Cecil Edward John Reed was born on 21 September 1894, the youngest of the four children of John Valentine Reed (1859-1946) and Mary Ann Reed née Murphy (1858-1913). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1894 in the St George Hanover Square Registration District, London. On 28 October 1894 he was baptised at St Anselm's Church, Davies Street, Westminster, London, where in the baptismal register his family are shown to be living at 2 Dering Street and that his father was a caretaker.
His three siblings were: Emma Elizabeth Kate Reed (1881-1883); Lucy Annie Reed (1884-1968) and Valentine Henry Reed (1890-1890).
In the 1901 census he was shown as aged 6 years and living in four rooms at 19 Moore Buildings, Gilbert Street, Westminster, with his parents and his surviving sister, Lucy Annie Reed, who was a dressmaking employee. His father was described as a packer in the lamp trade.
He was shown on the 1911 census return form that was completed by his father as Cecil Reed, aged 16 years and a Post Office messenger, still residing in the four roomed property at 19 Moore Buildings, Gilbert Street, with his parents and his sister who continued to shown as a dressmaker. His father described himself as a metal worker's packer.
In June 1914 he was appointed as a Postman Class 1 in the West London Postal Service.
He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery, service number 960020 and entered France on 18 March 1915. He was serving as Gunner in his regiment's A Battery, 186 Brigade, when he was killed in action, aged 22 years, on 28 July 1917. His body was buried in Plot 2, Row E, Grave 11, Dickebusch New Military Cemetery Extension, Kerkstraat, 8900 Ieper, Belgium.
His army effects that totalled £34-19s-10d were sent to his father on 22 November 1917, who was also his £14-0s-0d war gratuity on 17 October 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as 'REED, C. E. J.' on the Western Postal District war memorial in Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is shown as a Gunner on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, but as a Corporal in the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website. He is also commemorated on the A Street near You website, on the London WW1 Memorial website, on the Royal British Legion's Every One Remembered website and on page 312 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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