Clifford Steel – Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 16th Battalion

Private Clifford Steel – Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 16^th Battalion

Early Life and Family Background

Another name commemorated on the Mumbles War Memorial, for which very few records survive, is Clifford Steel. He was born in 1894 at Plumstead, Kent, the son of Robert Steel.

His sister, Lottie Florence Steel, served as a Nurse and was residing at 5 Castle View, West Cross, Swansea, providing a clear family connection with the Mumbles area.

Military Service

Clifford Steel enlisted as a Private in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, serving with the 16^th Battalion. By the summer of 1916, battalions of the regiment were heavily engaged on the Somme Front, operating in some of the most fiercely contested sectors of the battlefield, particularly in the area south of Thiepval.

During late July 1916, Royal Warwickshire units were involved in a combination of holding captured trenches, consolidating positions, and enduring sustained German artillery and trench mortar fire. The ground had been devastated by weeks of bombardment, offering little protection, and casualties were inflicted daily not only during attacks but also during routine front-line duties such as trench repairs, carrying supplies, and moving through exposed communication trenches.

Death and Commemoration

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

On 27^th July 1916, amid this period of relentless fighting during the early stages of the Battle of the Somme, Private Clifford Steel was killed in action. According to the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, his death occurred during a phase when losses were heavy across the regiment, even in the absence of a major set-piece assault.

As his body was not recovered, Private Clifford Steel has no known grave. His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, which records the names of those who died on the Somme between July 1916 and March 1918 and have no known place of burial.