Howard, CC
(1897 - 1916)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
1st January 1897
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1909 - 1914
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
Clifton House, 115 Church Road, Upper Norwood, SE19
REGIMENT
8th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
FINAL RANK:
2nd Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
23rd May 1916
AGE AT DEATH:
19
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Aubigny
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension V A 7
2nd Lieutenant Cecil Cunningham Howard
Born on New Year’s Day 1897, Cecil was the eldest child of medical practitioner John Howard and his wife, Emily. He spent three years at Cairnburn School in Upper Norwood before, in May 1909, coming to join Dulwich. He was at the College for the next five and a half years during which time he earned a scholarship and also served as Company Sergeant-Major in the O.T.C. Before he left he had won a science scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Cecil never went up to Cambridge, however; as a result of the war he left Dulwich at Christmas 1914, and the following January took up a commission in the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He went over to the continent for the first time in September 1915 and spent the next nine months almost continuously at the front line. On May 19th 1916 he was severely wounded in the thigh by a grenade whilst capturing a crater near Vimy Ridge, the same crater which two days later his great friend and fellow OA Richard Jones would earn the V.C. whilst losing his life in its defence. Cecil by this point was in hospital as a result of his injuries, dying as a result shortly afterwards, on May 23rd. In honour of both he and Jones was founded the Howard-Jones Challenge Cup, a College trophy awarded for rifle shooting.
