Biography of Captain Cyril Hawley 1878-1914

On 24th June 1878 Captain Cyril Hawley was born to Henry Michael Hawley 5th Baronet (age 30).

On 21st July 1909 [his father] Henry Michael Hawley 5th Baronet (age 61) died. His son [his brother] Henry (age 32) succeeded 6th Baronet Hawley of Leybourne Grange in Kent.

On 10th July 1912 Captain Cyril Hawley (age 34) and Ursula Mary St John (age 20) were married.

On 13th May 1913 [his son] David Hawley 7th Baronet was born to Captain Cyril Hawley (age 34) and [his wife] Ursula Mary St John (age 21).

1st November 1914. Battalion Diary: Early [in the] morning the Germans with fresh troups again attacked, and at one time it seemed as if they would succeed in breaking through. The shelling was terrific and the enemy were able to bring up a field gun to within 700 yards of our front trenches, which they blew to pieces. They did not, however, succeed in breaking the line and by evening all was fairly comfortable. At about midnight Captain Hawley (age 36) arrived with a draft of about 200 men, and shortly afterwards the 3rd Brigade were relieved by the 6th Brigade, the Berkshire Regiment taking over our trenches, with our 1st Battalion on their left. The Battalion withdrew to the woods SE of Hooge, where they bivouacked for the night.

On 2nd November 1914 Captain Cyril Hawley (age 36) was killed in action.

2nd November 1914. Batallion Diary: The early hours of November 2nd were spent by the Battalion in digging themselves in, in case of shell fire, but their rest was short lived, as about 12 noon an urgent message was received fron 1st Battalion asking for assistance. The 1st Battalion was at this time just south of the Ypres-Menin road, and had been holding the trenches to which we were driven back on the 31st October.

Captain Currie and two signallers were sent forward to find out the situation, but within ten minutes one of the signallers returned and reported that Capt. Currie and the other signaller had both been hit by a shell. Lt. Dimmer was then sent forward to find out what was going on. When he returned he stated that our line had been broken north of the Ypres-Menin road. Meanwhile the Battalion had fallen in and advanced in bery open order across the ground intervening between their bivouac and the Herenthage Chateau grounds. There had been no time to tell off the draft to companies so they were sent in as one company under Captain Hawley (age 36). The draft and A and B Companies crossed the main road west of the Chateau and pushed through the woods in the direction of Veldhoek. They pushed the enemy back and unfortunately Captain Hawley was killed during this operation.

15th November 1914. Obituary in The Times: "Captain Cyril Francis Hawley (deceased), of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, of Percy house, Eltham, Kent, who was killed in action about November 2, was the second son of the late Sir Henry Hawley, Bart., and Frances Lady Hawley, of Leybourne, Kent, and brother of the present baronet. Born in 1878, he got his commission from the Militia in 1899 and his captaincy in 1905. In the South Africa campaign he was employed with Mounted Infantry and was present at Talana, the defence of Ladysmith, Laing's Nok, Belfast and Lydenborg. He also served as Commandant and Railway Staff Officer, was mentioned in despatches, and received the Queen's medal with six clasps and the King's medal with two clasps. Captain Hawley was married in 1912 to Ursula Mary, daughter of Mr Henry Percy St John, and leaves one son."

In 1971 [his former wife] Ursula Mary St John (age 79) died.