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Famous names in the First World War

The Rt Hon Clement Richard Attlee MP

The Rt Hon Clement Richard Attlee

Did you know the Rt Hon Clement Richard Attlee served in the First World War and his medal card is now available to view on DocumentsOnline?

The Rt Hon Major Clement Richard Attlee (1883-1967) was born in Putney, south west London. He was educated at Haileybury College (you can view his 1901 census return) and then University College, Oxford, and went on to become a barrister in 1906. Later in 1913 he became a tutor at the London School of Economics.

Despite his conventional and rather affluent upbringing, his political views moved steadily to the left, as he began to work and subsequently live in the east end of London. He first entered political life in 1919, becoming Mayor of Stepney (in east London). Three years later he was elected Member of Parliament for Limehouse.

Attlee progressed steadily through the political arena, becoming leader of the Labour Party in 1935, a position he held for 20 years. He served in Churchill's coalition government during the Second World War, starting as Lord Privy Seal. Following the war, the mood of the nation was changing, and so was the Government.

Attlee led the Labour Party to a resounding victory in the 1945 general election, becoming Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. His was an era of social and economic reform, and key to this was a programme of nationalisation: the Bank of England, coal mines, civil aviation, cable and wireless services, gas, electricity, railways, road transport and the steel industry were all nationalised. Most notably, the National Health Service was introduced, and India and Burma (now Myanmar) were both given independence.

Attlee's army career

Medal index card for Clement Attlee (Catalogue reference: WO 372)

Clement Attlee's 1914/1915 Star entitlement (Catalogue reference: WO 329/2950)

Clement Attlee's Victory and British War Medal entitlement (Catalogue reference: WO 329/2226)

Attlee joined the 6th service Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment in 1914 and served in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. Other than a short spell of absence caused by sickness, he saw the former campaign through to its end and was present at the evacuation of Suvla Bay in December 1915.

In early 1916 he took part in the expedition that attempted to relieve the British force besieged in Kut by the Turks. He was wounded in his first action in this theatre at El Hanna on 5 April, and was sent back to England for recuperation. After recovering, he later served in France on attachment to the Royal Tank Corps until the end of the war.

By the end of the First World War, Attlee had been promoted from the rank of captain to major. He received the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914/15 Star. This entitlement can be seen on his Medal Index Card shown on the right (click on the images to view enlargments).

To view the original Medal Rolls (now held in WO 329), you will need to use the "Key to the Medal Rolls". This converts the Army Medal Office reference found on the index card (in this case Off 153) into a WO 329 document reference. They show the entitlement for each of the medals. You can view the WO 329 entries for Clement Attlee on the right. The first shows his 1914/1915 Star entitlement, the second his Victory and British War Medal entitlement.

Further research

By doing further research into an officer's service records (held in the series WO 339 at The National Archives), you can find more information on the officer in question and army life.

These extracts from Attlee's service record illustrate the level of detail you can discover:

• his oath of attestation and date of commission
• personal particulars such as his height, education and marital status
• an assessment of his injuries sustained at El Hanna

More information on researching service records can be found on the FAQ page on DocumentsOnline, as well as the research guides for soldiers' and officers' records of the First World War.

View extract from the war diary for the 6th South Lancashire Battalion (Catalogue reference: WO 95/5156)

The extract on the right is taken from the war diary of Attlee's battalion - 6th battalion of the South Lancashire regiment - while serving at El Hanna where he was wounded. If you know the battalion number (often found in the original Medal Rolls in WO 329), you can look up the war diary for a particular battalion. These can be found in the series WO 95 held at The National Archives in Kew.

You can read about the selected War Diaries which have been digitised. There is also a research guide, British Army War Diaries: First World War, 1914-1918.

Clement Attlee is one of the 32 million names you can search on the 1901 Census for England and Wales which is ideal for researching your family tree. You can also discover your house history by using the Address Search.

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