PRIVATE NEILSON RILEY YOUHILL YOUHILL
CANADIAN INFANTRY
9TH DECEMBER 1916 AGE 19
BURIED: HOVE OLD CEMETERY, UK
Neilson Youhill was 19 when he died in the Second Eastern General Hospital, Brighton on 9 December 1916. He had been in hospital, undiagnosed, since the 7th, feverish and restless when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died at 5 am on the 9th. A post-mortem revealed cerebro-spinal fever (meningitis). From looking at his service record, it would appear that having enlisted on 15 December 1915 he arrived in Britain on 5 July 1916 but never joined his regiment in France. This is confirmed by the fact that he was only entitled to the British War Medal; to be entitled to the Victory Medal a soldier needed to have served in a war zone.
His father, Samuel Youhill, signed for his inscription: 'Our baby boy'. Youhill named his grandmother, Mrs Elizabeth Riley, as his next-of-kin. She was also described as his foster-mother on official forms. She received his memorial plaque. His step-sister, Miss E Riley, received his medals. To the three of them he was their 'baby boy'. I would imagine that his mother was dead.