Second World War Medal Group of 5 – Trooper Cyril Boyes, 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, RAC
1939-45 Star – unnamed as issued
Africa Star with 8th Army clasp – unnamed as issued
Italy Star – unnamed as issued
Defence Medal – unnamed as issued
War Medal – unnamed as issued
With box of issue addressed: 19 Herbert Street, Saltaire, Shipley, Yorkshir
Cyril Boyes was born on 21st August 1909 at Shipley, Yorkshire, the son of Sam Willie Boyes and Manetta Boyes. At the time of the 1911 Census, he was recorded as an infant living with his parents at 11 Helen Street, Saltaire, Shipley.
By the time of the 1921 Census, the family had moved to 2 Mary Street, Saltaire, where Cyril Boyes, aged 11, was again living with his parents and younger brother Leslie Boyes. The Boyes family were part of the large textile-working communities that characterised the Saltaire and Shipley district during the early twentieth century.
Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Boyes was working as a Commercial Traveller dealing in Textile Piece Goods, reflecting the importance of the Yorkshire wool and textile trade in the region. The 1939 Register records him living at Shipley, Yorkshire, together with his wife Lily Boyes, whom he had married shortly before the war.
During the Second World War, Boyes served in the British Army with the Royal Armoured Corps, being posted to the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers. His service number was 7920334, and he held the rank of Trooper.
The 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers were an experienced cavalry regiment which had converted from horse cavalry to an armoured unit prior to the war. As part of the 2nd Armoured Brigade of the 1st Armoured Division, the regiment saw action in France during the 1940 campaign, before withdrawing to Britain after the collapse of Allied resistance.
In September 1941, the regiment sailed for North Africa, where it served with the Eighth Army during the Western Desert campaign. The 9th Lancers played a notable role in the fighting around Gazala and the long withdrawal to El Alamein, operating Crusader and later Sherman tanks in some of the most intense armoured fighting of the war. According to General Sir Richard McCreery, the regiment was instrumental in helping halt Rommel’s advance toward Alexandria during the critical fighting of July 1942, their tanks and anti-tank fire helping to stop German forces along the Ruweisat Ridge.
Following extensive training with the newly issued M4 Sherman tanks, the regiment took part in the decisive Second Battle of El Alamein, where British armoured forces gradually broke through the heavily fortified Axis defensive positions. During these battles the regiment gained a reputation for exceptional gunnery; Corporal Nicholls of B Squadron was personally congratulated by General Bernard Montgomery after destroying nine enemy tanks in a single day.
After the Allied victory in North Africa, the regiment later moved to the Italian theatre, landing there in mid-1944. The 9th Lancers fought in the difficult mountainous fighting of the Italian Campaign, including operations around San Savino during the battles for the Gothic Line in September 1944. In the final stages of the war the regiment helped spearhead the Eighth Army’s advance to the River Po in the spring of 1945.
For his wartime service with the regiment, Trooper Cyril Boyes qualified for the following campaign medals:
1939–45 Star
Africa Star with 8th Army clasp
Italy Star
Defence Medal
War Medal 1939–1945
His medal application confirms his post-war address as 19 Herbert Street, Saltaire, Shipley, Yorkshire, where the medals were issued to him on 10th January 1949 following his release from service under Class “A” demobilisation.
Boyes returned to civilian life in Yorkshire following the war, having served with one of the British Army’s most distinguished armoured regiments during the campaigns in North Africa and Italy, theatres which proved decisive in the defeat of Axis forces in the Mediterranean.
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