Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Engineer Lieutenant William Clasper, 32, had been born in Britain but had varied work experiences in different parts of the world before settling in Sydney. On enlistment he declared he had worked at South Shields in the United Kingdom, Morts Dock in Sydney and for the Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Fiji.
Clasper was one of the earliest of the Auburn Memorial men to join the AIF, enlisting on 8 September 1914 at Sydney. He embarked on the Ulysses in December 1914, but it is not recorded when he landed on the Gallipoli Peninsular. Clasper served twice on Gallipoli, returning for two months to Egypt with dysentery. He was promoted to Temporary Sergeant during his second time on the peninsular and this promotion was made substantive when he returned to Egypt.
In March 1916, Clasper was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the 13th Battalion in which there were a number of ‘Auburn boys’. Shortly after, the Fourth Australian Division moved to the Western Front via the French Mediterranean port of Marseilles.
Over the next year Clasper was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, but he had a couple of lengthy stays in hospital, one of two months in the UK recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck and another two months in a hospital in France receiving treatment for VD.
Lieutenant Clasper was wounded in the First Battle of Bullecourt, April 1917, and he was taken back to the Australian Hospital in Rouen where he died on 21 April 1917.
Clasper is one of several Auburn Memorial men who may not have had a strong link to Auburn. His father moved from Woollahra to Auburn in 1918 and presumably put his son's name forward to the Auburn Memorial Committee. Clasper had made Miss F M Baillie of 9 Rowe Street, Woollahra, the beneficiary of his will.
The following is a Red Cross witness statement:
"Lt Clasper was a first Lieutenant and had been my Lewis Machine Gun officer, but at the time he was wounded he was in charge of N°11 Platoon of A. Coy. He was the only officer of that name in the 13th Battalion. He live, I think, in Woolarhar, and his name was William. He was wounded on 11.4.17 at Bullecourt the same day as I was, and we were lying next to each other in the Dressing Station. He told me he was wounded in the calf to the leg. And he seem quite bright, and told me I had earned a spell. Was greatly shocked when in the ? Hospital I read in the ‘Daily Mail’ that he had died. One of my mates told me Lt. Clasper had been wounded in the head. I do not think he could have been again wounded at the Dressing Station, as I was one of the last to leave and it was not under shell fire when I was there."
Clasper lies in the Officer section of the St. Sever Cemetery in the city of Rouen. This is a rare instance of separating the graves of officers from those of other ranks. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission usually adhered to the principle that ‘in death all sacrifice is equal’. The large memorial shown in the photo is for the hundreds of Frenchmen from Rouen who died in the First World War. Their names are inscribed on the walls to the rear. Clasper's grave is marked with the Australian flag. His gravestone bears the inscription chosen by his family: A MAN AMONGST MEN.
William Clasper is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
- 1914-1915 Star
