CLASPER, Joseph

Joseph Clasper lived at 21 Enville Street, Stourbridge, and was the third son of Richard and Sophia Clasper to die in the Great War. He had been an office boy for the County Express for a year and then worked at Weaver's Garage. He was 6' 2” and enlisted in the Grenadier Guards in 1914. He joined the 1st Battalion which went to France in December 1914. Over the next three years he was wounded three times, once so seriously that he convalesced in Britain for 9 months. In May 1918 the Guards Division was involved in halting the German offensive in Artois. It was a costly period and Guardsman Joseph Clasper was killed during an artillery barrage. He was 20 years of age and is commemorated on the Arras, Stourbridge and St. Thomas's church Memorials.