Person    | Male  Born 1917  Died 28/5/1940

Second Lieutenant Cecil Abraham Botibol

Categories: Armed Forces

Countries: France

War dead, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having died in WW2.

Second Lieutenant Cecil Abraham Botibol

Cecil Abraham Botibol was born in 1917, the son of Leslie David Botibol (1889-1977) and Dora Botibol née Gartman (1894-1977). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1917 in the Hampstead Registration District, London.

In the 1921 census he was shown as aged 3 years and 10 months and living at 10 Melrose Avenue, Willesden, Middlesex (now Greater London), with his parents and his sister Valerie Rachel Botibol (1915-1976), together with a children's nurse. His father was described as an artificial flower manufacturer employing workers at 50 Fann Street, London, EC1.

Having served in the Honourable Artillery Company, on 17 November 1939 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Leicestershire Regiment, service number 105270).

He was killed in action, aged 22 years, on 28 May 1940 during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France. His body was buried in Plot 2, Row B, Grave 58 in the Malo-les-Bains Communal Cemetery, Rue de Roubaix, 59240 Dunkerque, France.

From the WW2Talk website we learn that 'on the 26 May 1940 the battalion was fighting in and around Carvin, France, parts of the battalion were withdrawing from the village when a shell burst within a few yards of Second Lieutenant Botibol severely wounding him in the stomach. An ambulance was just a short distance away and reached him within 2 to 3 minutes. He was taken away and seen around an hour later passing through Brigade HQ and was not seen or heard of again for around 2 months. It was hoped by his comrades that he had been taken prisoner and was now alive and well in a PoW camp. Eventually news arrived via a French Officer that Second Lieutenant Botibol was taken to a French hospital just outside Dunkirk (I think it may have been at Zuydcoote). Sadly he had died of his wounds 2 days later on 28th May 1940'.

He is shown as 'CECIL ABRAHAM BOTIBOL' on both the Bevis Marks Synagogue war memorial, Bevis Marks, London, EC3 and on the Lauderdale Road Synagogue, 2 Ashworth Road, London, W9 1JY and as 'CECIL BOTIBOL' on the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue war memorial, 6 Lansdowne Road, Hove, BN3 1FF. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Second Lieutenant Cecil Abraham Botibol

Commemorated ati

Bevis Marks - war memorial

Yehidim or, more usually Yehudim, comes from the Bible and means the Kingdom ...

Read More

Lauderdale Road Synagogue - WW1 and WW2

 British Jews in the First World War provides a personal profile for each of ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Private Ernest Joseph Nessling

Private Ernest Joseph Nessling

Ernest Joseph Nessling was born on 31 August 1887 in Marylebone, Middlesex (now Greater London), the youngest of the four children of Lewes Charles Nessling (1852-1895) and Maria Nessling, née Cole...

Person, Armed Forces, France

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Colonel Algernon Sidney

Colonel Algernon Sidney

Opponent of King Charles II.  Born Baynard's Castle.  Exiled in Rome.  Returned in 1677 and was implicated in the Rye House Plot.  Beheaded on Tower Hill.

Person, Armed Forces, Execution, Politics & Administration, Italy

1 memorial
Simon James Turner

Simon James Turner

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Simon James Turner was born on 17 July 1962. He joined the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery and upon le...

Person, Armed Forces, Tragedy, USA

1 memorial
Major Ernest Edward Austen, DSO

Major Ernest Edward Austen, DSO

Ernest Edward Austen was born in 1867 in Dalston, Middlesex (now Greater London), the eldest of the five children of Ambrose Austen (1838-1924) and Eliza Burnet Austen née Smith (1839-1916). His bi...

Person, Armed Forces, Museums / Libraries, Africa, Brazil

War served, Other war
1 memorial