Private
Hill, Cyril Charles
Unit
24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada)
Branch
Infantry
Service Component
Canadian Expeditionary Force
Service Number
65448
birth
1896/09/10
Bristol, United Kingdom, England
death
1916/04/30
Belgium
grave
Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, Belgium
Gender
Male
Cyril Charles Hill was born in Bristol, England, on 10 September 1896. He immigrated to Canada in 1912.
Hill worked as a machinist before joining the military. He enlisted in the 24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada) in Montréal, Quebec, on 10 November 1914. The medical examiner described him as “small [but] otherwise fit” and recommended that he be made a bugler or a drummer. Hill was 5 feet 2 5/8 inches tall and had an expanded chest girth of 30 inches — physical characteristics that were below the minimum requirements for service (5 feet 3 inches and 33.5 inches, respectively). The examiner’s recommendation was not followed, and Hill became a combat infantryman.
After initial training in Canada, Hill and his unit embarked for England on SS Cameronia. They left Montréal on 11 May 1915 and arrived in Devenport nine days later. After further training and preparation, the 24th Battalion was sent to France on 15 September 1915, landing in Boulogne the following day.
Hill died at the 6th Canadian Field Ambulance near Dickebusch (Dikkebus), Belgium, on 30 April 1916, having been wounded the day before by shelling.
Cyril Charles Hill is buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery, in Belgium, next to his brother Horace, who also served in the 24th Battalion and died on the same day.
