Barker, Cecil Massey Arbuthnot (Cecil)
Second Lieutenant
6th (Service) Battalion, Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers)
Killed in action on Tuesday 17 August 1915 (aged 19)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Helles Memorial, Turkey (Panels 178 to 180)
Campbell College Belfast
Journey of Remembering Belfast Book of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
Cecil Massey Arbuthnot Barker was born on 21 September 1894 at Ardkeen, Marlborough Park, Belfast and he was the youngest son of Samuel Lindsey-Bucknall Barker (born in Dublin) and Catherine Maude (Kate) Barker (nee Leatham, born in Upper Langfield, Co Tyrone) who were married on 8 September 1870 in Christ Church Church of Ireland Church, Belfast. Samuel Lindsey-Bucknall Barker, a gentleman from 30 College Square North, Belfast was a son of Joseph Barker, a clergyman. Kate Leathem (aged 20) from 64 Belvedere Place, Belfast was a daughter of Moses Leathem, a clergyman.
The Barker family had homes in both Bangor and Belfast: The Rectory, Bangor, Marlborough Park, Belfast and Ardenza, Donegall Park Avenue, Belfast.
Samuel Barker was a bank official with the Bank of Ireland and he was also an insurance broker.
Samuel and Maude Barker had ten children:
Unnamed female (born 27 July 1871 at 1 Park Avenue, Belfast)
Ada Victoria Stanley (born 7 December 1872 at 1 Park Avenue, Belfast)
Kathleen Emma (born 27 November 1874 at 13 Ulsterville Avenue, Belfast)
Irene Ruth (born 20 July 1876 at 2 University Street, Belfast)
Una Mary Fetherston-Haugh (born 20 July 1878 at 15 Fitzroy Crescent, Belfast)
Charlotte Arbuthnot (born 21 March 1880 at 15 Fitzroy Crescent, Belfast)
Charlotte Lindsey-Bucknell (born 17 August 1882 at Ardkeen, Marlborough Park, Belfast)
Ernest Lindsey-Bucknell (born 20 August 1885 at Ardkeen, Marlborough Park, Belfast)
Cuthbert Fetherston-Haugh (born 25 March 1888 at Ardkeen, Marlborough Park, Belfast)
Cecil Massey Arbuthnot (born 21 September 1894 at Ardkeen, Marlborough Park, Belfast)
Cecil Massey Arbuthnot Barker attended Campbell College from 1906 until 1912 and then Trinity College Dublin.
A candidate for Holy Orders, Cecil Barker was gazetted from Dublin University Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) on 22 September 1914 to be Second Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Second Lieutenant Cecil Barker was 19 when he was killed in action on 17 August 1915 on the Kiretsch-Tepe-Sirt Ridge at Suvla Bay Gallipoli whilst preparing to return to the beach.
Cecil’s brother, Ernest Lindsey-Bucknall Barker, entered Holy Orders and during the First World War he served as a Chaplain with the 36th (Ulster) Division.