People on board

BOON, Cyril Maurice

Cyril Maurice Boon was born in 1900 in Brixton, London to Edward Boon and Annie Hall. He was the fifth of their eight children, seven of whom were alive in 1911. Edward Boon was a Greengrocer and the family moved at least three times within London. From about 1915 they were in Ellerslie Road, Clapham Park.

According to his surviving military records Cyril was a Milkman when he enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was in the 3rd Reserve Battalion which was a Training Unit. He transferred to the Essex Regiment and was with the 1st/8th (Cyclist) Battalion which was sent to Ireland in February 1918. In October 1918 they were stationed in Tulla, Co Clare and Naas, Co Kildare.

Presumably returning home on leave Cyril Boon travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. He did not survive the sinking but his body was recovered and he was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin. His older brother, Harry, served as a Fitter in the Army Service Corps, reaching the rank of Sergeant by the end of the war.