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8141 C Company, 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Bert Malyon was born in Cavendish around 1888, the son of George and Jane Malyon and his father was employed as a maltster. Like many Suffolk agricultural labourers the family moved between Suffolk and Burton-on-Trent during the year for work.
The family moved from Cavendish to Sudbury and lived at Mount Place, North Street before moving to Oxford Terrace, Queens Road. By 1911 his widowed father had moved to 7 Metcalf Yard, East Street.
Bert was a regular soldier, he enlisted in Bury St. Edmunds with the Suffolk Regiment and in 1911 he was stationed with 2nd Battalion at Barrosa Barracks in Aldershot. It is not known when he transferred to the 1st Battalion but he was with the Battalion when it embarked for France onboard SS Mount Temple landing at Le Havre on 18 January 1915. The battalion formed part of 84th Brigade, 28th Division and was moved to Hazebrouck on 20 January and billeted at Merris.
The battalion moved to Vlamertinghe in February and marched to Ypres taking over trenches between Ypres-Comines Canal and Hill 60. On 15 February they moved forward to trenches south of Ypres and west of the canal, in the evening C Company attempted to regain ‘O’ Trench but were stopped by grenades and machine gun fire. All attempts to move forward failed and there were many casualties throughout the night. By dawn all survivors had been taken prisoner. It is very likely that Bert was wounded and captured at this time and taken to Lille. The town of Lille was occupied by the enemy from October 1914 and Lille Southern Cemetery was used mainly by the Germans during WWI.
Bert died of wounds aged 24 on 12 March 1915 and lies buried in Lille Southern Cemetery, Nord, France. A Cross of Remembrance was laid by his grave in September 2016.
Bert was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. He is also remembered on the Trinity Congregational Church Memorial which was moved to the United Reformed Church, School Street when Trinity closed. The United Reformed Church closed in 2017 and it is proposed that the memorials from both churches will be relocated to the Sudbury Cemetery.
His older brother Harry Edward lost his life serving with the East Surrey Regiment in July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme; he is also remembered on the Sudbury War Memorial.
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