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8th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
Cecil Baring was born on 20 September 1897 in Simla, India, one of seven children of Rev. Francis Henry and Amy Baring. Prior to his parents moving to India around 1897 his father was recorded in 1896 as ‘a Rector in Suffolk’, but by 1901 his widowed Mother was back in England living at Verne House Newton Road, Sudbury. In 1911 he was boarding at Claremont House Boarding School in Lowestoft, he then went on to Haileybury College in Hertfordshire.
Cecil enlisted serving with the 8th Battalion which formed part of 72nd Brigade, 24th Division. Cecil served as a Lance Corporal (G/15080) before being commissioned as Second Lieutenant (10/4689) on 20 January 1917 and being sent to France on 14 March 1917. In March 1918 the battalion fought at the Battle of St. Quentin (21–23 March) when the Germans launched their Spring Offensive. Operation Michael was a vast attack along the whole Somme sector front with the aim to destroy the British Army. The Germans advanced quickly and deeply with heavy losses for the Allies.
Cecil died of wounds aged 20 on 21 March 1918. He was originally buried in Marchelepot Cemetery but during the continued Spring Offensive the cemetery was overrun. Many graves were lost in the fighting and after the war a special memorial was placed in Roye New British Cemetery for the 117 graves that were never found.
Cecil is remembered on the Marchelepot Memorial in Roye New British Cemetery, Somme, France. A Cross of Remembrance was laid close to his name on the memorial in September 2016.
Cecil was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. Three of his four brothers; Reginald Arthur, Charles Alexander and Ernest also lost their lives in the First World War and are remembered on the Sudbury War Memorial.
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