This is the tale of two WW1 memorial plaques, commonly referred to as Dead Men’s Pennies, which have recently been donated to The Keep. They are now safely in our collection and stored with other Memorial Plaques of other men who lost their lives serving with the Devons in WW1. The Pennies were sent to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives in World War 1; each bore the soldier’s name, irrespective of rank, and bore the inscription, ‘HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR’.
What makes these two pennies somewhat unique is that they record the deaths of two brothers, who both served with the Devonshire Regiment, but in different battalions. Significantly, the brothers were killed on consecutive days in March 1916. They relate to William Cloke, who served with the 8th Battalion in France and Ernest Cloke, who served with the 1st/6th Battalion in Mesopotamia.
William was born on 21st August 1890 and was first recorded in the 1891 Census, which records him as an inmate in the Bideford Union Workhouse, Devon. Among the other 98 inmates at the time were Elizabeth Cloake, single, aged 21 and described as a domestic servant and also Grace Cloake, aged 3. By 1901, they had been joined by another Cloke – Ernest, aged 4.
It appears their fortunes had changed, and by 1911, things became clearer, and it appears Elizabeth had escaped the Workhouse and was residing at 12, Honestan Street, Bideford. At 40 years of age, she is described as Head of the household and Single. Living with her are Eleanor Grace (23), also single and Ernest, now 14 years old and an Apprentice Joiner. In addition Elizabeth seems to have acquired two more children – Florence (8) and John (7). We can only assume that they were also Elizabeth’s children.
What of brother William? The Census Record for 1911 records him boarding and presumably working at the farm of one, John Andrew at Abbotsham, as an agricultural servant. It seems that at last, the Clokes had moved out of poverty.

Ernest Cloke
Ernest, the younger of the two, was the first to join the Army. At just 17 years and 2 months he enlisted at Appledore and joined the nearest Territorial Unit, the 6th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, based at Barnstaple.
Fortunately his Service Records, unlike most from that period, survived the 2nd World War bombing of London, albeit somewhat torn and tattered. From these we learn that he attested on the 24th April 1914 and found fit for service. There appears to be no record of his parentage.
He became 1993 Private Ernest Cloke of the 6th Battalion, the Devonshire Regiment. So it was that Ernest attended the Summer Camp at Woodbury Common, Exeter which began on 25th July 1914. Within days however War was declared with Germany. They struck Camp and each of the units returned to their war stations at the forts of Scraesdon and Tregantle, on the Cornish Coast a few miles west of Plymouth. Within days they had been relieved and on the 9th they had entrained to Perham Down on Salisbury Plain, to join other territorial battalions undergoing training for war service. Ernest would volunteer for overseas service and served with the 1/6th Devons embarking at Southampton on the troopship Galeka, which sailed, via the Suez Canal to India arriving on the 11th November 1914
Unfortunately, this time in India not last. The situation in Mesopotamia had fast deteriorated leading to 1st/6th being ordered there. Having arrived in Basra on January 3rd, 1916. The battalion set out on a mammoth, never-to-be-forgotten, 220 miles of mud, filth, cold, floods and starvation. The men were fed on half rations – a tin of bully beef and two biscuits per man per day. Rain persisted but still they kept going; they frequently marched for 12 miles a day and often in water up to their waists. On 26th January they reached Amarah where they rested for 2 days. They objective was Sheikh Saad which was now the advance base where a force of some 20,000 men who were preparing for the relief of the town of Kut, which had been besieged by the Turks since early December 1915 and were now threatened with starvation.
Sadly, the battle that ensued was between the Turks and the British relief force was a brutal one. The number of casualties was high: overall it is estimated that more than 3,400 Allied troops lost their lives on the 8th March and the 6th Devons record that 201 men were killed, wounded or missing. Among these was Ernest. Initially he was reported to have been wounded but missing. His death was assumed to be the 8th March but it was not until two years later i.e.13th March 1918 that the War Office, in response to an enquiry from Elizabeth Cloke, confirmed that for official purposes Ernest had died on 8th March 1916.
It is almost certain that his body was never found but his name appears on the Basra Memorial and subsequently, his name was added to a black marble tablet on the wall of St. Mary’s Church, Bideford.
William Cloke
During the early part of 1915 William got married and also enlisted in the Army, becoming Private William Cloke – No. 18524 of the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Unfortunately, his Service Records, like so many from that era, were lost or destroyed during the bombing of London in WW2 and we cannot tell for certain exactly when he enlisted. The 8th had been formed in August 1914 and his Medal Index Card tells us that he was sent to France on 15th December 1915.
The 8th Battalion had landed at Le Havre on 26th July 1915 and on the 7th August, both the 8th and 9th had arrived at Calonne-sur-Lys , joining the 20th Brigade, 7th Division. After just 48 hours of instruction with other units, both were given responsibility for distinct sectors of the front-line running from Chapelle St. Roch and Port Arthur.
Having landed William would probably have spent a while at the coastal base Depot and probably reached the 8th Battalion at the beginning of January 1916.
The War Diary tells us that on the 5th March, the Battalion marched from Meaulte to take over trenches near Fricourt, relieving the 9th Devons. From then nothing of sequence is recorded in the War Diary, least of all on the 9th March, when Private William Cloke is said to have been killed.
A local Devon newspaper however later published that William was shot in the breast while on sentry duty. The Soldiers’ Effects Records show that pay owing to him at the date of death and the War Gratuity of £7, was paid to his wife Florence, who by this time had borne him two children- Herbert, aged 3 and Reginald George, 2 years of age. He was buried in the War Cemetery at Bécordel-Récourt and his name appears on a War Memorial at St Helen’s Church, Abbotsham.
Sadly we have to record that Elizabeth Cloke died in mid-1918, at the age of just 48 and we are left to wonder whether, having already lost one son, the eventual confirmation from the War Office of the death of Ernest, her second son played its part.
From one of the torn and tattered pages of Ernest’s Service Record, probably completed at the end of the war, we learn that, as far as the Army was concerned, Ernest had no mother or father and that his only blood brother was John, aged 15 and blood sisters were Florence and ‘Nellie’.

P.Turner

The Keep Military Museum honours the memory of those who served with the Devonshire and the Dorsetshire Regiment, and the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry. However, we can only do this with your support. Donating as little as £5 can help us continue our mission and honour those who served. Please donate today via our donations platform HERE and keep history alive.

For more information on the Devonshire Regiment in the First World War, be sure to check out our range of WW1 books! HERE