Cecil John Reeves

Story:
Cecil John Reeves was born in 1888 in Fontmell Magna and baptised there on 9th September, 1888. He was the son of Walter Reeves, a Brewer's Drayman, and Emily Reeves (née Bennett). At the time of the 1911 Census he was single, working as a Confectioner and boarding with a family at 35 Michaels Road, Bournemouth, Hampshire, whilst the family were living at 40 Fontmell Magna. He enlisted in Wrexham and joined the (Royal) Army Service Corps (Service No. SS/1310). There is an indication from his records that he was posted to Lahore, India, with the 63rd Field Bakery attached to the 551st Company of the RASC. He returned to England and was admitted to a Military Hospital in the Babergh area of Hadleigh, Suffolk, where he died on 9th May, 1917. At the time of his death he held the rank of Corporal. He was interred in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Church, Fontmell Magna, on 14th May, 1917. He was awarded the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals and is remembered on the Fontmell Magna War Memorial, Shaftesbury.

Cecil's father and two of his brothers, Leo Bennett Reeves and Maurice Vernon Reeves, also served during the conflict and survived.

Printed Sources: "Fontmell Magna and the First World War", compiled by Chris Bellers, Fontmell Magna Village Archive Society, 2014.