Arthur Cyril Bennett
Cyril Bennett liked to play sport and the first mention of him in the school magazine is playing football, but not for the County School but against. Before joining StACS he attended Probus College and was the backbone of their defence at centre-half. Indeed Bennett was praised as having “played a good game” in StACS 2-nil victory.
By the summer term of 1911 cricket was the main sport and Bennett's name crops up again. This time Probus won 198 runs against 34; however, Bennett did not make much of a contribution being caught and bowled by Harris for a duck. However, a week later, 27th May, he was playing for StACS against Newquay, and scored 4 runs. He was a regular in the team, and undoubtedly enjoyed playing against his old school even though they were a much stronger side. At the end of the season, in the “Criticisms” of the school magazine, Bennett is described as “Keen field”.
The Bennetts lived in Victoria Road, Mount Charles, where Thomas, Cyril's father, was a bootdealer. Thomas had been born in Grampound Road which possibly explains why Cyril originally attended Probus College. Also living at home was Cyril's mother, Lilly, who was from Devon, and his elder brother, by six years, Thomas Claude.
What Cyril did on leaving school we do not know. However, clearly he volunteered for the army as soon as possible and found himself in the South Wales Borderers.
In 1917, his 2nd Battalion was in the thick of the fighting on the Western Front and won battle honours at The Third Battle of Ypres (The First Battle of the Scarpe, The Second Battle of the Scarpe, The Third Battle of the Scarpe, The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of Broodseinde, The Battle of Poelcapelle) and The Battle of Cambrai.
The action at Cambrai was especially fierce. This extract from the South Wales Borderers' factsheet takes up the story...
By the summer term of 1911 cricket was the main sport and Bennett's name crops up again. This time Probus won 198 runs against 34; however, Bennett did not make much of a contribution being caught and bowled by Harris for a duck. However, a week later, 27th May, he was playing for StACS against Newquay, and scored 4 runs. He was a regular in the team, and undoubtedly enjoyed playing against his old school even though they were a much stronger side. At the end of the season, in the “Criticisms” of the school magazine, Bennett is described as “Keen field”.
The Bennetts lived in Victoria Road, Mount Charles, where Thomas, Cyril's father, was a bootdealer. Thomas had been born in Grampound Road which possibly explains why Cyril originally attended Probus College. Also living at home was Cyril's mother, Lilly, who was from Devon, and his elder brother, by six years, Thomas Claude.
What Cyril did on leaving school we do not know. However, clearly he volunteered for the army as soon as possible and found himself in the South Wales Borderers.
In 1917, his 2nd Battalion was in the thick of the fighting on the Western Front and won battle honours at The Third Battle of Ypres (The First Battle of the Scarpe, The Second Battle of the Scarpe, The Third Battle of the Scarpe, The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of Broodseinde, The Battle of Poelcapelle) and The Battle of Cambrai.
The action at Cambrai was especially fierce. This extract from the South Wales Borderers' factsheet takes up the story...
They were relieved on the 23rd November, but back in the frontline on the 28th covering Marcoing and the canal crossings. They were there when the Germans attacked on 30th November. The Borderers were forced to retreat to set up a new front line. There were further German attacks on the 1st. The second was a relatively quiet day although the men came under fire from enemy trench mortars.
On the morning of the 3rd, the Germans again took up the attack. They shelled the British line from about 9am until 11am, when the infantry attacked in large numbers from Les Rues Vertes, overwhelming the troops in the front line trench. “The men fought magnificently in spite of shells and bullets burstng on the parapet.” At this point, the German barrage lifted and re-targetted to fall on the support line. The troops here were able to maintain a steady fire on the Germans preventing them form advancing even further. In the early afternoon, the shelling of the Borderers positions resumed and there was heavy machine gun fire sweeping the trench line. There were many casualties at this point.
It was on the 3rd that Arthur Cyril Bennett was killed. He was 18.
As well as St Austell County School's memorial and the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval (above) he is remembered on St Austell's War Memorial;on a memorial in Holy Trinity, St Austell, to “commemorate those men of this church who gave their lives”; and a memorial in Probus Church to the scholars of Probus College who fell.