BORN COTTINGHAM, 1898. SON OF GEORGE CHRISTOPHER & REBECCA COCKERILL, OF 6,ETON TERRACE, PROVIDENCE ROW, HULL AND CLOUGH ROAD, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESSES). HUSBAND OF EDITH MAY COCKERILL, OF HALTOFT END, FRIESTON, LINCS. WORKED AS A SHOP ASSITANT FOR WILLIAM CUSSONS. DESCRIBED AS 5’6½”, 34½” chest, 124lbs, FAIR PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, CHURCH OF ENGLAND RELIGION.
ENLISTED UNDERGAE, AT HULL, ON 22/10/1915. SERVED IN THE 3RD/1ST EAST RIDING YEOMANRY. DISCHARGED AT REQUEST OF FATHER FOR BEING UNDERAGE, ON 11/02/1916. RE-ENLISTED AS, PRIVATE, 39595, WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. TRANSFERRED TO THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 14/08/1918, AGED 19.
BURIED IN FRANCE. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS. HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE”.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE WILFRED COCKERILL 50963. Born in September 1898, Wilfred was the youngest of six children and only son of Christopher and Rebecca Cockerill of 111, Belmont Street, Newbridge Road, Hull. Apprenticed to W Cussons, he enlisted at Hull City Hall aged only 17 telling them he was 19. Joining originally as 39595 in the West Yorkshire Regiment his lie was exposed when his father wrote to the army demanding they return his son. They duly obliged, but not to be held from adventure by such trivialities Wilfred simply waited two months until he came of age and rejoined, this time in the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 2nd Hull Pals. He returned home on leave early in 1918 and married Edith Burkitt in March, spending a few brief days with his new wife before returning to a crisis as the German Spring Offensive threatened to break the allied lines. It was the last she saw of him. Wilfred Cockerill was fatally wounded and died at the hospital centre in St. Omer on 14th August 1918. He is buried in Longuenesse Military Cemetery; he was 19 years old. Christopher Cockerill had done his best, but he could not save his only son.
