Cecil Leonard Knox VC

b. 09/05/1889 Nuneaton, Warwickshire. d. 04/02/1943 Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Cecil Leonard Knox (1889-1943) was born at Hinckley Road, Nuneaton, Warwickshire on 9th May 1889. He was known from an early age as Dick. His father, James Knox, was originally from Dysart, Fife, Scotland. He married Florence Elizabeth nee Sadler, in 1877 at St Saviour, London. She was originally from Bristol. James was a civil engineer and founded the Haunchwood Brick and Tile Co in Nuneaton. He was also a director of Arley Colliery Co, Barnstone Cement Co of Nottingham and GW Lewis Ltd, tilemakers of Cannock, as well as being a local JP. Cecil had eight brothers. Two of his brothers were killed in the Great War.

Cecil was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton and Oundle School, Northamptonshire 1902-07. He was articled to a consulting mechanical and electrical engineer in Birmingham for three years and by 1911 was an electrical engineer. He moved to Canada, where he was employed as Assistant Resident Construction Engineer in Alberta on the Northern Alberta Railway running from Edmonton through Grande Prairie to Dawson Creek.

Cecil L Knox VC

Two of his brothers were in Canada at the start of the war but did not hear news of it for some time and then immediately enlisted. Cecil, already a qualified engineer, was commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant into the Royal Engineers and joined the 150th Field Company, RE, who were then serving with the 36th (Ulster) Division of IX Corps, Second Army. While in Birmingham, he shared his accommendation with Arnold Waters, who was awarded the VC in 1918.

He was present at the Battle of Messines in June 1917 and two months later the division was transferred to the XIX Corps of the Fifth Army and his field company was used for road work in preparation for the Battle of Langemarck. Knox later served at Cambrai with IV Corps of the Third Army and in November the 36th Division rejoined VI Corps.

On 22nd March 1918 at Tugny, Aisne, France, Second Lieutenant Knox was entrusted with the demolition of 12 bridges. He successfully carried out this task, but in the case of one steel girder bridge the time fuse failed to act, and without hesitation he ran to the bridge under heavy fire, and when the enemy were actually on it, he tore away the time fuse and lit the instantaneous fuse, to do which he had to get under the bridge. As a practical civil engineer, Second Lieutenant Knox undoubtedly realised the grave risk he took in doing this.

In June 1918, Nuneaton Council moved a resolution of congratulations on Mr and Mrs Knox and to their son Cecil on the announcement of his VC in the London Gazette on 4th June. He received the medal from King George V at Blendecques, near St Omer, France on 6th August 1918. He had also received the Freedom of the Borough of Nuneaton on 17th July alongside William Beesley VC. After the Armistice, Knox was promoted to Lieutenant on 2nd December 1918, although he had already been given the temporary rank of Captain. In 1919 he was demobbed and returned to his civilan life as a civil engineer. He became a director of the family business of Haunchwood Brick and Tile Company and of G.W. Lewis Tileries Ltd. In addition his family also owned the Arley Colliery. In 1924, he acted as best man to Arnold Waters (now VC DSO MC RE).

Between the wars, Knox attended a couple of VC events. He took up flying and was based at Castle Bromwich aerodrome, serving with 605 Squadron (County of Warwick), Royal Auxiliary Air Force between 1926 and 1932. He was promoted to Flying Officer on 23rd May 1928 and later to Flight Lieutenant on 1st January 1930. He relinquished his commission in 1932, after being seriously injured in a parachuting accident while training with the Squadron at Manston.

In 1931/1932, he decided to build himself a house in the small hamlet of Caldecote to the north west of Nuneaton. The house was named Fyves Court, due to the fact it had a fives court. Knox’s father died in 1931, aged 82, and his mother passed away three years later. Cecil married Eileen Mary Baylor on 3rd September 1936 at Hungerford, Berkshire. She had been previously married with two daughters, before it ended in divorce. In October 1941, Cecil’s wife Eileen gave birth to their only child, Catrina Victoria Knox. In the Second World War, he was a Major and Second in Command of the local Home Guard unit.

Tragedy struck however, on 4th February 1943, when travelling down Buck’s Hill. Nuneaton on his motor bike, he inexplicably skidded, was thrown on his head and died of his injuries. He was just 53. The accident occurred at around 10.30am and he was taken unconscious to hospital, where he died three hours later. Knox was cremated at Gilroes Crematorium, Leicester, and his ashes were scattered in the grounds of his home at Fyves Court. He is also commemorated with Knox Crescent in Nuneaton, on a family memorial at Oaston Road Cemetery, Nuneaton, on the war memorial at Riversley Park, Nuneaton, on the Royal Engineers Honours Board at Brompton Barracks, Gillingham, and has a VC commemorative stone in Riversley Park, Nuneaton, unveiled in March 2018.

In addition to his VC, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19, King George VI Coronation Medal 1937 and the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal. His medals were passed from his wife to his daughter Catrina. The medals are still held by the Knox family.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: NOT PUBLICLY HELD.

BURIAL PLACE: GILROES CREMATORIUM, LEICESTER.

ASHES SCATTERED AT HIS HOME AT FYVES COURT, CALDECOTE, NUNEATON.