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Old 06-07-15, 08:11
Jill Jill is offline
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Default (66) Cyril Ernest James Stoner, Telegraphist J/48880, Royal Navy

66th of the Old Boys of St Wilfrid's School, Haywards Heath, to give his life in WW1.

Cyril was born in Lancing on 20th December 1899, son of Ernest Austin Stoner and his wife Annie. By 1901 Ernest was the landlord of The Burrell Arms pub in Haywards Heath which is still there opposite the railway station. In 1911 Cyril was living with his mother and grandparents at 13 Gravely Cottages (now demolished but they were in America Lane, and had been built by Quaker philanthropist William Allen) while his father was away working as a barman in a hotel in Eastbourne.

Cyril enlisted in the Royal Navy on the 9th December 1915, just before his 16th birthday. He was 5’2”, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion, and became a Boy Telegraphist on 17th March 1916. Cyril was one of 48 sailors who died when his ship HMS Vehement struck a mine on 2 Aug 1918 in the North Sea. He was 18 years 7 months. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial at Southsea.
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