CLASPER, John

John Clasper lived at 24 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and was the second son of Richard and Sophia Clasper to die in the Great War. He attended the Enville Street Council School and later joined the Birmingham City police. When war came, he enlisted in the Coldstream Guards. He was sent to the 2nd Battalion in the Guards Division which had fought at Loos in 1915, the Somme in 1916 and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. They fought again at Cambrai and were in the front line on the 24th November. Private John Clasper was killed on the 1st December after repelling the German counter-attack to recapture Gouzeaucourt Wood. A letter from his Captain said, 'It was sheer bad luck that he was killed. He had come through one of the hottest attacks that ever this Guards Brigade has ever done, and then the following day a shell pitched right into the trench they had dug, and killed him and two of his friends. He was one of the best men I had.' He is commemorated on the Cambrai, Stourbridge, St. Thomas's church and the former Enville Street School Memorials.