Profile

GUILFORD, Cecil 
(Service number 10/3576)

Aliases GUILDFORD on Personnel File
First Rank Private Last Rank Lance Corporal

Birth

Date 9 May 1889 Place of Birth Pleasant Valley, Timaru (Geraldine)

Enlistment Information

Date 18 October 1915 Age 25 years
Address at Enlistment Egmont Streeet, New Plymouth
Occupation
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs GUILFORD (mother), Tarata,Taranaki. Later of Frankleigh Park, New Plymouth
Religion Church of England
Medical Information Height 5 feet 6 inches. Weight 11 stone 6 lbs. Chest measurement 34-38 inches. Complexion fair. Eyes grey. Hair fair. Eyes both 20/20. Hearing and colour vision both normal. Limbs and chest well formed. Full and perfect movement of joints. Heart and lungs normal. Teeth fair; bottom teeth require attention. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Not vaccinated. Good bodily and mental health. Teeth slightly defective but not sufficient to cause rejection. Fit.

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 9th Reinforcements Wellington Infantry Battalion, B Company
Date 8 January 1916
Transport Maunganui
Embarked From Wellington Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Wellington Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Wounded (date unknown); admitted to hospital on 24 June 1916 - shock. 13 December 1915 admitted to Tauherenikau Military Camp Hospital, with influenza.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 4 May 1918 Age 28 years
Place of Death France (in the Field)
Cause Died of wounds received in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Grevillers (New Zealand) Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Cecil GUILFORD was the son of William GUILFORD and Ann née BENBOW. Brother of Walter GUILFORD who was killed in action in 1918 at the Somme, & Robert GUILFORD who also served in WWI. Cecil's brother, Walterl, was killed in action just over five weeks earlier.

Family historian, W Griffin, comments: "Cecil Guilford was the illegitimate son of Ann Elizabeth Guilford and Robert Morrison of Geraldine born 9 May 1889 (likely Christchurch). In infancy, Cecil was with a nurse in Timaru then Oct 1890, was taken into care by Minnie Dean of Winton. Cecil was adopted by grandparents William and Ann Guilford May 1895."

Cecil was educated at Pleasant Valley School before bign admitted to Tarata School in Inglewood on 16 June 1902 after the family moved from Pleasant Valley to Tarata that year. From 1911 to 1914 he was living in Egmont Street, New Plymouth, his occupation being a bus driver.

On 18 October 1915 Private Groffin enlisted with the B Company, Wellington Infantry Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He gave his occupation as a farmer. Cecil embarked with the 9th Reinforcements for Egypt in January 1916. While serving Cecil forfeited 14 days pay for carelessly discharging a rifle on 16 October 1916. He had reached the rank of Lance Corporal whne he was killed in the field at the Somme in 1918.

Cecil left no evidence of a will. His medals were sent to his mother.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [17 September 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5539 0048358) [11 July 2014]; CWGC [17 September 2013]; CWGC [17 September 2013]; Taranaki Daily News, 15 & 16 October 1915, 15 August 1916, Manawatu Standard, 4 December 1915, Evening Post, 8 July 1916, Wairarapa Age, 10 July 1916, Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1916, Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 February 1917, New Zealand Herald, 24 May 1918, Press, 24 May 1918, Timaru Herald, 1 June 1918 (Papers Past) [24 November 2013; 13 July 2014; 29 August 2015]; SCROll web submission by W Griffin, 14 Fenruary 2020

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

TS

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB