Harold George COX

Harold George COX Update Details

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S3182

COX, Harold George

Service Number:	56
Enlisted:	21 August 1914, Morphettville, South Australia
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	50th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Adelaide, South Australia, 2 May 1894
Home Town:	Kensington, South Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Photographer
Died:	Natural causes, Adelaide, South Australia, 24 March 1956, aged 61 years
Cemetery:	Enfield Memorial Park, South Australia
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

21 Aug 1914:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 56, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Morphettville, South Australia
22 Oct 1914:	Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 56, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: ''
22 Oct 1914:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 56, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Port Lincoln, Adelaide
23 Feb 1919:	Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 56, 50th Infantry Battalion
Date unknown:	Wounded 56, 50th Infantry Battalion

Help us honour Harold George Cox's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography

"THE VICTORIA CROSS. WON BY ADELAIDE BOY.

A quiet, unassuming young man, not given to boasting, Corporal H. G. Cox, of the 3rd Light Horse, mentions casually in a letter home that he is going to England to get his V.C. Corporal Cox comes from Kensington. He is the son of Mr. G. Cox, of High-street, and before enlisting was employed as a photographer by Harringtons. On joining the Light Horse he was attached to the machine gun section, and while in Gallipoli was promoted to his present rank and placed in charge of the section. Writing home from a place unnamed in July, he says:-

"I thought out an idea for machine gun laying, and they sent me here on one of the boats to complete it. I am taking it back tomorrow. I think it will be a great success."

In a letter written some weeks later from Cairo, he mentions that he is in the hospital, and hopes soon to be home. This is signed "H. G. Cox, V.C., and was the first intimation the parents had that their son had won the coveted distinction, although another letter written by a soldier and published in "The Advertiser" some time previously mentioned that "Cox ought to have the V.C. for his work with the machine guns." In his last letter Corporal Cox says:-

"I shall not be home as soon as I thought I would, for I am going to England first, and while I am there I can get my V.C." At present Corporal Cox is in the Cardiff Hospital, in Wales." - from the Adelaide Advertiser 27 Oct 1915 (nla.gov.au)

**Newspaper Reports that Pte. Cox had been awarded the V.C. turned out to be erroneous.

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