Name
Cyril Ashley Elkins
1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/11/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
43071
Northamptonshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONTAY BRITISH CEMETERY, CONTAY
IV. D. 6.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor
Pre War
Cyril Ashley Elkins was born on 27 February 1895 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of Walter and his second wife Helen Elkins, and was baptised at St John the Evangelist, Boxmoor on 21 April . He was their only son, but he had a half brother Bertie from his father's first marriage.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at St John's Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a plumber. Cyril was educated at Boxmoor School from 1901 and left in 1908 to help in his mother's grocer's shop in St John's Road.
In 1911, when he was 16 years old he was working as a servant at Heath Brow School on Heath Lane, Hemel Hempstead. His address on enlistment was 115 St John's Road, Hemel Hempstead.
Wartime Service
Cyril enlisted in Hemel Hempstead in December 1915 and joined the 6th Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. After basic training he was sent to France, probably arriving in May or June 1916.
He would have seen action on the Somme and was wounded in fighting between 6 and 10 November between Thiepval and Pozieres. He died of wounds at No. 9 Casualty Clearing Station, France on 12 November 1916, age 21, and is buried in Contay British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £4 19s 1d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelheroes.com.
