Cecil Howard Mahoney was born on 10 December 1891 at Byron Street Hobart to John Mahoney and his wife Eliza. At one time John Mahoney was employed as a policeman.
Cecil Mahoney enlisted 4 December 1914 at Liverpool, New South Wales, but Cecil got cold feet and deserted. Returning to his home state, Cecil seems to have reconsidered his situation or decided that he did want to enlist, this time dropping his middle name.
Cecil has an unenviable record having been charged with being absent without leave on ten separate occasions, once for neglect of duty and one for making a false statement. Despite having spent the vast majority of the period of service either in detention or in hospital, Private Cecil Mahoney did spend time at the front being sent to France in early August 1918 where he was taken on strength with the 49th Battalion. He returned to England with the battalion but his brushes with authority still had not run their course with one final offence when he was charged with being absent without leave.
While we may never understand why Cecil was determined to enlist, it would seem that he found the thought of serving in the front line something too difficult to contemplate hence the string of offences that kept him out of the firing line.
We know little about Cecil post World War 1. A notice in the Mercury simply mentioned that he had died at Moonah on 13 April 1951 aged 59 years, the second eldest son of John and Eliza, late First AIF.
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