727088 Sgt. Cecil Calder Cavell was born in Listowel, Ontario, on April 25th, 1897, the third child to Horatio and Kate Cavell.
At a little under 19 years of age, Cecil attested into the 110th (Perth) Battalion on November 23rd, 1915, in Listowel.
Listed as a bank clerk, Cecil was single at the time and it was recorded that he had previous military experience with the militia, having served with the 28th (Perth) Regiment.
Promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1915, and then Corporal in April 1916, Cecil sailed with the 110th BN, from Halifax to Liverpool aboard the SS Caronia, on October 31st, 1916, and was posted to Seaford on arrival.
Being confirmed in rank as Acting Corporal in November, Cecil was posted to the 8th Reserve Battalion, based at Shoreham, Kent, on January 1st, 1917. However, it was recorded that he voluntarily reverted to the rank of Private prior to being sent on to France in November 1917.
Cecil was posted to the 4th CMR on November 9th and joined them in the field, at rest billets in Enquin-Les-Mines, where he was assigned to 'B' Company, on Novermber 24th, 1917. Although Cecil served without wounding to the end of the war, he didn't escape illness, spending a week or so in the company of the 10th Field Ambulance in the final days of the war.
Granted four weeks leave to England on November 18th, 1918, Cecil was subsequently promoted to Sergeant and appointed Orderly Room Sergeant in late January 1919.
Returning to Canada aboard the SS Carmania, Cecil arrived back into Halifax on March 17th, 1919, and was struck off strength, due to demobilization, in Toronto on March 20th, 1919.
Cecil moved to Winnipeg in 1938, and was married twice, having lost his first wife, Jessie, in 1970. Cecil worked with the Winnipeg Free Press Credit Company until retiring in 1968. He was thus active at the Greenwood and Norwood bowls clubs, and greatly enjoyed playing bridge.
Cecil Calder Cavell passed away in Winnipeg, on July 7th, 1990. He was survived by his second wife, Kay.
Of interest is that Cecil's immediate older brother, Charles Leander Cavell, also attested into the 110th BN (but he was not subsequently transferred to the 4th CMR) and survived the war.
It was reported that they were in-turn related to the noted Nurse Edith Cavell, who, despite saving lives on both sides of the conflict, was needlessly executed in 1915, accused of treason and aiding British and French soldiers.
Credit and thanks go to Jim Busby for the details used in this biography.