Alexander Stanley Clingan – ANZAC

Alick Clingan died 19 July 1916

When Alick Clingan was born on the 28^th November, 1893, in Waterloo, New South Wales, his father, William, was 42 and his mother, Ruth, was 39. He had three brothers and two sisters. He died on the 19^th July 1916, in Fromelles, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, at the age of 22. Alick’s full name was Alexander Stanley Clingan.

Alick Clingan lived in Newtown, New South Wales and worked as a boilermaker’s labourer and ironworker’s assistant in Sydney prior to enlisting in the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 8^th August 1915. Alick Clingan left Australia for Egypt where he joined the 53^rd Battalion and, after a period of training, arrived in Marseilles on 28^th June 1916 and sent to fight on the Western Front.

A studio portrait of Alexander Stanley Clingan (incorrectly printed beneath image as Clingaw) taken in 1915, before he left Sydney in October 1915 to fight in the Great War

He was killed during an Australian and British infantry attack on German positions near the town of Fromelles on 19^th July 1916. At the time of his death he was 22 years old. Alick Clingan was initially reported as “Missing in action”, until his name appeared in a German newspaper death list on the 4^th November 1916. His status was then revised to “killed in action” at Fleurbaix, France.

In 2008 a burial ground was located at Pheasant Wood containing the bodies of 250 British and Australian soldiers including Alick Clingan. All of the remains were reburied in the newly created Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. At the time of the official dedication of the new cemetery on 19^th July 2010, ninety-six of the Australians, including Alick Clingan, had been identified through DNA testing of samples given by his living relatives.

Links to further information:

1. AIF Project
2. AWM Roll of Honour
3. Personal Service Records
4. First World War Embarkation Roll
5. AWM Collection, Photograph, Film and Heraldry
6. Fromelles Association of Australia
7. AWM Identity Disc

Reviewed and Updated on 2 April 2023