Enlistment Address
Strathfield NSW
Service Number
3753
Unit
20th Battalion
Fate
RTA
Information
ARMYTAGE Clive Edward Thorpe 3753 Lieutenant
Clive was a 20 year old station bookkeeper when he enlisted on 12 October 1915. His medical examination described him as 5’ 10 1/2”, 154 lbs, fair complexion, blue eyes, good vision, fair hair and no distinctive marks recorded. His religion was Church of England and his next of kin stated his father G E Armytage of Strathfield, Sydney.
He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A54 ‘Runic’ on 20 January 1916 with the 20th Battalion and disembarked Alexandria 26 February 1916. He arrived in France on 18 March 1916 and was first wounded in action with a gunshot wound to the shoulder on 17 September 1916. After treatment and recuperation in London, England he returned to his unit in France on 19 November 1916. He was wounded again on 15 April 1917 and remained on duty.
In March 1917 Clive led his platoon in the storming of a German machine-gun post at Lagnicourt on the Somme. He was awarded the Military Cross ‘For conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. He led his men with great gallantry and captured an enemy machine gun. He himself shot two of the enemy and captured two prisoners’.
At dawn on 3 May 1917 at Bullecourt, Clive received a shot through his left elbow joint from a machine gun, resulting in his arm being amputated above the joint. Clive was left handed. He was admitted to the 14th General Hospital in Boulogne, France and then the 3rd London General Hospital on 8 September 1917. He departed for Australia 5 November 1917 on HMAT A32 ‘Themistocles’. Upon his return, he served as the Supply Officer at Holsworthy Internment Camp until a few weeks after the Armistice was declared 11 Nov 1918.
Clive was awarded the Military Cross, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
After the war Clive drew a 1497-acre block he called “Kirriwa” in a land ballot at Tooraweenah, NSW, where he and his wife raised four children. His youngest son Tony took over the property and raised his family there after Clive’s retirement. The property remained in family ownership until 2004.
Clive’s treasured WW1 memorabilia is permanently loaned by the family following Tony’s Anzac Day address in 1993 and is on display in the Clive Armytage Collection in the Coo-ee Gallery of the Gilgandra Heritage Centre. It was taken to Tooraweenah on Anzac Day 2016 to complement the presentation given by Jane Scurr, Clive’s granddaughter.
