Librarian identifies soldier Harold Ross Clark from handed-in photo
A flash of sunshine and some sleuthing helped a librarian identify a First World War soldier whose photograph was delivered to the State Library of Victoria.
Handwriting accidentally seen on the back of the photograph led to the discovery that he was Harold Ross Clark, a Melburnian who was murdered in Belgium in 1917.
With more detective work, librarian Ann Copeland tracked down one of Clark’s descendants.
Copeland gave the framed portrait to Clark’s granddaughter, Dinah Stehr of Newcastle, New South Wales, who visited the library last week.
Stehr said he had never seen the portrait, which was delivered to a security guard at the library last month by an anonymous person with an unsigned Post-it note attached.
The note read: “Can you please return this to the family?”
The only words on the photo were “Sincerely Hal 30/7/16” and the name of the Melbourne photography studio.
Copeland, the family history librarian to whom the photo was given, had little hope of identifying “Hal.”
But one day, as a colleague held the photo up, Copeland noticed something on the cardboard backing.
“When the sun was shining on it I could make out faint text that said ‘Killed in Action 9/16/17,'” he said.
Another librarian, David Flegg, told her that his army uniform showed he was a lieutenant.
By searching for soldiers who died on that date and whose names began with H, Copeland chose Harold Ross Clark.
According to the National Archives of Australia, Clark is buried in the Huts Cemetery at Dikkebus, southwest of Ypres in Belgium.
The Battle of Passchendaele raged between German and Allied troops in the area from July to November 1917.
Clark, who was in a group carrying trench mortar shells, died immediately after coming under heavy artillery attack, National Archives records said.
Clark, from Elsternwick, was 25 and married to Doris Clark.
Newspaper archives revealed that Harold had two young sons.
His brother Jack was also killed in action in Pozieres, France, in 1916. His brother-in-law, Lieutenant HV Fraser, also died in the First World War.
While searching for Clark’s descendants, Copeland was saddened to learn that Clark’s son, Harold Douglas Clark, had been killed at the age of 23 in Lebanon during World War II.
Copeland found the death notice for Clark’s other son, Laurance, which named his children and grandchildren.
Copeland tracked down Dinah Stehr, Laurance’s daughter and Clark’s granddaughter, via the Internet.
Stehr said he was “surprised and stunned” when he heard from Copeland.
“It’s great to have this because I don’t think any of us in the family have this photo,” Stehr said.
Stehr said he was “very impressed” with Copeland’s investigative skills.
He wants to talk to the person who left the photo in the library and thank him too.
Copeland said: “It is a pleasure to find Hal a home.
“We thought he would be in the library collection as an anonymous World War I digger, but finding out his background and learning about his family was so important. It was really cool.”
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