Name
Percy William Cocks
1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/05/1918
34
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
104012
Machine Gun Corps
49th Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY
IX.B.28
France
Headstone Inscription
PEACE PERFECT PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Welwyn Village Memorial, Welwyn St Mary the Virgin Roll of Honour, Welwyn
Pre War
Percy William Cocks was born in Welwyn in 1883, the son of Camper and Sarah Cocks. Camper was a well known plumber in the village, living in Unity Place, Church Street. Both Percy and his younger brother Cecil became Bakers, Cecil staying in the village.
Percy had been exempt from service due to his Certified Occupation as a Baker, but in January 1917 he was called before the Brentford Tribunal who wished to remove his certified occupation status, it’s decision was made on the 8th February- ‘This Appellant had previously received from this Tribunal exemption on the grounds that he was engaged in the certified occupation of a bread baker. He is aged 31 and single, and as he was unable to produce a certificate of classification by a Recruiting Medical Board, notwithstanding the request to him to do so, the Tribunal had to conclude that he was fit for general service, and, consequently, removed from the list of certified occupations.’
Percy, or more likely his employer, appealed against this decision and that appeal was heard on the 27th February 1917 in the Guildhall, Westminster. His appeal was dismissed, and he was told that he would be called up after 14 days.
Wartime Service
Percy enlisted in Brentford, Essex.
The 49th Machine Gun Company had been in France since April 1916 and had fought in the Battle of the Somme 1916 and Messines & Langemarck in 1917, Percy was wounded around Nov /Dec 1917. By April 1918 the 49th had transferred to the Somme area and were in involved in heavy fighting sustaining heavy casualties of which Percy was killed on the 1st May 1918, just six weeks before the company was disbanded. He is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £11 15s 11d. His mother received a pension of 4 shillings a week.
His mother, Mrs. S. Cocks, of Church St., Welwyn, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "PEACE PERFECT PEACE".
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Brenda Palmer
Paul Jiggens, Welwyn and District History Society - www.welwynww1.co.uk, Brenda Palmer
