b. ? 1879 Cold Brayfield, Buckinghamshire. d. 1st Q 1957 Basford, Nottinghamshire.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 05/10/1917 National Shell Filling Factory.
Steven was one of three children born to Charles and Mary Ann Rubythorn in 1879 in Cold Brayfield, Buckinghamshire. His father was a cattleman on a farm, and when Steven finished schooling he became a gardener and domestic servant. In 1907, he married Mira Violet Harris in Bedford. During the First World War, he worked at the National Shell Filling Factory, where the accident occured which led to his Edward Medal award. Little is known about his life after the war. He died in Nottinghamshire in 1957 aged 77.
EM CITATION:
On the 5th October, 1917, an accident occurred at the National Shell Filling Factory. A large shell exploded in the Melt House, killing two men and filling the place with thick smoke. At the time of the explosion more than 4,000 filled shells were in the Melt House, and several trucks of shells caught fire. Regardless of the great danger to which they were exposed, the men, whose names are given above, seized extinguishers, and, rushing through the smoke, played them on the fire, and, with the help of other men, the fire was put out. By their presence of mind and courage these men probably averted a great disaster.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
