L/Cpl 24250 Cyril Tinsley

• Age: 23
• From: Bootle, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 10th October 1918
• Commemorated at: Montay Communal Cem
  Panel Ref: 14

Cyril Tinsley was born in Bootle in 1895, the son of Edmund Eeles Tinsley and his wife Maude Marie (nee Rawle). His mother was born at Walsall, Staffordshire, and his father was born at Newbury, Berkshire. Maude Marie Rawle married Joseph Cox at London in 1889. Details of her second marriage to Edmund Tinsley show that she  married on 05th September 1890 in Calcutta. She is shown as a spinster with her father as William Henry Rawle. (Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Bengal, : 1713-1948).

Edmund and Maude's two eldest children, William Edmund R and Cyril were born at Bootle followed by Kathleen Annie at Formby before the family moved to the Wirral where Violet Emily, Frederick Barber and Terence Marshall were born. Ralph Henry was born at Liverpool in 1910 and Maud M at Bootle in 1913.

1901 Census - 64 Bebington Road, Lower Bebington, New Ferry. - Parents Edmund E and Maude with children, William, Cyril, Kathleen, Violet and Frederick Tinsley and George Galbraith - boarder. Edmund Tinsley was a soap manufacturer's agent in 1901 but had returned to his sea-faring career as a master mariner by 1911.

1911 Census - 14 Salisbury Street, Birkenhead - Parents Edmund and Maude (Married 20 years with 9 children born and 7 still alive), William, Cyril, Kathleen, Violet, Frederick, Terence and Ralph. Cyril was an apprentice fitter at an agricultural implement makers at the time of the 1911 census. 

He enlisted in Bootle and was serving with the 18^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Lance-Corporal No 24250 when he was killed in action on the 10th October 1918 aged 23 during the hundred days offensive which ended the First World War (8^th August-11^th November 1918).

On 7th October 1918 the 18th Bn arrives at the Hindenburg Line and pursues the retreating German army.  The battalion War Diary records -  

10th October 1918 - At 0230 hours the battalion moved forward to a position near RUEMONT, and attacked towards LE CATEAU at 0510.  Very little opposition was met with at the start but later considerable M.G. fire was encountered. …  Our right company was not in touch with the flank, and the troops on the right appeared to be held up by M.G. fire from the railway embankment … A short length of trench on the high ground immediately E. of LE CATEAU was also reported to be held by the enemy.  At 0848 the Centre Coy reached K.33.b and pushed a platoon into the N. W. outskirts of LE CATEAU.  The right company was temporarily held up by MG and sniper fire, but appeared to be almost in the town itself.  Hostile M.G. fire was reported from the direction of Q.10. … Houses in K.28.a were reported to be strongly held by the Bosche, and a patrol was sent out to investigate and deal with them. … During the advance on LE CATEAU considerable difficulty was experienced, owing to a “whizz bang” battery being able to fire over open sights at the troops as they moved up the rise and along a slight valley.

Total Casualties from 7th to 13th October:

Killed – 2 Officers, 18 O.R.

Wounded – 6 Officers, 111 O.R.

Died of Wounds – 1 O.R.

Wounded and Missing – 1 Officer, 20 O.R.

Cyril was one of the casualties referred to in the diary. He now rests at MontayCommunal Cemetery, France, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“HE NOBLY ROSE TO HIS COUNTRY'S CALL HE GAVE HIS BEST HIS LIFE, HIS ALL”

Montay was reached by Commonwealth forces on 10 October 1918; most of those buried in this communal cemetery died between 19 October and 6 November 1918, but there is one grave from August 1914. The cemetery contains 27 Commonwealth burials of the First World War.  

A report on his death appeared in the Bootle Times on the 8th November 1918.

BEDFORD ROAD OLD BOY.

A further name has been added to Bootle's Roll of Honour by the death in action of Lance-Cpl. Cyril Tinsley, at the age of 23.

Deceased, who was the second son of Mrs. Tinsley, 112a, Gloucester-Road, and the late Edmund E. Tinsley, master mariner, had been 3 years in

France, joining up with the "Pals." A coincidence which deepens the tragedy is the fact that Lance-corporal Tinsley was due for leave the day after he

was killed. He was well-known in Bootle, being a Bedford-road "old boy." Prior to the war deceased had been in the employ of the White Star Line

for over three years. Mrs. Tinsley's eldest son, Will has been in France for about three years.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Maude Marie.

The CWGC record Cyril's family details as: Son of Edmund Eeles Tinsley and Maude Marie Tinsley, of 112A, Gloucester Rd., Bootle, Liverpool.

His father died at Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa on the 01st December 1915. Probate of his estate was obtained at Liverpool by his widow. He was working as a beach master at the time of his death and his home address was 112a Gloucester Road, Bootle. His effects were valued at £23 2s (£2,000 at current values.)

His mother died at Bootle in 1923.

Cyril Tinsley is commemorated on the following local memorials

Bootle Civic Memorial

Christ Church C.of E. Church, Bootle

Bedford Road Council School, Bootle.

We currently have no further information on Cyril Tinsley, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.