Person

Cyril Gordon Hosking was born in Karachi on 30 July 1890 and baptised a few months later. Cyril’s father, Edward, born in London, worked within the Indian Civil Service. Edward married Annette Taylor, originally from India, on 12 August 1875. According to birth records for Edward and Annette’s children, the family spent time both in India and England over the next few decades. Edward died in 1898, at which time he was the Judicial Commissioner of Lower Burma. By 1901 Cyril was living with his mother and some of his siblings in Bedford, suggesting the family moved to England following Edward’s death.

Cyril was Edward and Annette’s youngest son and he followed his older brother, Herbert, to study at Durham School in 1902. He left the school in 1908 at the age of 18 to join the Royal Military Academy and became a 2nd lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA).
Whilst a 2nd lieutenant in the RFA Cyril gained his Royal Aero Club Aviator certificate. This certificate was gained once a pilot had passed ‘test flights’ and shown he was able to fly an aeroplane efficiently. Cyril passed these tests at the Bristol School in Brooklands on 30 April 1913. Cyril’s abilities as a pilot led him to be transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) sometime during 1914.

Cyril was shot down and killed shortly into his time as a pilot in France on 26 October 1914 whilst serving with the 4th Squadron RFC at Poperinghe. This was during a reconnaissance mission when his observer was signalling the position of enemy guns to the British Army. One report records the plane as actually being shot down by the British Army. Both Cyril and the other man in the aircraft, Captain Theodore Crean, were killed. At the time of their death the men were flying in a BE2A plane, a basic two-seater bi-plane which had first been used by the RFC in 1912.

Cyril is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial in France and is also remembered locally on several memorials. One of these is the chapel at Durham School. There are 97 steps to climb to reach the chapel, each one representing a man who had died who had attended Durham School.

In addition to the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, Cyril was awarded the 1914 Star. He gained a clasp to this medal which was awarded to men who had served under fire in France between 5 August and 22 November 1914.

Cyril’s older brother, Herbert, also served during the First World War as part of the 66 Punjabi Regiment. He was killed in Mesopotamia on 3 February 1917.

Civil Parish: Durham Crossgate

Birth date: 30-Jul-1890

Death date: 26-Oct-1914

Armed force/civilian: Air Force

Residence: Karachi (Birthplace)
5 Dynevor Rd, Bedford (1901 census)
Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich (1911 census)
1 Slaverton Road, Oxford (Mother’s address 1914)

Education: Durham School 1902-1908

Family: Parents: Edward Hosking, Annette Hosking nee Taylor
Siblings: Emily May Hosking, Evelyn Hosking, Mildred Hosking, Ethelwyn Hosking, Kathleen Hosking, Herbert Edward Hosking, Sylvia Hosking, Harold William Hosking

Military service:

Royal Field Artillery
2nd Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps
4th Squadron

Medal(s): 1914 Star with clasp
Victory Medal
British War Medal

Memorial(s): Organ and Plaques 1914-1918 St Margaret of Antioch, Durham
War Record 1914-18, Durham School
Chapel 1914-18 1939-45 Durham School
War Memorial St Margaret’s Church, Oxford
Cheltonian Roll of Honour

Gender: Male

Contributed by Fiona Johnson - Durham