Family :

Education & Career :

Educated at Peter Symonds’ School in Winchester.

Peter Symonds’ School was founded as a secondary school for Winchester boys. It opened in May 1887 at 39 Southgate Street, Winchester with Rev Telford Varley as the first Headmaster. As well as day pupils the school had a number of boarders. The Rev Telford Varley was by all accounts a formidable character. The boys were in awe of him and he was known for his fearsome temper and quirky punishments. His response to finding a boy climbing through a classroom window was to make him do it 50 times after school while he sat and marked his books. In December 1899 the school moved to its present site in Cranford Road. At that time there were 87 boys on the register for which the Headmaster was paid £4 each in addition to his £100 salary. After Peter Symonds and before he started at College, Cyril spent some time working as a pupil teacher at Hythe Council School in Southampton.

The year after Cyril was recorded in the census at Peter Symonds’ School, he began a two year course at the Diocesan Training College in Winchester. He had taken the Senior Cambridge Entrance Examination in July 1911, achieving a 2nd Class pass. In his first college exams taken at Christmas 1912, Cyril was 17th in the order of merit with an average mark of 62.2%. By Christmas of his second year he was 22nd with an average of 58.3%.

There are few references to Cyril in the College magazines of the period, probably as he was involved in publishing it. In his first year he became the Sub-Editor, then taking on the job of Editor in his final year.

When he first arrived at college Cyril enlisted in the college company, B Company of the 4th Hampshires. At the age of 18 his height was recorded as 5ft 5in, his chest measurement was 34½ in. He was short sighted and used spectacles.
At the end of his course in Winchester, Cyril was awarded B grades in Music, Drawing and Science, and a C grade in teaching.

When Cyril left College in the summer of 1914 he had secured himself a job at the Church of England (Mixed) School in Bitterne, Southampton. It is unlikely that he ever took up that post as records suggest that he enlisted in August 1914.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

21 March - 4 July 1918. The Battles of the Somme in 1918 were mostly concerned with stemming the German advance which started in March 1918 and which made considerable gains in the Somme/Arras sector. Utilising surplus troops which had become available following the surrender of Russia after the October Revolution, the Germans gambled on a massive campaign that could win the war in the west before the USA could bring its resources to bear. Initial gains were in places spectacular but eventually dogged resistance coupled with supply problems and sheer exhaustion closed down the battle. Other attacks were launched along the front to probe the Allied defences but the same pattern of initial gains followed by stalemate prevailed. British casualties were almost 345,000.

Detail :

German High Command had decided to make a decisive attack in the west to attempt to destroy the British Army. This was given the code-name Operation Michael and is referred to as the Battle of St. Quentin. The Germans were transferring troops from the Eastern Front to the Somme area of France in preparation for a series of large scale offensives. They believed that the British troops were exhausted by the four major efforts of 1917, Arras, Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai. Operation Michael was to strike at the British Third and Fifth Armies along the full extent of the line from the River Oise to the River Sensée. The aim was to cut through British defences on the Somme, sever lines of communication and surround them, leaving no option but to surrender. British troops had taken over the French lines and much work was needed to improve their defensive capability. The manpower to do the necessary work was not available. There were no second or third lines of defence. As the German strength was increasing the British Army was severely depleted and having to deal with low morale, a manpower crisis and reorganisation. As the Germans had previously laid waste to the entire area there were no significant geographical barriers apart from the River Somme south of Peronne and the Canal du Nord to the north.

It was on this day that Cyril was reported as missing. His wife had given her contact address as Abbotts Barton Farm, Worthy Rd, Winchester. In February of the following year Muriel Fairweather asked for a death certificate to enable her to conclude her husband’s affairs. In March she was issued with a letter of presumption which stated that:

No further information has been received and in view of the lapse of time since he was reported missing his death has now been accepted for official purposes as having occurred on or since the 22nd March 1918.

Letters of presumption were generally accepted in lieu of death certificates and Muriel was then able to receive the money left to her in Cyril’s will.

His body was either never found or not identified, and he is commemorated at Pozieres, France and on the War Memorial at Exbury village church.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley