BORN SCARBOROUGH 30/5/1877. ELDEST SON OF THE LATE HENRY COCKERILL & SARAH ANN COCKERILL, OF 41 BUCKINGHAM STREET, HULL. HE JOINED THE NAVY, AGE OF 15 AND SPENT 24 YEARS IN THE SERVICE. HE HAD COMPLETED HIS TERM TWO MONTHS AGO, BUT WHEN WAR CAME HE WAS RETAINED. HE A CHIEF PETTY OFFICER, IN THE ROYAL NAVY AND WAS HIGHLY RESPECTED BY ALL WHO KNEW HIM. HE WAS KILLED WHEN THE VANGUARD EXPLODED IN SCARPA FLOW, ON 09/07/1917. HE WAS 40 YEARS OLD AND LEFT A WIDOWED MOTHER, TWO BROTHERS, AND A SISTER TO MOURN HIS LOSS. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON THE 17TH JULY 1917, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *
The eighth HMS Vanguard of the British Royal Navy was a St Vincent class battleship, an enhancement of the ´dreadnought´ design built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in April 1909, commissioned into the Royal Navy at Devonport in October 1910, and spent her life in the Home Fleet. At the outbreak of World War I, she joined the First Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow, and fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Fourth Battle Squadron. She was a part of the action from beginning to end, but did not suffer any damage or casualties. Just before midnight on Monday, July 9, 1917, Vanguard suffered an explosion in one of the two magazines which served the amidships turrets P and Q. She sank almost instantly, killing 677 men. In terms of loss of life, the explosion on HMS Bulwark remains the second most catastrophic explosion in the history of the UK, killing 738 sailors. The most deadly explosion in British history was that of HMS Vanguard, caused by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.
