[5][4] Gourley was 24 years old, and a sergeant in D (Howitzer) Battery of 276th (West Lancashire) Brigade, RFA, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

[6][a] On 30 November 1917 at Little Priel Farm, east of Epehy, France, during the Battle of Cambrai, Sergeant Gourley was in command of a section of howitzers of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division.

During an enemy advance, when their forces were within a few hundred yards of him, both to the front and on one flank, and though plagued by snipers, Sergeant Gourley managed to keep one gun firing.

All day he held the Germans in check, firing over open sights on enemy parties, thereby saving his guns, which were withdrawn at nightfall.

Gourley was originally denied an officer's commission due to "defective eyesight", but, after being made a second lieutenant in the RFA, later rose to the rank of captain.

[17] In 1952, Gourley, "a modest, kindly and courteous gentleman", moved to Haslemere, Surrey, where he died on 31 January 1982, at the age of eighty-nine.

[17] The Trustees of The Cyril Edward Gourley Victoria Cross Endowment, Registered Charity 525987, set up in his honour after the First World War from local donations, provide grants to University Students who attended schools, or reside in the Hoylake and West Kirby area, subject to certain conditions.