BIRD, Cecil Arthur

Cambrai Memorial, FranceCredit: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Lance Corporal
2nd Battalion
Hampshire Regiment

Cecil was born 1891 in Dublin, Ireland to Henry James & Rebecca (nee MCKINNON) BIRD. Henry, an Army Schoolmaster, predeceased his son & Rebecca was living at 14 Hunnyhill in Newport around the time of Cecil’s death.

Cecil was a regular soldier, serving with the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment in Aldershot in 1911. During the war, he transferred to the 2nd Battalion & was serving in France when, aged 27, he was listed as Missing Presumed Killed in Action on the 30th of November 1917. His body was never found or identified & so Cecil is commemorated by the Commission upon the Cambrai Memorial in France together with 7,124 of his First World War comrades.

Cecil is also remembered on the County & Newport Borough War Memorials. His brother Roland Allen also fell in The Great War.

CWGC Casualty Record

Cemetery

Sons & Daughters Commemorated Far From Home

Those from the Newport & Carisbrooke area who are buried or commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission outside of the area, both in the UK and in other countries.

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The image is of the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery & Memorial in Belgium.