Eric Cecil Guinness D.S.O. (1894 - 1920)

Ancestors Descendants

Biography

Eric Cecil Guinness was born on 30 August 1894 and was baptised on 29 September 1894 at Kobe, Japan. He was the only son of Robert Cecil Day Guinness and Madeline Rede Buckley.

In the 1911 England Census, Eric Cecil Guinness (aged 16) was recorded as a Boarder at Rugby, Warwickshire^[1].

He married Hannah Mary Pryor on 16 October 1916 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England^[2]. They had two children.

Eric served in the 1st World War with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. He entered the Theatre of War in France in 1914 where he was wounded in the head at Mons. He was wounded again at the Battle of the Marne. In January 1915 he was wounded a third time and was sent home. In January 1916, he went to France again, as temporary Major and Second in Command of the 27th Battalion, The Northumberland Fusiliers, and was wounded, for the fourth time, on the Somme, on 1 July 1916. Eric was paralysed in both legs and was once again sent home.

The paralysis was only temporary and he was sent to France again in October 1917. The paralysis returned and he was declared unfit for service.

He was Mentioned in Despatches (November 1917), and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) in the New Year's Honours of 1918.

After a period of rehabilitation he sailed for India in 1920 to take up the Adjutancy of his own Battalion in the Royal Irish Regiment, but, in consequence of a fall down a steep cliff, the paralysis returned. After several months in hospital he was invalided home in August 1920 but died at sea, of wounds received in action, on 11 September 1920, aged 26. Captain Eric Cecil Guinness was entitled to the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Eric Guinness D.S.O. was awarded the British War Medal.

Eric Guinness D.S.O. was awarded the Victory Medal.

Notice of his death was printed on page 5 of the London and China Telegraph dated 20 September 1920:

DEATHS.

Guinness.—On Sept. 11, at sea, Eric C. Guinness, D.S.O., Royal Irish Regt., only son of Cecil and Madeline Guinness, of Baldock, Herts, aged 26. ^[3]

He is memorialised at Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton Unitary Authority, Hampshire, England^[4].

Research Notes

From Memorials of Rugbeians who fell in the Great War Volume VII & Index^[5]:

CAPTAIN E. C. GUINNESS, D.S.O.

2ND BATTALION THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT

ERIC CECIL GUINNESS was the only son of Robert Cecil Day Guinness, of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Bank, Rangoon, and of Madeline Rede his wife.

He entered the School in 1908 and left in 1911. He was gazetted to the Reserve Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment in 1912.

He went to France, in the 2nd Battalion, with the First Expeditionary Force in August, 1914; was wounded in the head at Mons, but took part in the whole subsequent Retreat, until he was wounded again at the Battle of the Marne. He returned to the Front in January, 1915, but was wounded, a third time, and buried by the explosion of a shell, in May, and was sent home.

In January, 1916, he went to France again, as temporary Major and Second in Command of the 27th Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers, and was wounded, for the fourth time, on the Somme, on July 1st, 1916,when he was again buried, and was paralysed in both legs. Later he passed through the Senior Officers' Course at Farnborough, and returned to France in October, 1917; but in the Ypres Salient the paralysis returned, and he was unfit for further active service. In the spring of 1918, he was attached to the K.M.C., Sandhurst, as Instructor, till December, 1919.

In February, 1920, he sailed for India, to take up the Adjutancy of his own Battalion in the Royal Irish Regiment, but, in consequence of a fall down a steep cliff, the paralysis returned. After several months in hospital, he was invalided home in August, 1920, but died at sea, of wounds received in action, on September 11th, 1920. Age 26.

He was gazetted Captain after his death, to rank from July, 1920. He was mentioned in Despatches, dated November, 1917, and was awarded the D.S.O. in the New Year's Honours of 1918.

His Commanding Officer, in Battalion Orders announcing his death, said that he was a most promising Officer who, throughout his service in the Regiment, had shown a splendid example to all ranks."

His Colonel wrote:- "He covered himself with glory by his courage and devotion in the War."

And a brother Officer said:- "It will be a very long time before his name is forgotten in the Royal Irish, as he shone out as one of the very finest Officers we ever had."

He married, in 1916, Hannah Mary, daughter of Marlborough Robert Pryor, of Weston Park, Hertfordshire, and left a son and a daughter.

Sources

1. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWZG-8D7 : 7 July 2019), Eric Cecil Guinness, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
2. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:26F6-7WK : 22 May 2014), Eric C Guinness and null, 1916; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1916, quarter 4, vol. 3A, p. 1513, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
3. ↑ London and China Telegraph dated 20 September 1920 page 5 (requires subscription to view)
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132559253/eric-cecil-guinness: accessed 27 January 2024), memorial page for Capt Eric Cecil Guinness (unknown–11 Sep 1920), Find a Grave Memorial ID 132559253, citing Hollybrook War Memorial, Southampton, Southampton Unitary Authority, Hampshire, England; Maintained by Grave Content (contributor 48564749).
5. ↑ https://rugbyschoolarchives.co.uk/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_ephemera%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d7