c.1920)