Name
(Robert) Cecil Lyles
1897
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/10/1917
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14342
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Tewin Village Memorial, St Peter’s Church Muster Roll, Tewin
Pre War
Robert Cecil Lyles (known as Cecil) was born in 1897 in Tewin, Herts to Elizabeth Lyles and baptised there on 13 June 1897.
His mother married Charles William Churchill in 1899, however, he died in 1901 and she then married John Joseph Wilsher in 1904.
On the 1901 Census, Cecil was living with his grandparents, Samuel and Anne Lyles, at Lower Green, Tewin whilst his mother was living nearby in Lower Green with her husband and young son, Charles William.
By the 1911 Census both Cecil and his half-brother Charles were living with their mother and his stepfather John Wilsher at Lower Green, Tewin Herts.
His mother later lived at New Cottages, Tewin, Welwyn, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Welwyn and served with 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in France from 26 July 1915.
He was killed in action on 9 October 1917 during the Battle of Poelcapelle, one of the Battles of Ypres. This was an offensive against the high ground of Pilckem Ridge. The incessant rain turned the battlefield into a sea of mud. At 05.20am British and Australian troops attacked across a waterlogged landscape with no cover except water filled shell holes. Many of the artillery shells landing in the soft ground failed to impact hard enough to explode. Around mid-day the attack was halted, and the survivors returned to their lines. Of an attacking force of 30,000 men, 7,000 were killed, wounded or were missing and only one of the main objectives was taken.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £14 and pay owing of £15 16s 6d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Paul Johnson, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
