Corporal Albert Clissold
18th Battalion, AIF
Service number: 4392
Born: 26 July 1873, Luddenham, NSW
Died: 19 November 1916, France
George Clissold was born at Luddenham in 1873, the eldest son of Thomas Daniel and Rebecca Clissold. His father was not only a well-known builder in the Penrith area, but also an alderman on Penrith Municipal Council. George Clissold was a pupil at Penrith Superior Public school and after leaving school was apprenticed to his father for five years as a carpenter and builder. In 1895 he married Mary Innes from Emu Plains.
Clissold enlisted in September 1915, leaving Mary and their children living on their farm at Emu Plains. He left Australia aboard the HMAT Nestor on 9 April 1915. After training in England Clissold arrived at Etaples, France in September 1916 with the rank of acting Sergeant. He was briefly hospitalised for pleurisy on 11 November and returned to his battalion on 18 November. Clissold was killed in action on 19 November 1916 and has no known grave.
He was known as ‘Dad’ because of his age and was well liked by his fellow battalion members. Throughout his short army career, Clissold was given the acting rank of sergeant on a number of occasions. His only son Charles, who had enlisted in March 1916, arrived in England shortly after his father’s death.
George’s widow Mary was awarded a fortnightly pension along with her daughters, Mary and Elizabeth (Bessie). On 11 December 1916, Bessie Clissold helped turn the first sods for the foundations of the new Penrith Public School in High Street. A week later the Nepean Times reported on her father’s death in France. Ironically, Clissold’s son Charles would die within days of the official opening of the school.
Memorial Details:
- Honor Roll, Villers-Bretonneux, France
- Honor Roll, War Memorial, Emu Plains
- Honor Roll, Penrith Superior Public School
Sources:
- National Archives of Australia Search: B2455, CLISSOLD G A
- Australian War Memorial First World War Nominal Roll
- Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
- Penrith City Library Biography files
Trove:
- Nepean Times: 23 December 1916, p2, c4