Cassidy, Cyril Martin
Cyril Martin Cassidy (Faculty of Laws) fell gallantly near Festubert on May16th; aged 22. He was educated at the Mercer's School where he had a successful career. On leaving school in 1910 he was offered a scholarship to Cambridge but elected to take a Ritchie Exhibition tenable at King's College. He entered the Faculty of Arts and passed Inter. Arts in 1912. He passed the examination (Intermediate Scheme) for the Civil Service in September, and soon after entered the Estate Duty Office. He then transferred to the Faculty of Laws and passed his Inter. LL.B. in 1913 he hoped to have taken his LL.B. this summer. He joined the Artists' Rifles in 1912; he was a keen man and went to all the camps. He went to France with the Artists at the end of October. After a month's training in the School of Instruction at Bailleul he was given a commission in the 1st K.R.R. Corps. In the big advance on the night of May 15th-16th he was in the leading company of this battalion; the enemy did not hear the approach of our men until the barbed-wire defences were reached. He got through this all right but was mortally wounded in the act of leading his men over the parapet of the German trench. A brother officer writes: "he could not have fallen in a more glorious position. He showed rare pluck when badly hit and all day in the hot sun, waiting calmly for the stretcher bearers, and neither complained nor murmured. His C.O. states that he did very well while with his regiment and behaved gallantly." He died on the 18th in hospital at Bethune and was buried in the cemetery there. A comrade of the Artists says of him: "He had an extraordinary easy-going manner, always cheerful and ready to laugh if things went wrong. His heart was in the right place." King's College Review June 1915
Biographical
| Surname(s) | Cassidy |
|---|---|
| First name(s) | Cyril Martin |
| Family details | Son of the late Thomas Cassidy, of Church End, Finchley, London. |
| Previous education | Mercers School |
| College | King's College London and/or King's College London Hospital |
| Dept / course | Faculty of Laws |
| Qualifications | Inter Arts 1912; Inter LL.B. 1913 |
| Military unit | King's Royal Rifle Corps, 1st Bn. |
| War / conflict | World War One (1914-1918) |
| Date of death | 17 May 1915 |
| Age at death | 22 |
| Rank at death | Second Lieutenant |
| Place of death | In Hospital at Bethune |
| Cause of death | Died of wounds |
| Burial place | Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France |
| Commemoration(s) | King's College Chapel |
| Sources | King's College London Archives; Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Soldiers Died in the Great War |
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