Ball Street
Private Clifford Oliver Burgess
Clifford Burgess was born in Princeton, in Oxford County, on December 27, 1894. He moved to Capron Street in Paris with his family when he was 12 years old. The family attended St. James Anglican Church. He was working as a laborer when enlisted on September 15, 1915. One month later, in October, 1915, he married Gladys Lefler.
Clifford enlisted with the 84th Battalion, going overseas with that unit. He then transferred to the 75th Battalion with which he went to France. He was badly wounded in November, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, which came to typify the futility of trench warfare in World War I. The battle began on July 1, 1916 with a massive attack by hundreds of thousands of British and French troops, who would be mowed down by German machine guns as soon as they rose from their trenches. More than 57,000 British and Commonwealth troops, including the Newfoundland Regiment, would be killed in one day, the highest single day losses in the history of the British Army. Of the 790 Newfoundlanders who went over the top, 710 were either killed or wounded.
The 4th Canadian Division arrived on the Somme in mid-October to take over from their exhausted fellow Canadians who had been fighting there. They faced a battlefield that had turned to mud and a determined German defence that continued to take a murderous toll on Allied attacks. Despite these great challenges, the Canadians finally captured the shattered remains of Regina Trench on November 11. A week later, in the final attack of the Battle of the Somme, the Canadians took Desire Trench. There were no further advances as the winter weather came and the offensive staggered to a halt. The ‘Big Push' had resulted in the Allied lines being moved forward only some ten kilometres. The enormity of the lives wasted for such a minimal gain is difficult to comprehend.
It was at this stage of the battle that Clifford was wounded. The severity of Clifford’s wounds resulted in the amputation of his right leg and left arm, as well as two toes on the left foot. After being treated in several hospitals in England, he was invalided back to Canada in November, 1917. He was treated at the Davisville Orthopedic Military Hospital in Toronto and then at the Mountain Sanitorium in Hamilton where he passed away on July 16, 1919. His funeral was conducted at St James Anglican Church. The service proceeded from his home on Ball Street, where the family had been living at the time, to St. James. The funeral was conducted by veterans of the war who turned out in large numbers in respect to their deceased comrade.
Clifford was 26 years of age and left behind his wife Gladys and an infant daughter. He is buried in the Paris cemetery.