 10 July 2016
During a conversation at the lovely Caldecotte Lake Railway, we learnt that
a centenary memorial service
at St Mary's, Shenley Church End, Milton Keynes had just taken place
for casualty George Cox. He was a stoker in the Royal Navy, and died on 10
July 1916.
Born on 18 February 1877 at Deddington, Oxfordshire,
George was 38 when he died, and was the fourth son and one of the middle children amongst the
fifteen children of James Cox, a labourer, and his wife Phyllis, née Massey,
who had married in 1866. The family probably moved to Shenley in about 1885.
George joined the Royal Navy when he was 20, and had gone as far as India
and China. At the beginning of the Great War he was serving on HMS Canada,
and took part in the battle at Heligoland Bight in August 1914. He also saw
action in December 1914 at the Falkland Islands and off the coast of
Scarborough and Whitby when the towns were attacked by enemy battleships.
Unfortunately, becoming progressively more ill, he was taken to hospital at
Gosport around March 1916. Diagnosed with tuberculosis he was discharged for
home on 17 June. Although he managed short walks around the village when he
felt a little better, the illness claimed him just three weeks later, at
midnight.
He was buried from his London Road home in an elm coffin,
borne by eight men from the Royal Engineers Signals Section.
On learning more about George Cox we discovered that he is recorded by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) in their United Kingdom Book of
Remembrance. This is for service casualties who haven't been formally
recorded and for whom the location of their grave is uncertain. We
contacted the CWGC to let them know where George Cox is buried, so they
could update their records.
We're delighted to say this has been done. He is recorded as George Cox,
Stoker 1st Class, 286539, HMS Victory, Royal Navy, died 10 July 1916, grave
at car park side, row 4, grave 6.
Stoker Cox is the only war casualty recorded by the CWGC at St Mary's,
Shenley Church End. | 
