Name
Cecil John Tracey
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
21/05/1916
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
M2/121814
Army Service Corps
56th Division H.Q., Motor Transport
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LONGUENESSE (ST. OMER) SOUVENIR CEMETERY
Plot III, Row B, Grave 24.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour, St Michael and All Angels Church Memorial, Watford, Beechen Grove Baptist Church Memorial, Watford, Watford Grammar School Memorial, Watford, Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance
Pre War
Son of John and Georgina Henrietta (nee WILD) TRACY; husband of Jessie Elizabeth (nee HOUSEHOLD) TRACY.
His parents married 1877 in the Amersham, Bucks, district, or 17 June 1877 at St Mary’s, Rickmansworth, Herts. John died 11 December 1889 in Rickmansworth aged 40; Georgina, a widow of Croxley Green, Herts, died 10 January 1940 in Watford aged 85.
Cecil was born 29 February 1884 in Harrow Weald, Middx, and attended Watford Grammar School from September 1891 to December 1897. He married 1905 in the Christchurch, Hants, district; they had three children. He resided in Watford. Jessie never remarried and died 1960 in the Hove, Sussex, district aged 77.
On the 1891 Census, aged 7 he lived in Watford, with his widowed mother and two siblings. On the 1901 Census, a cycle maker aged 17, he still lived in Watford, with his widowed mother and one sibling. On the 1911 Census, a commercial traveller aged 27, he still lived in Watford, with his wife and two children.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Watford; was entitled to the Victory and British War medals, and was found drowned in France 3 April 1916.
Additional Information
The published Watford Grammar School Book of Remembrance entry reads:
“TRACY, CECIL JOHN. School period: September, 1891, to December, 1897. Driver, R.A.S.C. (M.T.). Drowned in France, May, 1916; had served in German South-West Africa as Quarter-Master Sergeant.”
Unfortunately, Cecil’s Service Record appears to be one that did not survive the World War Two bombing.
There is a Death announcement for Cecil in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 3 June 1916.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
