The Sydney Morning Herald – 12 August 1916 :

The Sydney Morning Herald – 23 December 1916 :

Roy was reported missing on 20 July 1916 after the 54th Battalion in which he served launched a diversionary attack at Fromelles and suffered heavy losses.

The German death list included Roy’s name and German authorities reported his death as occurring on about 19th July in the neighbourhood of Fromelles. They returned his pay book and identity disc to AIF authorities through established intelligence and Red Cross channels. His identity disc was later returned to his father as next of kin.

In an enquiry as to his fate, an unofficial report that Roy had returned to his battalion was found to be incorrect. An eyewitness, Private James A. Whitney 4725, gave evidence that:

It was officially ruled that Private Roy Clark had been killed in action on 20th July 1916.

Roy remains unidentified. His father died in 1920 and his mother lived on until near the end of the next war, dying in 1944. Hannah, born in Buninyong, Victoria during the gold rush, never remarried and would have mourned the loss of both husband and son for the rest of her life.

As is usual with our research, and because Roy was named on the German death list, a number of researchers both in Australia and in Scotland, have attempted to find that elusive paternal link. Researchers were able to locate a very willing mitochondrial DNA donor, but never did we get “close” to locating a very much needed paternal line donor. Roy’s father, William, was born in Paisley, Scotland and we have been unable to locate paternal family and we have been unable to provide sufficient DNA donors for the Army to undertake full DNA matching. Thus, we “think” Roy lies in Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery, but cannot prove that notion, one way or another.

President of the Fromelles Association of Australia, Royce Atkinson, recently wrote and requested help to trace any family of William’s still living in Scotland. Royce explained that the Association is a non-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers working for the past eight years to re-unite families with a loved one.

William’s parents were William Clark, an engineer, and Elizabeth Stewart/Stuart. The following is an extract from an advertisement made in Paisley and surrounding areas during a 2019 “last ditch” attempt to locate family:

The complication in trying to find a DNA match for Roy, has been his father’s marital and extra-marital lifestyle. While Roy is publicly stated to be an only child, records relating to his father, William Allison Clark, seem to contradict that claim.

William Allison Clark and Mary Ann Graham had a son, Graham Allison Clark, who died aged five. Graham was born in Surry Hills on 22 September 1875 and died on 18 October 1880.

Mary Ann Graham went on to marry Thomas Henry Riley in 1886 and had seven more children. The first born before their marriage was listed as Clark, but is presumed to be a Riley due to geography if nothing else.

William married Emily McCamley in St Patrick’s Church in Sydney on 26 June 1880. They had no surviving children.

In 1888 during his marriage to Emily McCamley, William Clark was named in the sensational Newman divorce case. It was a long and well reported case, in fact it was reported in almost every newspaper in the colony. During the divorce hearing, Mr Newman stated that his youngest two children were probably fathered by Clark. The divorce was granted, and Mr Newman packed up and left Bathurst with all four children.

Emily successfully sued William for divorce in 1891.

The Newman divorce in 1888 left Clark and Mrs Newman together. She subsequently had a daughter, Ivy Grace, in 1892 recorded as a Newman when born but stated as Ivy Hughes when she married in 1915.

Although, both the Newman and Clark divorces were finalised William and Mary Jane never married. William relocated from Bathurst to Jerilderie, and married Hannah Thomas in 1893. Roy was born of that union in 1895 and that marriage appeared to continue.

Factually, and despite the courts awarding custody of all four children to Mr Newman, the paternity of the youngest two Newman children was never established. Thus, a dilemma arose for our research team, and that was: how could we prove that Roy did have three half-siblings who may share paternal DNA with Roy?

And what happened to the possible half-siblings?

The 3rd and 4th born “Newman” boys grew up to become railwaymen and worked as railway engineers in Sierra Leone. Record of membership was located at the Freetown Masonic Lodge. As far as research can confirm, neither had issue. Both died in England.

It seems that every male half-sibling of Roy died without marrying or producing issue, and we have been unable to establish links to Roy’s paternal family in Scotland.

So, this is the story of cyclist and jeweller, Roy Allison Clark, who fought and died for his country.

It is a major sadness, that we have been unable to locate a paternal line DNA donor, nor really to know much of Roy’s early life – for irrespective of his father's lifestyle, Roy deserves a headstone with his name engraved on it! We are still seeking DNA donors.