31 May 2016

2nd LT Cyril Knight

This search covers three countries and four generations making it rather complex.
I received the WWI British War Medal awarded to 2nd Lieutenant Cyril Leonard Knight is 2012 from Rodney D. Rodney lives in Jurien Bay which is a pretty remote town in Western Australia. As the BWM didn't have a unit or 'AIF' impressed on it I thought it was possible that Cyril was an officer in the British Army. I soon found his medal card which lists him as serving in the 2nd London Rifles and the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers.
The next bit of information was a ship's passenger list from 1922 which shows Cyril emigrating to Australia with his wife Paquet Marie Erestine Gaudioz. Cyril's occupation is shown as a photographer. The lived in the WA goldfields.
Cyril and Paquet had a daughter, Diana, who served in the RAAF during WWII. However, the record shows that her married name in Beckel as she had married a US serviceman, Francis Joseph Beckel in 1944. Cyril also served in WWII.
Paquet died in 1945 and Cyril married twice more.
Armed with the Diana's married name I found a family tree on Ancestry which also that included Francis Joseph Beckel jr. An interesting additional piece of information was that his father, Francis Joseph Beckel snr served in the US Navy during WWI.
It took a while to determine that Francis' and Diana's daughter was named Karen and married Stanley Dickson. It was Karen's tree I had found. I fired off a message but did not receive a reply. I followed up several times but got no where.
Last week Anne asked for my notes so that she could have a fresh look at my research. She soon came back with a vital piece of information which explained a lot. Karen had died in 2014. Anne had also found the name and contact details of Karen's daughter who we have now been in contact with.
Cyril's great granddaughter is also named Diana and is a photographer.
Thank you so much to Rodney for sending me the medal. Thanks also to Anne for bringing all this together.
The returned medal tally is now 1827.
This is the head stone of Francis Joseph Beckel jnr

This is the head stone of Francis Joseph Beckel snr

No comments:

Post a Comment