Just less than a year before Thomas Henry Williams, 26 years 8 months, had embarked aboard the Ayrshire heading for the Western Front. Short in stature standing 5ft 3in (161.2 cm) he was a farm labourer and lived with his mother Sarah Ridgway (nee Hall) and step father, Thomas “Corrie” Ridgway in Ballarto Road, Clyde

Tragedy had struck Sarah before in 1892. When her son Tom was two years old, his father, Tommy Williams Snr, a jockey, was killed in a race track meeting near Dandenong. At the time his parents owned the first Clyde store then situated on Ballarto Road. Eighteen months later, widow Sarah Williams married Thomas Ridgway, a son of early settler, Anthony Ridgway
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 Unbeknown to the Clyde community, Tommy Williams Jnr. had actually died on April 18th and was buried in Hamburg  Cemetery, Ohlsdorf, Germany. The news of his death was sent by telegram to his mother and later announced in the Herald newspaper in August 1917.

  A memorial scroll and plaque were sent to Sarah recognising her loss. The Clyde community remembered Tom by listing his name on the Clyde North and District WW1 Honor Roll. The Cranbourne Patriotic Association posthumously awarded him a Certificate of appreciation for fighting over seas.

  A year following his death, Mrs Sarah Ridgway presented a photograph of her son Thomas Henry Williams to the newly built Clyde Primary school opened on May 30, 1918.
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Like many soldiers, Stan had trouble with health problems in the Army. While in training he suffered  with influenza and tonsillitis before embarkment. Later, while overseas, pneumonia took him out of battle for a month, before returning to France. In Belgium during the Northern Spring, he was wounded on the same day as his brother. Stan had gun shot wounds to both legs, arms and left foot. Older brother Syd was evacuated to England. Stan died the next day, 2nd May 1917. His family received a Scroll of Honor from the King along with the memorial plaque known as the  ‘Dead Man’s Penny”

William Stanley Allars and Sydney George Allars are on the Honour Roll Board 1914-1918 War, which is in the Cardinia State School.

Click here for a more detailed life story of Stan Allars

In 1906 Hedley Howard Thomas, one of seven children, moved with his family from Oakleigh to the south eastern corner of Tuckers and Pattersons Roads.
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At 19 Hedley decided in his heart to obey God in all of his life. While this was a public declaration among the Methodist church folk, Hedley expressed this decision better through his life’s actions rather talking about it.

Hedley enlisted in September 1915.  At 5ft 8in (172.7cm)  he was slightly taller than the average Clyde man, also the heaviest weighing 12 stone (76.2kg).

The local newspaper of  22 Aug 1918, reported “The seating accommodation at the Methodist Church was taxed, on Sunday evening, when a large gathering met to do honor to the memory of the late Private Hedley Thomas aged 26“.
Clyde Methodists relied on visiting preachers for their afternoon services but also attended morning worship in Cranbourne. 

 Better known as George, the only adult son of George Snr and Martha Churchill (nee Ridgway, he was the grandson of Anthony Ridgway, an early Clyde settler.
George Churchill (Jnr) worked as a chaff cutter and lived on 2 acres of Block 41 near to the corner of Hardys and Cranbourne Berwick Road.

Before enlisting on 16 July 1915 he had the reputation of being brilliant cricket player,
’a bonny manly lad’, with a sunny disposition, one who loved clean sport on the football and cricket grounds. It was said of him that he should make a sturdy active soldier and that ‘may he win a V.C.’ (Victoria Cross).

This man who stood at 5ft 4 in tall (162.5 cm) was the first native born Clyde man to pass all the tests in the training camp. On the battle field he commanded such respect that he was promoted to Corporal on the 25th Oct 1917.
Tragically he was killed in action on the 1st September 1918 at Mont St Quentin, France, a little more than two months before the end of the War, November 11th, 1918, Armistice Day. Clyde cricketers were deeply shocked and grieved to hear of the death of one of their most promising players.
On Sunday evening, 22 Sept 1918,  the Clyde North Church of England, was not big enough to hold the large gathering which met to do honor to the memory of the late Cpl. George Churchill, who made the supreme sacrifice in France. 

At the Clyde North School Empire Day celebration, May 1919, his photo was unveiled by his former school teacher,  Mr Twyford  who referred to the many fine qualities of George Churchill. He impressed upon the children how proud they should be to have such a splendid memorial in the school of a scholar and soldier like George.
His family grieved deeply over his death.

He was buried at Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension Picarde, France 

Roll of Honor name projection

George Charles Churchill's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory on:

• Wed 01 July 2020 at 4:26am
• Sun 27 September 2020 at 3:44am
• Tue 29 December 2020 at 10:42pm
• Sat 24 April 2021 at 10:22pm
• Tue 01 June 2021 at 1:59am

These dates and times are estimates. Please note that previous advised times on this site have recently been changed to ensure that early evening projections are clearly visible and not affected by twilight. The actual time of projection could also change as a result of weather and other factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date. In the rare event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for display in that period will not appear until the next time listed.