COCKERILL, Charles Cahill
| Service Number: | 1523 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade |
| Born: | New Norfolk, Tasmania, Australia, 29 August 1891 |
| Home Town: | Queenstown, West Coast, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 12 August 1916, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, New Norfolk War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1523, 3rd Light Horse Regiment | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 1523, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: SS Hawkes Bay embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 28 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 1523, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, SS Hawkes Bay, Melbourne | |
| 13 May 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Gunner, 22nd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade | |
| 12 Aug 1916: | Involvement Gunner, 1523, Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1523 awm_unit: 19th Battery 22nd Brigade Field Artillery awm_rank: Gunner awm_died_date: 1916-08-12 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Charles died a few weeks short of his 25th birthday. Although in his file he is recorded as being buried in a military cemetery in Mametz Valley, with map coordinates of the cemetery, his grave was subsequently lost.
He was educated by his mother, with only a few months at State School. He was taught painting and wall papering but became a farmer. His only brother, 3285 Pte Francis Douglas Cockerill, 5th Pioneer Battalion, was killed in action on the same day at Pozieres, France.
In a letter to Base Records late 1916, their mother Mary stated “I have lost my only two, but if I had two more, I would willingly give them, as I did those.”
In 1920 in she wrote, in answer to queries about the father,
“I had charge of a state school in Tasmania but when the sons were in danger I could no longer teach, when the notice of the deaths reached us, I was hardly conscious for some months, and my daughter kindly took care of me and as I am still feeble and weak and she still looks after my affairs, though I am living in Victoria.
My husband is some years younger than I and does not keep me, in fact I always worked at my profession to educate the children, and had it not been for the war, my sons would have kept me in the greatest comfort, instead of which I am in dire necessity. All appeal to say ‘You have a right to a pension and you ought to have a gratuity to get you a home’ But I do not get either.” Yours faithfully M.B. Cockerill, August 1920.
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