| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Cyril Stephenson was born the 6 Apr 1896 in Willerby and baptised at Kirk Ella Parish Church on 26 Apr 1896, the son of Neville Stephenson and Mary Jane Burgess. Mary was from Atwick and Neville was from Beverley. Neville was a builder and contractor. Cyril attended Hull Grammar School and is recorded in the 1911 census as a bricklayer. Cyril was unmarried.
Cyril served in the 128th Field Company of the Royal Engineers and probably joined up in late 1915/early 1916. The role of the field companies was to undertake the building, maintenance and expansion of the trench systems at and behind the front lines. Family sources indicate he may have been a messenger/dispatch rider. The 128th were serving near the frontlines in the vicinity of Hooge in the Third Battle of Ypres in Sep 1917 when Cyril was seriously wounded and moved to the 53rd General Hospital in Boulogne, France. He died of unspecified wounds on 5 Sep 1917. The 128th Field Company War Diary does give details of German shelling and air raids on their positions on 2 Sep when Cyril may have been wounded. There is an earlier entry in the diary for 19 Aug 1917 which notes that “Sapper Stevenson (sic)”, a “cyclist orderly” had gone missing that day. This might have been Cyril but cannot be confirmed. Cyril is buried at Wimereux Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France. He was awarded the war and victory medals.
Cyril is remembered on the Kirk Ella and Willerby War Memorial along with his brother Neville who died whilst undergoing training in Feb 1916. Both are on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster, though Cyril is wrongly named as being in the Royal Artillery.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |