His family left behind – fond memories cling

We know his mother and siblings were heartbroken, posting memorial notices for their son and brother, Clarry Hoffman, each July for decades. The examples below are from 1917, 1929 and 1938.

Having been officially advised in December 1916 that Clarence had been killed in action, his mother, Sarah Briggs, wrote a letter to the Officer in Charge on 5 April 1917, asking for information about her son’s death:

Sarah was never to discover where her son was buried but she did receive his identity disc in November 1917. His personal effects (a notebook, letters, photos) were finally returned to her in July 1920.

In January 1918, there was a sad query from Clarence’s sister, Elizabeth, asking the authorities for the death certificates for her brother and also for her husband, David Joshua Pascoe. He had died on 27 September 1917 in Belgium, aged 27. They had been married only 3 weeks before he left for Egypt. Like Clarence, David also has no known grave but is commemorated at the Menin Gate.

In 1920, Sarah applied for an extension to her living allowance as she was a widow and had lost the support from her eldest son. Life would not have been easy.

We are still seeking suitable DNA donors and hope that Clarence will one day be identified.