CLEVERDON, Frederic Toon *

Frederic Toon Cleverdon was born in Hawthorn, Victoria, but spent much of his life both before and after the war as a Methodist clergyman in Tasmania, first at Queenstown, then post-war  to Burnie, Hobart and Launceston. He did his clerical training at Queen's College, Melbourne and when he enlisted on 7 March, 1916, gave his postal address as 'Methodist Soldiers Camp, Broadmeadows'. His home address was 29 Gipps Street, East Melbourne, given as the address of his next of kin, his wife, Irene Vere Cleverdon. He cited as 'previous military experience' his ten months as a chaplain to Commonwealth Forces, probably those at Broadmeadows.

F.T. Cleverdon was 6' tall and athletic - both before and after the war, he played competitive tennis, winning a doubles championship in 1913 and the singles semi-final of the Southern Championships held in Hobart in 1929. He was 32 when he enlisted and embarked for the front on 20 April, 1916, on board the HMAT Wiltshire, to join the British Expeditionary Force at Alexandria. From here, he was sent on to Marseilles and on 4 November was attached to the 2 ACC Clearing Station, before being shipped back to AIF Headquarters in England for hospital duty.

On 15 January, 1917, he was sent again to France, arriving at Boulogne. From here he was posted to the 6 Infantry Battalion, which was fighting on the Western Front. He was wounded on 19 March, on the Somme near Bapaume, and sent to hospital with a shrapnel injury ot his right ankle. On 1 July, he rejoined his unit and was with them until August of the following year. In March, 1918, he received a promotion, from Chaplain 4th Class to Chaplain 3rd Class. Then on 8 August, 1918 he was transferred to the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery AIF and stayed until his appointment was terminated on 14 August, 1918. The RBAA was set up for the purpose of training reinforcements for the Australian Field Artillery on arrival from Australia and for re-training servicemen who had been evacuated because of wounds or illness at the front. It is unclear whether Cleverdon's wound had any impact on the decision to remove him from the 6 Battalion.

He returned to Australia on the Orontes on 15 May, 1919, and with his wife, took up a post in Ballarat, Victoria, for three years, before being appointed to take charge of the Methodist Church in Burnie, Tasmania. Judging by the newspaper reports of promotions and acitivities over the years, he must have been a popular cleric, a good speaker and an able administrator. In all things, he was supported by his wife Irene, who gave lectures, adressed community groups and officiated at services. From Burnie, Frederic Cleverdon was appointed to Newtown, Hobart  and then in 1929 to Launceston, where he was placed in charge of the Methodist Home Mission in Tasmania. He was quoted as saying that Tasmania had 1,500,000 square miles of land 'practically untouched by any church ... with 30,000 white inhabitants (who) had no ministerial oversight or attention. He remedied this by appointing roving clergymen, with 'fully equipped cars' to travel throughout the state bringing pastoral care to small communities. In 1947, he was back in Victoria as President of the Methodist Conference. The Electoral Records show his final appointment in 1963, as a minister living at 2A Flete Street, Armadale Victoria. 

As part of his work at the clearing station it fell to Rev Cleverdon to write letters to the families of those soldiers who were injured on the battlefield, brought to the clearing station and later died there.  One such soldier was Pte. Charles Edward Oliver  of No. 2 Coy. 1st/6th Bn., Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) from Stirling, Scotland.  A transcript of the letter can be found on the site of Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church Stirling: see link below.