When Hastings Mayor and Clive resident Ian Simson reflected on Clive's war effort in 1919, he said that in proportion to its size, Clive had done better than any other country district in New Zealand.
The Clive district community had rallied in support as each group of reinforcements were sent off to war between 1914 and 1918.
As the war dragged on and dwindled the population of men in Clive as they went to serve, its womenfolk not only kept the home fires burning in their absence, but also raised funds for patriotic purposes, including sending comfort parcels to the men serving overseas.
Such were the high standard of fundraising socials organised by the ladies at the Clive Hall, a Nimon's motor bus provided a pick service to Clive from Hastings and Napier.
It was not only the women that helped in the war effort, but also the children of Clive.
Clive children showed they were most practical. They did not supply items for the Soldiers' Christmas Fund as requested – this would simply not do. Instead they raised one pound and 11 shillings to be spent on items the committee of the Soldiers' Christmas Fund might be short of rather than contributing items they might already have enough of.
The Clive Hall (since replaced after a 1931 fire destroyed it), was the scene of many send-offs for the men to war, combined with a dance social.
Every recruit at the send-off was presented with a wristlet watch and a handsome writing pad.
A pocket watch was impractical for telling the time during war, so watches were strapped to the wrist by army officers at the end of the 19th century to more easily co-ordinate timing of manoeuvres. This was the beginning of the wristwatch.
Hastings Mayor Ian Simson at a departure for some of the Clive boys in July 1917 said that Private William Augustus Caldwell (1874-1917), known as Gus, aged 42, had been killed in the Battle of Messines during June 1917.
Ian Simson, with a heavy heart, told the assembled crowd he was the first Clive married man to volunteer and to be killed, leaving behind a wife and four children.
He had also served in the South African War 1899-1902.
Gus was a fine rugby player, and had represented Hawke's Bay, as well as playing for Clive.
Many heartfelt tributes of those killed were often placed in the local papers – such as Gus Caldwell's in June 1917:
In a distant land he lies, At rest in a soldier's grave.
A lonely grave in a far-off land.
A grave we may never see.
Little I thought when I bid you goodbye it was the last parting between you and I.
He is buried at the Messines Ridge (NZ) Memorial in Belgium.
A few months after Gus' death, his son, also called Gus, who was at Clive School, was noted for collecting magazines to donate to the Red Cross for the war effort.
A family linked to Clive community for generations since the 1860s is the Tucker family and past owners of the nearby Clive Woolscourers business, which provided employment for many men from Clive. The war memorial records the Tucker name six times with three of them not returning.
In the early days of the war men volunteered freely, but this changed and compulsory military conscription occurred in January 1916 requiring all men between 20 and 45 to register.
Consequently, many Clive families had brothers serving.
One such family contributing multiple sons was the Jackson family.
When George Jackson was called up in November 1917, his father appeared before the Military Service Appeals Board.
With four of his sons on active duty, together with his daughter's husband and two other daughter's sons, his family, he stated, had a fine record of service. Could they please spare his son George, a shearer, who had been called up for service?
"A fine record," agreed the Military Service Appeals Board. George would be spared.
One Clive family who lost two brothers in Clive were the Hagues. Twenty-one-year-old Herbert, a driver, died of wounds in France in 1916 and Alfred, a drover, died of malaria in October 1918.
The McKay family had five brothers serving – all would survive, but another brother, Wallace, aged 17, fell to the influenza epidemic in November 1918.
World War I's end in November 1918 brought some relief, but as the death of Wallace McKay showed, the influenza epidemic tempered any thought of celebrations.
The Clive Hall, however, was host to joyous occasions in May and June 1919 when many of the Clive boys were welcomed back from the war.
One of those welcomed back, 24-year-old Sergeant Thomas Roy Kennerley, would also serve in World War II. He survived that war also.
Mayor Ian Simson, having presided over many sad farewells from the Clive Hall, expressed his joy to the assembled crowd of the men's safe return. A gold medal was given to each soldier and pinned on by Ian's wife. Ian proudly announced that Clive was the only place that gave its returned soldiers such a medal.
Each returned soldier spoke after receiving their medal, and then a hearty cheer went up for them.
Attention would then turn to the provision of suitable memorials for the men, with the first ‒ a Roll of Honour of the Men's names who had given their lives for King and Country to be put in the Clive Hall in 1920.
"Lest we forget," urged Canon Lusk during his speech at the unveiling of the Roll of Honour, of the great sacrifice made for us.
The more ambitious project, that I mentioned at the start, was the Clive War Memorial. Eight Hundred and five pounds was raised ‒ a significant sum in those days.
In less than 20 years, in 1939, the dark clouds of war would again visit Europe. Devotion to King and Country was paramount, and once again Clive men went off to war.
Like the years of World War I, the small Clive community would once again rally around their men ‒ with many returned soldiers now sending their sons off to war.
By World War II's end in 1945, 15 more men would be listed on the Clive War Memorial as "making the supreme sacrifice".
"Lest we forget".
Michael Fowler (mfhistory@gmail.com) is a contract researcher and takes commissions to write business history in Hawke's Bay. Follow him on facebook.com/michaelfowlerhistory
