My Grandfather - Stanley George Clark

[Keith Farrar]

Full Name
Stanley George Clark (posted by his grandson)
Discharge Book Number
686988
Department

Your Rank/Rating
Steward
Which Ships were you on and When

Ship Number Ship Name Date of Engagement Date of discharge
147277 Aurania 08.11.17
118101 RMS Baltic 19.9.18
118101 RMS Baltic 29.10.18
118101 RMS Baltic 05.12.18
118101 RMS Baltic 29.1.19
131451 SS Vestris 05.03.19
137420 SS Holbein 05.05.19
118101 RMS Baltic 26.06.19
118101 RMS Baltic 12.08.19
118101 RMS Baltic 19.09.19
118101 RMS Baltic 29.10.19
115354 RMS Cedric 29.01.21
118101 RMS Baltic 16.07.21
124061 RMS Adriatic 22.12.23
131454 Oxfordshire 10.10.24
131296 Gloucestershire 09.04.25
131454 Oxfordshire 31.07.25
120903 Herefordshire 13.08.26
147277 Aurania 06.05.27
131296 Gloucestershire 07.05.26
143663 Yorkshire 02.12.27
149625 MV Cheshire 24.02.28
140596 Westernland formerly Regina 07.09.27
149625 MV Cheshire 05.10.28
161082 MV Staffordshire 22.02.29
145923 Samaria 11.05.29
149625 Cheshire 26.07.29
145934 Andania 14.03.30
115354 Cedric 05.09.31
147215 Doric 27.05.32
161082 Staffordshire 31.03.33
149625 Cheshire 05.07.35
149601 Shropshire 28.02.36
147238 Voltaire 12.09.36
145896 Phemius 05.02.38
147238 Voltaire 14.04.38
166285 SS Bolton Castle 09.12.39
146664 Adda 06.09.40
162339 Reina del Pacifico 12.11.40
Oxfordshire?
Avoceta 3.5.41
147174 Avoceta 24.02.41 06.08.41
Wairangi 19.08.41 12.12.41
146025 Otranto 29.12.41 6.5.42
Otranto 6.5.42 22.11.42
Otranto 30.11.42
164849 Empire Emerald 1.12.42 21.3.43
30.3.43
151802 Esperance Bay 24.4.43 10.6.43
1.6.43
Volendam 19.6.43 14.7.43

151802 Esperance Bay July 1943
16.11.43
151802 Esperance Bay 6.2.43
31.1.44
5.2.44
164849 SS Empire Emerald 29.11.47

Notes:
My Grandfather, Stanley George Clark, joined the 17th Battalion King’s (Liverpool) Regiment (1st City Liverpool Pals) on 05-Jan-1915, the day after his 21st birthday, as Private 24832 S.G. Clark,
He went to France in Sep-1915 and served on the Somme, where the Liverpool and Manchester Pals were the only units to achieve their objectives on the 01-Jul-1916. He was wounded on 30-Jul-1916 and was later transferred to a training battalion as (TR3/53103). He was discharged due to wounds in Jun-1917 and immediately joined the Merchant Service, serving in troopships crossing the Atlantic. He was awarded the following medals: 1914-15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal, Mercantile Medal, Silver Wound Badge.
His service continued through the second world war and I have been able to identify many (but not all) of his ships. Family history indicates he was torpedoed at some point – but I can’t find a reference to that, although I have a copy of a CR 1 indicating the issue of a free renewal book as original was lost due to enemy action and signed by my grandfather on 03-May-1941 with the ‘address’ Avoceta.
He died in Nov-1947 and is listed on the Merchant Navy Roll of Honour as 2nd Steward on SS Empire Emerald.
I applied for his medals from Registry of Shipping and Seamen Anchor Court, Keen Road Cardiff Tel. No: 0203 90 85206 CF24 5JW United Kingdom Email: seafarers.registry@mcga.gov.uk using form MSF 4408 Rev 0918 and they identified that he is entitled to the War Medal, the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star and the Artic Star. As he served on the Otranto, which was at the Operation Torch landings in North Africa, the Volendam was at the Sicily landings and possibly the Wairangi (the entry is very obscure and I had to look at ship departures from Liverpool around the same time), which sailed to Brisbane; he may also quality for the Africa Star, The Italy Star and the Pacific Star. Trish at the Registry of Shipping and Seamen is checking further.
I never knew my grandfather but my mother, his daughter, was a woman of great strength of character. He, like many of his generation, did his job, often unrecognised and undervalued, but he ‘soldiered on’. Whilst he is a hero to me, I am sure he would say that he was just an ordinary man who lived in extraordinary times.

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Keith F
Thank you for the info on your Grandfather, a good rundown on his Career.
Nice to have such things on the site.
Hope you may have some other Stories that he possibly told you in the past
Cheers