Name
Edwin Walter Cox (*1)
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
16/05/1915
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
12992
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHOCQUES MILITARY CEMETERY
I. C. 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
I'M BUT A STRANGER HERE HEAVEN IS MY HOME
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Apsley End,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, (Separate Panel)
Pre War
Edwin Walter Cox (known as Ted) was born in 1894 in Bethnal Green, Hackney, Middx, the son Albert & Emma Cox, and baptised on 12 September 1894 at St Simon Zelotes Church, Bethnal Green. He was one of three children and at the time of his birth his father was working as a vellum binder and the family were living at 186 Devonshire Street, Bethnal Green.
By 1901 the family had moved to 10 Feather Bed Lane, Two Waters, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Vellum Binder in the Paper Mill (John Dickinson & Co) and his older brother Albert was doing the same.
When Ted left school in 1907 he started work with Pemsel and Wilson Ltd which was a motor bus company but he had changed jobs by the time of 1911 Census when the family had moved to Apsley View, Ebberns Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts and all the family were working in the Paper Mill except his mother. Ted was then working as a General Porter.
Wartime Service
Ted enlisted in Hertford in late August 1914 and joined the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, being sent to Harwich for basic training. He arrived in France on 17 March 1915 and joined his Battalion near Laventie, seeing his first action in late March. A letter which he wrote to his brother Albert was published in a local newspaper and described the dangers from German snipers. "The German snipers are crack shots. I have had some near goes this last two or three days......... when a bullet passed between our heads and hit an apple tree near us"
The Battalion had moved to Festubert in preparation for a planned assault and were engaged in trench improvement works and night patrols when Ted was wounded in the head in the early evening. He was moved to a Casualty Clearing Station but died of his wounds a few days later on 16 May 1915, aged 20 and is buried at Chocques Military Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
*1 We believe this man appears as E C Cox on the Aspley End memorial.
His father, Albert Henry Cox, of 29 Storey Street, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., ordered his headstone inscription: "I'M BUT A STRANGER HERE HEAVEN IS MY HOME".
His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £2 14s 4d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
N.B. some military records give his first name as Edward.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.or.guk, www,hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
