Corporal 4978105 1st/5th Bn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regt)
Died Thursday 12th February 1942 (Age 23)
At Rest: Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore
Grave Ref.: 31. E. 1.
Clifford Arthur Newbold (b. 3rd Q 1918) was the younger son of James Clifford and Hannah (nee Booth) Newbold of Jacksdale, Nottinghamshire. His elder brother was named Maurice.
His niece, Maurice’s daughter, has kindly provided us with the following account:
“Uncle Cliff’s life was so short as was the case with so many young men at the time. It makes you think what they gave for others, a lifetime, in fact. Well, I never knew Uncle Cliff, of course, but he was born in 1918 to Hannah Newbold (nee Booth) originally from Codnor Park and Clifford Newbold from Brinsley who worked as a butcher, initially at the Co-op (Steeples in Brinsley) and then bought his own business at 9, Selston Lane, Jacksdale.
Cliff went to Heanor Grammar School and, like his elder brother Maurice, had a keen interest in motorbikes.
Just after he was eighteen, Cliff was called up as part of conscription, into the Sherwood Foresters Regiment (1st/5th).
He was sent to France and was listed as missing at Dunkirk, turning up three days later with comrades, having commandeered a boat themselves.
He returned to Wittington Barracks at Brierly Hill before being sent to Singapore together with George Ward from Palmerston Street, Westwood, who was taken prisoner.
Sadly, Uncle Cliff died at the fall of Singapore in 1942 and was buried in the British Cemetery there.
A friend has visited Singapore and was good enough to take a photograph of the grave for us.”
Clifford Newbold was killed during the attack on Singapore on Thursday 12th February 1942, age 23.
Kranji was, at the time, a military camp and munitions magazine.
The Japanese launched their massive attack on the evening of the 9th February 1942 and, over the next few days, fierce fighting ensued-in many cases, ‘hand to hand’. Their sheer strength of numbers and air strength necessitated a withdrawal. Once the island had fallen, the Japanese established a Prisoner of War camp at Kranji and later a hospital. It was prisoners who started the cemetery at Kranji.
A local newspaper reported Clifford’s death as follows:
“KILLED IN ACTION.
Cpl C. A. Newbold Jacksdale.
Mr & Mrs J C Newbold, Selston Road, Jacksdale have been notified that their youngest son, Cpl Clifford Arthur Newbold (23, has been killed in action in the Far East. Cpl Newbold who was reported missing in February last was called up with the militia before the war and was posted to the Sherwood Foresters. He went to France in 1939, and was officially reported missing when France capitulated. He was sent out to the Far East in November last and again reported missing at Singapore.
Educated at Jacksdale Council Schools and Heanor Secondary School, Cpl Newbold assisted his father in his business as a butcher.
His only brother Maurice is in the R.A.F. serving in the Far East.”
