BORN HULL 1888. FOURTH SON OF EDWARD THOMAS WILCOX (1854-1930) & THE LATE ELIZA LEE (1854-1909), OF 15, ESTCOURT STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS) AND 4, MATLOCK VILLAS, ESTCOURT STREET, HULL. SON OF A DOCK STEVEDORE. HE HAD THREE BROTHERS AND TWO SISTERS. HIS MOTHER, DIED ON 28/12/1909. HE WORKED AS A DOCK LABOURER. HE WAS 5 FOOT TALL, 35-37 INCH CHEST, 125 LBS WEIGHT.
HE MARRIED, CATHERINE MOUNTAIN, AT HULL, ON 23/12/1909. THEY LIVED AT 8, ELDERADO AVENUE, ARUNDEL STREET, HULL AND 4, MATLOCK VILLAS, ESCOURT STREET, HULL AND HAD ONE SON, CALLED HAROLD, BORN 04/09/1910.
HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS, ON 11/12/1914. TRAINED AT RIPON. SERVED WITH THE 11TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. WOUNDED WITH SHELL SHOCK, ON 04/06 1916. CAUGHT FLU, ON 09/08/1916. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 29. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WEE LEFT TO HIS WIDOW, CATHERINE, WHO MOVED TO 27, WINDSOR ROAD, LIVERPOOL.
HIS BROTHER, GEORGE WILCOX, 4TH EYR WAS KILLED IN ACTION, ON 27/03/1918, AGED 24. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WENT TO HIS FATHER, EDWARD THOMAS WILCOX, WHO MOVED TO BERNARD VILLAS, WHITLEY BRIDGE, GOOLE (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
Hull Pals Memorial Post. Private, ALBERT WILLCOX 11/1219. Born in January 1888, Albert was the fourth of six children to Edward and Eliza Willcox of 117 Durham Street, Hull. A Stevedore before the war, he married Catherine Mountain in October 1909 and the couple lived at 4 Matlock Villas, Estcourt Street with their son Harold. When war came, Albert and his little brother George queued at City Hall enlisting together in the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. They travelled to Egypt together but were separated in June 1916 when George was removed from the line with shellshock. They treated him for a month and then sent him back to the trenches, only this time to the 4th Battalion East Yorkshire’s without even his brother to look after him. Albert was killed in action on 3rd May 1917 in front of Oppy Wood, George on 27th March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive. Neither body was recovered and the brothers are commemorated on two distant memorials; Albert at Arras and George at Pozieres; they were 29 and 24 respectively.
