Lieutenant Clifton Mallet Lucas
4th South Wales Borderers attached 15th (Carmarthen) Battalion, Welsh Regiment
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1885
Place of Birth: Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Death: 10 July 1916
Buried: Remembered on Thiepval Memorial; Shaldon War Memorial and in St Michael's Church, Teignmouth, where a marble tablet was dedicated to both Clifton and his brother
Awarded the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Lieutenant Clifton Mallet Lucas, age 30.
Born 1885 in Canterbury, New South Wales, Australia, he was the son of Hugh Claude Edward Lucas, a major in the Indian Staff Corps, and his wife Emilie Tehlencker. He was the grandson of General Sir Alfred William Lucas, JP (1822 - 1896) of Dunmore House, Shaldon.
The 1891 census shows Clifton aged 5 living at 8 Courtenay Place, Teignmouth.
His father is shown as born in India in 1850 and his mother Emilie as born in Australia in 1857. Clifton has an older brother, Malcolm, and two sisters, Violet and Beatrice. They have a servant, a nurse, living with them, presumably for Violet who is a year old.
The 1911 census hows Clifton's mother and father (and their general servant) as living at The Hermitage in Ringmore, Shaldon, his father is at this point a retired Colonel on a pension.
Clifton was a man with a thirst for travel. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 13 October 1885, the son of Colonel H C E Lucas, before moving to Teignmouth in Devon.
He then served with the Punjabi Rifles before emigrating to Canada, working as a Land Surveyor. At the outbreak of war he enlisted at Valcartier, Canada, into the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion, and then embarked for Britain.
Clifton was then commissioned Second Lieutenant into 4th South Wales Borderers and saw service at Gallipoli. On 1 April 1916 Clifton became a full Lieutenant and was attached to the 15th Welsh in France.
He was killed in action soon after, during the fighting at Mametz Wood on 10 July 1916. Clifton is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
His medals, the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory Medals, were claimed by his father, Colonel H C E Lucas at 'Eastcliffe', Shaldon, Teignmouth.'
Carmarthen Pals: A History of the 15th (Service) Battalion, the Welsh Regiment, 1914-1919
(page 2) by Steven John
Remembered on Thiepval Memorial; Shaldon War Memorial and in St Michael's Church, Teignmouth, where a marble tablet was dedicated to both Clifton and his brother, Malcolm Hugh Lucas DSO, who died in 1920 on active service in Persia.
Memorial plaque
