Pte 15789 Clement Llewellyn Ryder

• Age: 22
• From: Litherland, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 10th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Clement Llewellyn Ryder was born on 2^nd June 1894 in Litherland, Liverpool, the son of George Henry Ryder and his wife Emily (nee Woolley) who were married in St. James, Toxteth Park, in 1878.  George Henry was born in Shrewsbury, and Emily in Chester. Clement was the eighth of nine children, all born in the Liverpool/Bootle/Litherland area; his siblings were George, Emily, Walter, Edith, Frank, Florence, Elizabeth, and Ada.  Clement was baptised in St. Leonard’s Bootle, on 1^st July 1894; his parents were living at 17 Cunard Road, Seaforth, and his father’s occupation is warehouseman.

In 1901 the parents, with nine children, are still at 17 Cunard Road, Litherland.  His father is listed as a warehouseman (cotton), older brother George is a clerk in a cotton office, Emily and Edith are dressmakers, Walter is a clerk in a fruit merchant’s, Frank is a clerk with a sack and bag company. The younger siblings are Florence 13, Elizabeth 10, Clement 6, and Ada 5.

In 1911 the family is at 61 Linacre Road, Litherland, with five children at home. His father is a 58 year old cotton warehouseman and his mother is a 54 year old shop keeper draper. They have been married for 33 years and have had nine children. They have five children in the household; George Henry junior, is a 32 year old warehouse porter, Florence Gertrude is a 23 year old shop assistant, Elizabeth is 20 but has no occupation listed, Clement is 16, employed as a junior forwarding clerk for a builder’s merchant, and a part(time) student and Ada is 16 and is a dressmaker's apprentice.

A number of Clement’s siblings emigrated to Canada; Frank and Elizabeth settled in Ontario, George in Vancouver, and Edith in Toronto.

Clem, as he was known by his pals, enlisted in Liverpool on 02^nd September 1914, as Private 15789, No.3 Company, 17^th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 20 years and 100 days, and his occupation as clerk.  He is described as being 5’ 10” tall, weighing 130 lbs, with a dark complexion, and brown eyes and hair. His father George Henry Ryder, at 39 Ferndale Road, Waterloo, is his next of kin. He stated his religion as Church of England.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Clem ships to France with his battalion from Folkestone, disembarking at Boulogne on 7^th November 1915. 

In the new year the Pals battalions take up position in the south of the Somme line near Carnoy, and at the end of April are in the lines near Maricourt.  It appears that Clem served in the sniping section.  In late May the battalion moves to Abbeville for specialist training for the ‘Big Push’ and the British bombardment begins on 24^th June.  The battalion goes over the top on 1^st July, the deadliest day in British military history with nearly 20,000 killed, but achieves its objectives.  Clem survived the first day, but on 10^th July the battalion is tasked with taking Trones Wood, still held by the Germans.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a Death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

Pte Clement Ryder was 22 years old. His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

A report on his death appeared in the Crosby Herald on 29th July 1916: 

“News has been received of the death of Pte. Clement Ryder, King's (Liverpool Regiment), son of Mr. and Mrs. G.H. Ryder, of Ferndale Road, Waterloo. In a letter written to Mrs. Ryder from a  […...]  counter-attack under a heavy bombardment when a shell burst in front of him and killed him instantaneously. The writer added that the boys of the platoon recognised in him one of the most popular and bravest in the platoon, and they asked him to express their sympathy with his parents in their great loss. In another letter received by Mrs. Ryder the writer stated that having been one of Clem's chums for some time in the sniping section, he felt he ought to write and express his deepest sympathy for her in her loss. He knew that anything he could say would be little consolation to her, but he would like to let her know that all who knew Pte. Ryder always referred to him as one of the very best.”

His parents placed a notice in the Liverpool Daily Post on 11th August 1916

Clem earned his three medals. 

His effects went to his father George. 

His father died in 1921 and his mother in 1944.

Clement is commemorated on the following Memorials;

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 45

Waterloo & Seaforth Civic Memorial

Christ Church C of E School, Bootle.

He is also remembered on his parents’ headstone in St. Luke’s Church, Crosby.

We currently have no further information on Clement Llewellyn Ryder, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.