Cecil William Buckley was born at Patricroft, near Eccles in Lancashire on 7 October 1828 and entered the Royal Navy in 1845. On the outbreak of the war with Russia in 1854, he was serving as a lieutenant on the frigate HMS Miranda, sent first to the White Sea then, in early 1855, to the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov.
He was a 26-year-old lieutenant when the following deeds took place during the Sea of Azov naval campaign of 1855, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross, as cited in the London Gazette:
"The first service occurred after the shelling of the town of Genitchi, on the 29th May, 1855. After mentioning that the stores were in a very favourable position for supplying the Russian Army, and that, therefore, their destruction was of the utmost importance, Lieutenant Cecil W. Buckley, Lieutenant Hugh T Burgoyne, and Mr John Robarts, gunner, volunteered to land alone, and fire the stores, which offer I accepted, knowing the imminent risk there would be in landing a party in presence of such a superior force, and out of gun-shot of the ships. This very dangerous service they most gallantly performed, narrowly escaping the Cossacks, who all but cut them off from their boat."
Despatch from Admiral Lord Lyons, 2 June 1855, No. 419.
The second volunteer service was performed while the town of Taganrog was being bombarded by the boats of the Fleet:
"Lieutenant Cecil Buckley, in a four-oared gig, accompanied by Mr Henry Cooper, Boatswain, and manned by volunteers, repeatedly landed and fired the different stores and Government buildings. This dangerous, not to say desperate service (carried out in a town containing upwards of 3,000 troops, constantly endeavouring to prevent it, and only checked by the fire of the boats' guns), was most effectually performed."
Despatch from Admiral Lord Lyons, 6 June 1855, No, 429.
He was among the first winners of the VC to be gazetted on 24 February 1857, together with Burgoyne, Robarts and Cooper.
Buckley retired from the Royal Navy in the rank of Captain in 1872 due to poor health. He died on the island of Madeira, Portugal, on 7 December 1872, age 44, and was buried in the British Cemetery in Funchal.