A great deal has already been written about John Clemence that has appeared in Gazettes over the years, particularly those Profiles which appeared in Numbers 845 (May 1966) and 897 (September 1970). No repetition of his early life and development is therefore necessary other than a brief recapitulation of his service history, before looking more closely at his more recent involvement with The London Scottish, as well as his aspirations for its future.

John Clemence enlisted as a private in The London Scottish in April 1959. He was no stranger to army life, having already done National Service in The Seaforth Highlanders, first as a private soldier, and later as a commissioned officer. If he enjoyed being back in the ranks again it was not long before his name came to the attention of the then CO, and before the year was out his recommissioning had been gazetted. His Scottish descent is from his mother's side of the family, from the MacLeans of Duart. He had a cousin in The London Scottish, Dick Turnbull, (whose obituary was reported in these pages in No 996 (Winter 1988), and an uncle, John Gillies, for many years Secretary of the Glasgow Branch OCA.

For over twelve years John had a wide range of regimental postings - 1960, Intelligent Officer, (according to Gazette No 897 - a misprint surely?); in 1963 Captain and Adjutant, subsequently OC Recruit Training Wing and OC Support Company. Following reorganisation in 1967 he became second-in-command of 'G' (The London Scottish) Company; in 1970 he was promoted to Major and appointed to command the Company, so serving from then until his retirement from regimental soldiering in 1972. The pattern of achievements which marked his progress through these years are in themselves quite remarkable. Many another good man might well have been happy to leave it at that, but for John it was just the beginning.

Between 1960 and 1970 he was Officers' Mess Treasurer, and his flair for accountancy enabled him to apply himself as enthusiastically to this as to everything else to which he had set his mind so far. And perhaps this, above all others, was an indication of where his true greatness lay, and which in later years, when the Accounts of the Regimental Trust came under his control, was to be the second milestone of his life in The Regiment. In 1970 the Gazette said of him: "his 10 years service have been among the most valuable the Regiment has received during peace or war." Almost 20 years on, that testimonial still applies, and not a word of it any less meaningful.

Those of us who were at the Hallowe'en Dinner of 1989, and who heard John Clemence proposing 'the health of the Regiment', will be in few doubts that The Regiment has in him an enthusiast with ideas, vision and some clear convictions as to our future. The Gazette asked him to comment upon some of these.

"I joined The London Scottish at a time when everyone assumed quite mistakenly that the Regiment was very wealthy. When, I took over the accounts of the Officers Mess in 1960, and again many years later when I became a Trustee and the Treasurer of the newly-formed Regimental Trust, I found this was simply not true. The Regiment was rather like one of the old stately homes of England - it had a great deal of wealth but very little money. In my opinion it never really pays to prolong such delusions; far better to tell the truth, discomforting as it may often be." Consequently John has had to reveal some fairly unpleasant truths about the state of our finances over the years, but with his help, we have also been able to transform an unenviable situation into one of modest affluence. "For the first time in perhaps fifty years we are in a situation where we can consider ourselves 'well-off'. Just how long we can make this last will depend very much on the decisions we take now; current London Scots stand to benefit greatly, and hopefully it can be wisely protected for those to come."

In matters other than financial, like those to do with the serving Company's future identity, he is quick to express his concern. He sees no prospects for The London Scottish without 'G' Company, nor any future for 'G' Company without 1st Battalion The 51st Highland Volunteers. Good relations with the latter he considers are of the utmost importance. "1/51 Highland is the very root and trunk of our survival as a purely 'Scottish' unit. 'G' Company is but a branch of the same tree. Cut out the root, and the branch will die and fall to the ground. Given that we acknowledge that basic fact of life, and consciously strive to feed the root of our existence, 'G' Company will come to no harm."

As to the survival of The London Scottish itself he sees 'G' Company as the hub around which all other regimental activities must revolve. He is concerned too that the Regiment sometimes lacks proper nourishment from within. He draws as examples, the thousands who have served either pre or post-reorganisation over the last forty years, most of whom can no longer be traced; and the present difficulties of recruiting in London. "The year I enlisted, 1959, we had a similar crisis. It took a lot of hard work by many people to restore the situation.

In the end we could not save the battalion, but we did save our identity. Once again it is our identity that matters, and only a significant and sustained intake of new blood will preserve it, and the long-term retention of those whom we attract. If we don't ensure that this happens, then the Regimental Association and all the institutions that depend upon it for support will gradually wither and die as well. The best investment in recruitment is that which attracts the recruit to join and then encourages him to stay."

As a member of the Regimental Trust since its formation, and now both our Regimental Colonel, and the Deputy Honorary Colonel of 1st Battalion The 51st Highland Volunteers, John sees his as a role in which the two bodies will be drawn closer together. He is very conscious of his Trusteeship, both in the moral, as well as the legal sense. "I have already said that 'G' Company cannot hope to survive without strong links with the 1/51 Highland. With a foot in both camps as it were, it will be part of my job to bring our own Regimental Association into a forward thinking and planning process that keeps pace with developments at Battalion HQ in Perth. There have been times when this link of which I am speaking has been resented by some within our own organisation. Feelings of that sort, if allowed to continue, could well mean disaster for all of us."

There is another slant to this 'mutual misunderstanding' which he is anxious to rectify, that of the jocks themselves, few of whom he feels, really know what The London Scottish Regiment is all about, what facilities it provides, or what counselling and aid it might be capable of giving in cases of individual need. This he puts down to a basic lack of communication, that most fundamental of skills which is often absent at all levels. "If you don't communicate properly with people they will always end up with the wrong impression, the 'mushroom syndrome' if you like. Good communication implies that the statements you make are not only clear and unambiguous, but also impart the essence of honesty and truth."

He spoke more specifically of his role as Deputy Honorary Colonel of 1/51 Highland. "The job is one of little power. I cannot interfere with the military efficiency of the unit since I have no authority to do so. But I will be in a position to influence affairs for the common good; to encourage recruiting, and a freer exchange of views perhaps. Moreover I will see myself as an ambassador for The London Scottish north of the Border. For quite apart from our link with 1/51 Highland we have friends and alliances in all of the Highland units, particularly our long association with The Gordon Highlanders. The better we are known, both in military and in business circles, the better we will be able to enter the next century with all our aspirations and traditions intact."

Colonel John lives in Hildenborough, Kent, with his wife Heather and three sons, of whom the eldest, William, is at Aberdeen University; James, on his way to read Economics at Cambridge; and Jonathan, still at Tonbridge. They make up a complete front row - 2 props and a hooker! Colonel John is by profession a chartered accountant with the partnership of Finnie & Co., which is now one of the top 25 firms in the UK. Long before he was aware of any ambitions in this direction, he had been awarded, in 1955, a place at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, to read modern languages, but had to give it up in 1958 to become articled due to his father's ill health. His interests include gardening; sports he regrets he has little time for these days, though when at Tonbridge he represented the school at rugby, hockey and tennis, and in the Sixties represented the Regiment in Army skiing and shooting competitions. For ten years he was Treasurer of the Sevenoaks and District branch of the British Heart Foundation, and is now President. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1972.

Colonel John was asked if he could recall his single most abiding memory of all his years in uniform. "Yes, there is just the one. It was the day of my passing-out parade at Eaton Hall, 1st June, 1957. I was only 20 years old at the time, and I remember the sight of those two second-lieutenant's stars on my epaulettes made me feel very elated, and very concerned as to whether the Army had trained me well enough to do the job. Now that I have the extra star and crown of a Colonel, my feelings are very much the same. Sometime in the future I might feel that the opening of '95' in which I had some part provided an even greater satisfaction."

Last updated 28th September 2000