Name
Cyril Brace
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/09/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
28010
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Sawbridgeworth Town Memorial, Great St Mary’s Church Memorial, Sawbridgeworth
Pre War
Cyril was born on the 28th May 1888, in Sawbridgeworth, Herts. He was the son of Josh and Alice Maria Brace (Née Saban) of 12 Sayesbury Rd., Sawbridgeworth, Herts. Josh worked Messrs Rivers Nurseries.
Cyril was Baptised on the 1st July 1888 in Sawbridgeworth, Herts. The 1891 census shows Cyril, aged 2, living with his parents, brother and 2 sisters, in 10 Station Road (Barkers Lane), Sawbridgeworth, Herts. The 1901 Census Cyril, now 12, living with his parents, brother and sister, in Bonks Hill, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. His mother Alice died in October 1907, aged 47. In 1911, he was living with his widowed father and sister Mable, at 12 Sayesbury Road, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. In 1911 his occupation was given as a jobbing gardener, but was employed at the local joinery works (Lawrence joinery works) when he enlisted.
Until he went to war he lived all his life in Sawbridgeworth. Cyril enlisted in Bedford, into the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in the spring of 1916.
Wartime Service
In 1916, Cyril Brace was conscripted and joined the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. The local paper reported that Cyril went to the Front some three months after enlistment and joined his unit on the Somme.
He was killed in during the second month of what is probably the most infamous battle in British military history – The Battle of the Somme. On the 4th of September Cyril and his Company were East of Wedge Wood.
There had been heavy British shelling of the German lines on the night before, however some shells landed short and on the British trenches. They attacked and captured the Northern end of Falfemont Farm. The Germans retaliated and the forward trenches needed to be evacuated. During this the German machine guns opened up and around 30 men were killed. The Bedfordshires pushed forward with Mills bombs and rifle fire and had some success as they forced the Germans to retreat and then more success as they managed to bomb a German bomb store and captured 3 offices, 128 other ranks and 4 machine guns. Cyril’s Battalion listed 17 of the 20 officers who attacked and 289 of the 610 other ranks. Cyril was one of them.
Additional Information
The CWGC records confirm Cyril as the son of Josh Brace, of 12 Sayesbury Rd., Sawbridgeworth, Herts, and the late Alice Maria Brace.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Stuart Osborne, David Harvey - Leventhorpe School, Douglas Coe
