Private Cyril Jevon Barnsley (238024)

Cyril Jevon Barnsley was the only surviving son of the late William Thomas Barnsley of Wednesbury, a steel merchant and Ada Mary Barnsley.  He was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire on 18th August 1892. 

On the Census of 1901, eight year old Cyril Jevon Barnsley was in the care of the Royal Orphanage, Goldthorn Hill, Wolverhampton.  On the 1911 census he was working as a draper’s assistant and living as a boarder in 12 Holtshill Lane, Walsall.   De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour records that his mother lived at Rose Bank, Great Malvern.

Cyril enlisted into the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment ^[1] in Ipswich on 11th February 1916 and was posted to the 1/4th Battalion when he landed in France on 5th January 1917.  This battalion was caught up in heavy fighting during the Battle of Arras ^[2] in April 1917.  Cyril was killed in action on 23rd April 1917, part of a failed attack by his Division, which was beaten back to its start line.  He was 24 years of age, and his body was not recovered – today he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial ^[3]. 

Commemoration

Cyril was not commemorated on the Malvern Library Memorial or any of the other local memorials, but his death was reported in the Malvern News on the 2nd June 1917.  The only other link with the town is his commemoration in the County War Memorial Books in Worcester Cathedral for Malvern.  It is likely that his mother ensured his name was included in these books, living in the town herself.