b. 03/1898 Sheffield, Yorkshire. d. 28/03/1918 Portsmouth, Hampshire.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 24/03/1918 Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight.
Reginald C Clayton AM
Reginald was the son of Charles Curtis and Marian Clayton (nee Evans). He had two brothers Charles Vaughan and Percy Anthony. The family moved south and by 1908 had settled in Stechford, near Birmingham. Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Mercantile Marine as an apprentice. He died in hospital four days after the accident. He is not commemorated by the CWGC due to his death not being in action.
AM CITATION:
The KING has been graciously pleased to make a posthumous award of the Decoration of the Albert Medal in recognition of the gallantry of Reginald Curtis Clayton, an apprentice in the Mercantile Marine. In March last the steamship in which Mr. Clayton was serving was in collision, and a serious fire broke out on board. Mr. Clayton was aft, where the accommodation for the crew was situated. It was his fire-station duty to stand by the flood valve of the magazine; and, in spite of the whole of the deck being in flames, he groped his way through the fire, found the valve, and turned it on to ”flood.” He received such severe injuries that he succumbed in hospital four days later. Those of the crew who survived no doubt owed their lives to the flooding of the magazine.
BURIAL LOCATION: HASLAR ROYAL NAVAL CEMETERY, GOSPORT, HAMPSHIRE.
BLOCK E, ROW 31 GRAVE 4. (UNMARKED).
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
Acknowledgement:
Simon Waterfield – Image of Clayton AM’s unmarked grave in Haslar RN Cemetery.