SPRATTON LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Cecil was born on 6 November1888 to William Mason, a groom, and his wife, Mary Ann (née Barnett) His parents were not born in Spratton and the family moved to one of the Erskine Cottages in Manor Road, Spratton in the early 1890s when William became a groom for Lord Erskine at Spratton Hall.  By 1911 Cecil and his father had moved to the nearby village of Guilsborough while his mother and sisters remained in Spratton.  Cecil was working as an electrician, a very new occupation in those days. On 5 April 1916 he married Ethel Wilding at All Saints church, South Lambeth.

He was conscripted into the Army Service Corps in 1916 and was sent overseas, involved in military transport in France and Flanders. The 51st Auxiliary Bus Company was part of a Mechanical Transport depot operating a large ammunition store and this needed specialised care with transport. Cecil was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1921 He and his wife were living in Lambeth, London.