Lance Corporal Cecil Vernon
P/16117 Military Foot Police, Rhine Army HQ
G/26897 15th Middlesex Regiment
203273, 9/26897 Yorks & Lancs
6991 4/1st Herefords
Cecil Vernon was born in 1893 at Codnor Park, second son of James Vernon a mill furnace labourer born Ironville and his wife Elizabeth (nee Barker) of Ironville. In 1901 the family was living at Attercliffe-cum-Darnall, Sheffield. In 1911 Cecil’s parents were still in Sheffield and Cecil was employed as a boiler maker’s apprentice. His brother John was a joiner’s apprentice and brother William Horace was a shop assistant. William Horace also served in WW1 and survived and is also listed on the Jacksdale War Memorial.
Cecil enlisted on 16th February 1916 signing up for the duration of the war and was mobilised in April 1916. His army record gives his height as just over 6 feet, civilian occupation as city policeman and next of kin as James Vernon of 63, Market Place, Ironville. He was evidently soon sent to France and was gassed during a shell bombardment on 24th October 1916. He continued to serve as, in October 1917, he was in Boulogne and joined a base depot in Etaples in November 1917. In 1919 he was part of the Rhine Army of Occupation, serving in Cologne, Germany. Whilst there he went before a medical board as he was suffering from the effects of gas poisoning, reporting that in hot weather he had sharp pains in the chest with a sensation of choking and pain around his heart afterwards. The board found that his breathing was 20% disabled and awarded him a pension of 5s 6d on a conditional basis until March 1920. His home address was then given as Ashley House, York Avenue, Jacksdale where he had also been listed as an Absent Voter. We have been unable to locate his Medal Rolls Index Card, possibly because he was still serving into the early 1920’s.
In 1921 Cecil married Annie Riley in the Belper Registration District.