Photo's of Northamptonshire Men/Women Both Wars Wanted Please

[seahall]

HI Phil.

Thanks for your replying to message left on your Daventry Roll of Honour Topic.

You must be exhausted after reading all the pages. 

At the moment I am collating as much information I can about Northamptonshire Men
 such as CWGC graves (also non war graves mentioning the Soldier on the family
headstone) in the Northants Cemeteries and headstone from abroad if available, the
 mens personal records, photographs, etc, etc.

I am in-debted to folk who have kindly donated photographs of their relatives
here and elsewhere who also served but were not killed.

I will P.M. you about your kind offer which is greatly appreciated.

I have been to Daventry and taken photographs of the War Memorial
(nearly fell down the slope) and all possible graves I could find in the
Churchyard.

I do appreciate the photograph though, as I am sure others will.

Will be in touch, thanks again.

Sandy

[seahall]

Hi again Phil.

Thank you for the e-mail and all the brilliant information contained
in it also. 

I would also like to thank the folk on Alan's site that have allowed me to
use their information, I greatly appreciate it as it adds to the
stories of these courageous men.

Although the information is in the public domain asking to using it
means that I have in some cases gleaned more, and I feel it was
only polite to ask.

If any of you would like a remembrance card just ask.

I am deeply touched by all the folk who are being so kind in their
assistance with my project.

Sandy

[PhilA]

Sandy - My Grandad. I will get photos from Daventry WW1 memorial project.
Stevbie - Some of 112 men on Daventry WW1 Memorial were Northamptonshire Regt - names to follow. Many are my relations hence I've been asked to help them. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Northamptonshire/Daventry.html

Please Anyone who can add anything on my G/Dad I'd be very grateful for.

Stanley Walter MARRIOTT my maternal G/dad b 1894 Northampton 18 Oakley St, C1911 at 77 Cecil Rd

Enlisted in Army Pay Corps (most of cousins in Daventry went into infantry or artillery).
Picture far R at back as Cpl in RAPC.  Regt No: 103620 and seems kept same Regt no as it's on his medal rim?
17/11/16 - APC Event  (I have the original Dining Out menu signed by all the 60 men): "On occasion of NCOs and men transferring to combatent units". Stan went into Machine Gun Corps (But their archivist unable to help identify his unit, war diary or service) - but G/dad kept this move secret from family (Maybe - he saw no need to alarm them considering 20 deaths of relatives in DAVENTRY?). Only found out he was in MGC two years ago when doing my family tree (during my rehabilitation) and found old docs.

1919 - Certifcate from Maj-Gen Kellett for MGC service to CQMS SW MARRIOTT. Very responsible role.
Got Arabic bank notes (confirms he served in 'Mespot'.)
Got Cyrillic ticket stubs (noted that MGC served in NW Russia) - where??
1919 Demobbed lived Norman Rd, Abington. 4 daughters. Worked at Crockett & Jones. A gentleman.
Sep 74 aged 79 was best man for his brother in law who re-married at age 94!!

I'll spread word for your request.

Regards

Phil (EX Army & RAF - and there's a story!)

[hertford]

There is an article in Family Tree this month about Fred Cockerill of Northampton Regiment ( a survivor of the Hush Campaign) and his showgirl wife.

[seahall]

Thank you Phil for your assistance, appreciated.

I have a Charles William Marriott (2nd Lieut., 5th Bn Roy. Berks) @ 77 Cecil Road
 noted in the Absent Voters List 1919.

Hopefully Steve can confirm.

The photographs you have put on the forum and information
is once again gratefully received by myself and others here.

hertford thank you very much also about the article, I will try and get a copy.

Sandy

[Stebie9173]

I will pick up the magazine and view the article with interest. This is my own biography on Frederick Charles Cockerill:

Lieutenant Frederick Charles Cockerill

Frederick Charles Cockerill was born in 1882 in Northampton. Frederick was the son of Thomas Cockerill (1849-1889) and Mrs. Matilda Jane Cockerill (1851-1933, nee Faulkner), of 74 Swan Street, Northampton. Frederick had one brother and one sister - Thomas Ernest Cockerill (born in 1873) and Ethel Jane Cockerill (born in 1877).

Educated at Northampton School, Frederick Cockerill played cricket for Northamptonshire prior to the war. Moving to London, Frederick became a music hall manager, a position that enabled him to meet his future wife – Lilian George, who was better known as Queenie Leighton, a music hall star during the 1900s and 1910s.

Queenie Leighton was born on 18th July 1872 as Lilian George in Auroraville, Wisconsin and came to England at a young age. She first appeared on stage at the age of eight in Oxford, and began her stage career proper as Lilian Leighton when she appeared at Northampton in 1889. In the 1900s and 1910s she became a music hall start – appearing in a long run of shows at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She also appeared at the Gaiety Theatre, the Coliseum and the Tivoli. She was well known as a principal boy in pantomime.

When Frederick Cockerill joined the Army in November 1914 it was as a Private in the 28th Battalion of the London Regiment (Artist’s Rifles). Allocated No. 2879, Private Cockerill embarked to France on 14th February 1915. There he joined the establishment of the 1/28th Battalion who were operating as Officers Training Corps based at Bailleul. In April 1915 the Artists’ Rifles moved to St Omer. Like many of the men with the Artist’s Rifles, Frederick Cockerill received his officer training over the five and a half months he spent with them in France and was discharged to a Commission on 29th July 1915.

Despite being discharged to his commission in July 1915, Frederick Cockerill was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 24th October 1915. At that time he was on leave in the UK, during which time he married Lilian George / Queenie Leighton at Fulham Registry Office on 27th October 1915. The next day, 28th October 1915, Second Lieutenant Cockerill returned to France and was posted to 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment on arrival. The battalion spent the time that Frederick Cockerill was with them in the Loos sector through the rest of 1915 and the first half of 1916. Many of the officers moved companies within the battalion on a fairly regular basis, of which there is little record, but Second Lieutenant Cockerill was part of  “A” Company as of April 1916, and by the beginning of July 1916 had moved to “D” Company.

On 20th July 1916, the battalion took part in an operation in the “Switch Line” trench system near Pozieres, where the battalion bombed it’s way along the trench system that was partly held by the British and partly by the Germans. Second Lieutenant Cockerill was heavily involved in the attacks with grenades on the German barricades, both in personally bombing the German barricades and in leading his men in the same. The Germans fought back with grenades of their own, one exploding near Frederick Cockerill and wounding him with numerous small fragments. Though Second Lieutenant Cockerill walked away from the battle with his wounds, he was evacuated back to England.

[Stebie9173]

Recovery from his wounds took Frederick Cockerill about six months, and he returned to the 1st Battalion in April 1917. Second Lieutenant Cockerill was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant on 1st July 1917.

On 10th July 1917, the 1st Battalion was decimated in the Battle of the Dunes where it lost all the men and officers (apart from nine men) that were stationed in the dunes at Nieuport when the Germans launched their attack. Fortunately for Lieutenant Cockerill he was not on duty in the dunes on that fateful day for the battalion, instead being one of the ten battalion officers either behind the lines or on leave.

From the end of August 1917 until the end of September the battalion and the rest of the 1st Division were sequestered under “quarantine” whilst training for Operation Hush, an amphibious assault on the Belgian coast, however a lack of progress in the Ypres offensives on which the operation was largely reliant meant the plan was postponed and eventually cancelled. After coming out of quarantine, the battalion headed off to the Ypres salient but arrived once the offensive had faltered.

Replacing worn out units in the line, the 1st Battalion spent the rest of 1917 and the first three months of 1918 in the Ypres Salient, where they were when the German offensive was launched further south. The battalion’s action on the 21st March 1918 – when the rest of the British Army was on the retreat – consisted of a raid on the German trenches to discover whether the Germans planned an attack in that sector. That part of the Western Front was quiet however, and the 48th was soon moved south to bolster the defences at Givenchy.

Going into the line at Givenchy in April 1918, the 1st Northamptons were called on to help recapture high ground north of Givenchy on the 19th April 1918. Lieutenant Cockerill was part of “A” Company during that attack and was wounded during the recapture of the lost trenches. His evacuation from Givenchy ended his overseas involvement in the Great War.

On recovery – at least partially – from his wounds, Frederick Cockerill was attached to the Machine Gun Corps and appointed as an acting Captain whilst employed as an Assistant Instructor in the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) from 11th November 1918 to 16th December 1918 / 12th January 1919.


Fred and Queenie's photo from the local press:

[seahall]

Thanks for listing Steve.

Sandy

[Stebie9173]

The Northampton Roll of Honour from 1916 (from Northants Family Tree site) shows:

Charles William MARRIOTT, 77 CECIL ROAD, 7TH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, SERGEANT
Stanley Walter MARRIOTT, 77 CECIL ROAD, ARMY PAY CORPS, CORPORAL

http://www.northants-familytree.net/soldier%20index%20roll%20of%20honour.htm


The 1918 AVL shows:

Marriott, Charles William, 77 Cecil Road, Cadet, Officer Training Corps, Pirbright.

There is no entry for Stanley Walter Marriott at that address.


It is sometimes possible to garner some information from the records of men with nearby numbers. That of Percy Thomas Wooldridge, who also served in the APC and then the MGC may be helpful in giving us some possible dates of transfer:


Percy Thomas Wooldridge

Enlisted on 20-11-1914
A railway clerk
Posted to Army Pay Corps, No. 3733
Transferred to 96th Training Reserve Battalion, No. TR/7/17600 on 24-3-1917
Transferred to Machine Gun Corps, No. 103625 on 10-5-1917
To France on 10-8-1917
Posted to 54th Company M.G.C. (54th Brigade, 18th Division)
To Base Depot, 1-11-1917
Transferred back to Army Pay Corps, No. 3733 (as previously), on 29-12-1917
Class Z Reserve on 8-4-1919


We cannot however rely on the unit that Pte. Wooldridge was posted to being the same as that to which Stanley Marriott was posted.


I think that "Major General Kellett" is Major-General Richard Orlando Kellett, C.B., C.M.G. (14.1.1864 - 12.11.1931) who commanded 99th Infantry Brigade from 1916 to 1918 and then one of the Machine Gun Corps Training Centres from 1918 to 1919. Presumably the certificate is from his later duties so gives us no clues as to his whereabouts whilst overseas.



Steve.