Cyril Evers Blurton
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Cyril Evers Blurton was born on 22 July 1897 and was the son of Dr John Frederick, a medical practitioner, and his wife Phoebe (née Evers). His father John Frederick was born in 1861 and his mother Phoebe Evers was born in 1864; both were born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire. They were married in the town in 1890 and had three children who were born in Nottingham: Isabel Helen b. 1891, Gilbert b. 1892 and Cyril Evers b. 22 July 1897. In the 1911 census the family was living at 11 Radcliffe Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham. In the home on the night of the census were John Frederick, Phoebe, two of their three children, Isabel and Cyril, and two domestic servants, a cook and housemaid. Gilbert, the eldest son, was a boarder/scholar at Evans House, Sedbergh (then in Yorkshire West Riding).Cyril's elder brother Gilbert died in an accident in 1931 (see 'Extra information'). By 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled, John and Phoebe Blurton were living at 4 Valley Road, West Bridgford. Their daughter Isabel had married Marcel VC Boudard, a hosiery manufacturer, in 1924 and they were also living in West Bridgford.John Blurton died on 5 May 1949 and his wife on 27 August 1953, she was still living at 4 Valley Road.
Attended Sandhurst Military Academy. Commissioned into the Sherwood Foresters on 27 October 1916, he served in France from December 1916 with the 1st Battalion and was attached to the 15th Battalion in February 1917. Cyril was serving with the 15th Battalion when he was listed as missing, later revised to killed in action at the Houthulst Forest on 22 October 1917. He was 20 years old. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium (Panel 99 to 102).
Family grave and headstone, Nottingham Southern Cemetery. Inscription: ‘To the dear memory of Gilbert Blurton born Aug. 11th 1892 died Sep. 6th 1931 beloved physician and a good comrade and of Cyril Evers Blurton born July 22nd 1897 killed at Passchendaele 22nd Oct. 1917. He sleeps beyond England’s foam. Beloved sons of JE and P Blurton. John Frederick Blurton MD died May 5th 1949 aged 87. And of his wife Phoebe died August 27th 1953 aged 88 years.'Sedbergh School, Busk Lane, Sedbergh, Cumbria LA10 5HG. WMR.457 (Imperial War Museum) Sedbergh School Memorial Cloisters. Also www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/122005: Sedbergh School Memorial Cloisters. Four marble panels commemorating the 256 pupils and staff who died in the First World War, dedicated 1924, and four marble panels commemorating pupils and staff who died in the Second World War.Supplement to the London Gazette, 26 October 1916 (10407): Notts & Derby. R. Cyril Evers Blurton (www.thegazette.co.uk)Nottingham Evening Post, 2 November 1917:- “LIEUT. C. BLURTON.“Second-Lieutenant Cyril E. Blurton, younger son of Dr. Blurton, Radcliffe-road, West Bridgford, has been missing since October 22nd. He is 20 years of age and was educated at Waverley School, Nottingham, Ledberg [Sedbergh] School, and Sandhurst. He received his commission in the Sherwood Foresters just over 12 months ago and went out to France in December. He was slightly wounded a little more than two months since. His brother Gilbert is a surgeon probationer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and was in the Jutland battle, in which he had a miraculous escape.” Nottingham Evening Post, 15th May 1918: 'BLURTON. Missing on October 22nd inst, now from evidence received known to be killed in action on that date, Second-Lieut. Cyril E. Blurton, aged 20, younger son of Dr. and Mrs. Blurton, West Bridgford.' His brother Surgeon-Probationer Gilbert Blurton, R.N.V.R., survived the sinking of H.M.S. Tipperary at Jutland on 1st June 1916. Picked up by a Dutch trawler, he was interned in Holland, news of which was published locally, together with his photograph, on 5 June 1916. Gilbert qualified for the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.The following report was published in the Dundee Courier on 8th September 1931 after Gilbert Blurton died in an accident, apparently whilst testing a piece of medical equipment: “DOCTOR'S FATAL EXPERIMENT.“Asphyxiated While Trying Anaesthetic Apparatus.“Dr Gilbert Blurton, a well-known Nottingham medical man, has been asphyxiated while experimenting with a new form of oxygen gas mask. “He was conducting the experiments alone in a bedroom in his surgery at Radcliffe Road, Nottingham. “A maidservant, who heard no sound of him for long time, went to the room, and found him dead. Near him was new apparatus for administering oxygen and gas which he had been testing. “Dr Blurton was a keen experimentalist in everything connected with his profession," stated his brother-in-law, “and was experimenting with new anaesthetic apparatus he had just received when, we presume, something went wrong." “His father, Dr J. F. Lee Blurton, with whom he was in practice, is hurrying back from Scotland. “Dr Gilbert Blurton, although he had not fully qualified the time, served as a surgeon at the Battle of Jutland, and was in a destroyer sunk by enemy shell fire. “He was thrown into the sea and swam about for some hours until he was picked by a passing Dutch vessel and taken to Holland. There was kept for some time before he was able to return to England. “Dr Blurton, who was 39 years of age, had been house surgeon of Bradford Royal Infirmary, ear and throat house surgeon of Birmingham General Hospital, and obstetric and ophthalmic house surgeon of Queen's Hospital, Birmingham. “He took his M.B. and B.S. degrees London University in 1920, after having qualified M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. 1918.”Above courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918Nottingham Evening Post, 5 May 1949, published a report of the death of Dr John Blurton on that date and a report of the funeral was published on 7 May. A notice of his widow's death on 27 August 1953 was published in the Nottingham Evening Post on 28 August.
