Who was Robert Cooper Clements?
Activity Two: Who was Robert Cooper Clements?
Read the article ‘Spittal Officer Killed. Noted Local Man.’ (shown over two images)
Article part 1: Article part 2:
This article contains the letters detailing Lt Clements’ death. What else can we learn from this source that we can’t from the letters?
When we think about soldiers, we might think of what they did on the battlefield, but find it hard to imagine their personal life. By using archive sources, we can find out more about Robert and learn about all the different aspects of his life and character.
Divide the class into groups and ask each one to investigate a different aspect of his character. Take suggestions from the class as to what these could be. Suggested ideas are:
Family Man (Husband, Father, Son)
Soldier
Scout Leader
Teacher
Artist
Each group should draw a portrait and surround it with evidence from the different sources. These could be written descriptions, imagined speech, maps, or drawings (for example army uniform, or teaching equipment)
Click on the thumbnails below to view the sources:
Photo of Spittal school teachers c. 1900. Robert is shown sitting bottom left
Photo of Spittal school teachers c. 1920. Mrs. Clements is shown sitting bottom right.
Newspaper report on Scout Camp organised by Robert.
Poster Designed by Robert
Robert is shown with Spittal School football team at an Annual Sports Day, c.1900
Groups should present ‘their’ Robert Cooper Clements to the class, and discuss how these aspects of his character come together as a whole.
Activity Three: Robert's War
Using the sources on this and previous pages, put together a timetable of Robert's life between 1913 and 1918. Use other source material and your own research to annotate and add to the timetable. You could also find a timeline of international events in this period and look at the two timetables beside each other.