Family History
Date Of Birth: 04/02/1916
Date Of Death: 21/05/1964 (Age 48) - Norwich, Norfolk
Father
DOB: 14/02/1888
DOD: 18/10/1926
Mother
Maude Susannah Chaney
DOB: 14/08/1887
DOD: ??/08/1933
Wife
Joyce Rose Whitham
DOB: 23/06/1916
Married: 18/04/1938
DOD: 10/01/1996
Brother
Maurice Frederick George Smith
DOB: 06/07/1914
DOD: 26/11/1971
Sister
Bertha Maude Smith
DOB: 07/10/1919
DOD: 26/07/2011
Daughter's
Daphne Jean Smith
DOB: 08/03/1941
Shirley Jocelyn Smith
DOB: 23/05/1950
His father Frederick died when he was 9 years old and his mother died seven years later when he was 16 years old, him and his brother Maurice had to leave school (City Of Norwich School) so they could look after younger sister Bertha.
Maurice was supposed to start teacher training but that had to change. Both boys were helped by christian friends to find employment. Maurice went to the Education Office and Cecil to Forehoe and Henstead Rural District Council where he was trained as an accountant.
Both Maurice and Cecil got scholarships from The British Legion.
He worked at Forehoe and Henstead Rural District Council for 32 years from age 16 to his death aged 48.
He was also a Special Constable with the Norfolk Constabulary.
Military Information
Height: 5' 7"
Chest: 34½
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Grey
Complexion: Fresh
Scar on lower lip
Service number: C/MX 70276 (C for Chatham (his home port), M denotes his trade and pay structure e.g. Others - Artificers, Electrical, Supply etc, the X was added to pay codes after 1930)
Rank/Rating: Supply Assistant - responsible for stores and accounting for them
Military History
Location |
Rank / Rating Held |
From |
To |
HMS Royal Arthur
|
Supply Probationer |
4 September 1940 |
8 October 1940 |
HMS Pembroke II |
9 October 1940 |
18 November 1940 |
|
HMS Merlin |
19 November 1940 |
3 December 1940 |
|
HMS Merlin |
Supply Assistant |
4 December 1940 |
26 March 1941 |
Released to reserve list |
27 March 1941 |
28 July 1941 |
|
HMS Merlin |
Supply Assistant |
29 July 1941 |
24 November 1942 |
Duty |
25 November 1942 |
26 November 1942 |
|
HMS Merlin |
27 November 1942 |
7 November 1943 |
|
Duty |
8 November 1943 |
11 November 1943 |
|
HMS Merlin |
12 November 1943 |
8 April 1944 |
|
HMS Pembroke |
9 April 1944 |
21 April 1944 |
|
HMS Ekins |
22 April 1944 |
12 September 1944 |
|
HMS Ganges |
13 September 1944 |
13 September 1944 |
|
HMS Ekins |
14 September 1944 |
12 February 1945 |
|
HMS Pembroke |
13 February 1945 |
17 February 1945 |
|
HMS Badger |
18 February 1945 |
18 February 1945 |
|
HMS Ekins |
19 February 1945 |
20 August 1945 |
|
HMS Pembroke |
21 August 1945 |
12 September 1945 |
|
HMS Europa |
13 September 1945 |
14 May 1946 |
|
Released / demobbed to Shore in Class A |
14 May 1946 |
HMS Royal Arthur
A shore establishment located at Ingoldmells near Skegness. The site was a Butlins holiday camp which was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for about 6 years. During this time it was bombed 52 times by the Germans, one attack on 21 August 1940 damaged 900 small buildings. At the end of the conflict it was still in reasonable condition and it only took 6 weeks to repair damage and reopen as a holiday camp.
HMS Pembroke II
A shore establishment / accounting base located at Chatham between 1940 and 1957.
HMS Merlin
An air station of the Royal Naval Air Service, located at Donibristle, Fife. It was a former RAF station, but was transferred and commissioned in 1939.
HMS Ganges
An uncompromising training establishment for the Royal Navy, designed to turn Boys into Men fit to serve in His/Her Majesty's Fleet. It was located in Shotley in Suffolk.
https://www.hmsgangesassoc.org/index.php
HMS Badger
A shore establishment commissioned in 1939 as the headquarters of the Flag Officer In Charge, Harwich. The site was decommissioned in 1946, but the facility remained an emergency port control until 1992.
HMS Europa
A shore establishment / parent accounting base at Lowestoft, Suffolk for the Royal Naval Patrol Service (RNPS), this is where his records were kept prior to demobilisation.
HMS Ekins
© Russell, J E (Lt), Royal Navy official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
A British Captain-class Frigate of the Royal Navy. Originally constructed as a US Navy Buckley-class destroyer escort it was used by the Royal Navy between 1943 and 1945.
Cecil served on board from 22 April 1944 until 20 August 1945, with only short times off the ship for shore leave which appears in above history as HMS Ganges, HMS Pembroke and HMS Badger - N.B. he would appear on these establishments pay and victual ledgers so they could feed him
During the time Cecil was serving on HMS Ekins it was involved in the Normandy landings, joining the 21st Destroyer Flotilla based at Sheerness in June 1944 and forming part of an escort convoy from the River Thames to the invasion beaches on 6 June 1944. It then continued to escort convoys to Normandy until September 1944.
On 21 July 1944 she joined the frigate HMS Curzon and sunk with depth charges and hedgehog (a forward-throwing anti-submarine weapon) the German Submarine U-212 in the English Channel south of Brighton, 49 men died and there were no survivors.
In September 1944 she transferred to the 16th Destroyer flotilla based at Harwich and server as a coastal forces control frigate, to protect from attacks from German E-boats (fast attack craft), she operated in conjunction with torpedo boats and other warships, using her radar to direct operations, she was also fitted with additional communications equipment to intercept German radio transmissions
On the night of 24/25 December 1944 in conjunction with sister ship HMS Thornborough and others disrupted a German E-boat attack against the convoy en-route to Antwerp.
On 1 January 1945 HMS Ekins sank a German Seehund submarine off the coast of Ostend.
On 11/12 April 1945 she sank two German Linsen explosive motor boats.
On 12/13 April Ekins and the hunter-class destroyer HMS Hambledon encountered 12 German E-boats laying mines in the Scheldt estuary, damaging two of the E-boats.
On 16 April 1945 she set off two mines in the North Sea 13 miles NW of Ostend, Belgium - the first flooded the engine room causing loss of power, and the second holed the ship in the Asdic compartment. Severely damaged she limped back to port, she was damaged beyond economical repair and declared a total loss, decommissioned later in 1945 and sold / scrapped in the Netherlands during 1947.
Images
Useful Links
HMS Royal Arthur (above photo shows him in Class 128) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Arthur_(shore_establishment) and https://www.higgypop.com/urbex/royal-arthur/
RNAS Donibristle (as written on back of photo above) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNAS_Donibristle and http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/FAA-Bases/Donninristle.htm#.XJo0yJj7SUl
HMS Badger (shore establishment) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Badger_(shore_establishment)
HMS Ekins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ekins_(K552) and http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/087.htm
Service Number Information - http://www.hms-vengeance.co.uk/serviceNo.htm
German submarine U-212 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-212