Cox, William Ernest

BORN HAINTON, LINCS, 1878. SON OF JOHN & SARAH COX FROM LOUTH. WIFE EMELIA HENRIETTA COX LIVED AT 47 ST LUKE’S STREET, HULL. SERVED IN THE BOER WAR. A FORMER DOCKER. KILLED IN ACTION, AT SERRE, ON 03/11/1916, AGED 38.
PRIVATE WILLIAM ERNEST COX 12/330. Born 25th August 1878 in Hainton, Lincolnshire William was the second child of John and Sarah Cox. He appears to have served in the Army previously and looks to have been in South Africa during the Boer War. By the time a different war was declared William was working as a Dock Labourer and was living with his wife Amelia at 47 St. Luke’s Street, Hull with his four children Elsie, Annie, Rhoda and Stanley. He enlisted at City Hall on 16th August 1914 joining the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 3rd Hull Pals. He served in Egypt over the winter of 1915-16 and arrived in France early in March. Whether life in the trenches had taken its toll or whether the opportunity was just too tempting to resist, William was arrested for being drunk in the field on 12th July 1916 and sentenced to 28 days Field Punishment No.1. That was nothing though to the scene in front of Serre when he met his fate. Wading through mud up to their waists in places, the 12th and 13th battalions were ordered into the attack and were decimated. The date was 13th November 1916. It was the last action of the Somme campaign, and it cost William his life and four children their father. He is buried in Euston Road Cemetery; he was 38 years old.