The Queens Own Royal West Kent R

The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Corporal C E Brooks

Photograph by "G.Photographer"

Inscription - "SLEEP ON BELOVED BY HIS DEAR CROSS AND BLOOD THE VICTORY WON"

Corporal Cecil Edmund BROOKS, G/6276, 8th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, killed in action, Ypres, Flanders France, 27th May 1917, age 22.

Born Lympne near Hythe, Kent, eldest son of Herbert and Lillie Adelaide Brookes, (daughter of William Maylam), of 49 Hunter Road, Willesborough, Kent. One brother, two sisters.

Educated Aldington School & Clark's College, London.

1911 Census - 100 Cheriton Road, Folkestone - Howard Hughes, head, 31, married, grocer, born Lenham, Kent; Cecil Edmund Brookes, boarder / apprenticed, age 17, grocers assistant, born Lympne, Kent

Assistant to Mr Harrison, grocer, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Enlisted Tonbridge, Kent, age 20 years 270 days, height 5ft 8 inches. Resided 44 Mount Ephraim, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Formerly Clerk.

26th April 1915, enlisted, posted Depot, Royal West Kent Regiment; 30th April 1915, posted 3rd Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 7th May 1915, appointed unpaid Lance Corporal; 13th July 1915, appointed paid Lance Corporal; 11th October 1915, posted BEF & 8th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment; 7th March 1916, deprived of Lance stripe; 19th March 1916, 4 General Hospital, St Omer, dental cavities; 31st March 1916, discharged to Duty; 23rd June 1916,73 Field Ambulance; wounded (shell shock); 24th June 1916, 18 Casualty Clearing Station, wounded (shell shock); 2nd July 1916, rejoined Battalion; 13th August 1916, wounded in action; 20th August 1916, 40 Infantry Base Depot, Etaples; 20th September 1916, appointed unpaid Lance Corporal; 24th October 1916, appointed Acting Corporal; 21st March 1917, 7 Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, perineal abscess; 5th April 1917, 40 Infantry Base Depot, Etaples; 21st April 1917, rejoined Battalion.

An officer in writing to his mother said: "The loss of your son will be deeply felt by all who knew him. Calm and cheerful under most trying circumstances, he discharged all of his duties with marked ability and inspired the confidence of all who knew him. Full well I know how inadequate our sympathy may seem in your great loss; yet I feel sure you will derive some benefit that your son died as only an English gentleman can do - doing his duty."

Comment on CWGC web site - After serving over 18 months on the battlefields he was killed on the eve of obtaining his commission.

31st July 1919, Statement of Relatives - Father, Herbert Brooks, 49 Hunter Road, Willesborough; Mother, Lillie Adelaide Brooks, 49 Hunter Road, Willesborough; Brother - Private Herbert James Brooks, age 24, 21140, Protection 65, 3rd Queens Royal West Surrey, Bittershall? POW Camp, near Towcester, Northants; Sisters - Edie? Aldous,?, age 26, 6 Hampton Road, Ilford, Essex; Ethel Brooks, age 13, 49 Hunter Road, Willesborough.

Buried at Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, VIII.B.9., Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Commemorated at St Mary the Virgin, Bentley Road, Willesborough.

NOTE - Headstone shows name as BROOKS, CWGC shows name as BROOKES

This page was last updated on 10-Jun-2024.