Walter Henry Pocock

[Phil Wood]

Every now and then I manage to identify one of the dwindling number of names on the Newbury war memorial who have remained obscure since I started my research 5 years ago.  It's always a good day when I achieve this - especially as the remaining 'headaches' as I refer to them have defied repeated attempts in the past.  Nevertheless it is all too often a record I have overlooked that provides the key rather than some wondrous new information.

 

Today I have indentified W H Pocok as Walter Henry Pocock, who died in Newbury on 4 April 1919 aged 53. It's easy to overlook a chap in his 50s, but I have the following news item:

 

Newbury Weekly News, 3 October 1918 -  Local War Notes

Mrs Walter Pocock, of Old Newtown Road, with her five children, has received the news that her husband, Gunner W Pocock, after five weeks in hospital in France, has arrived in England, and is undergoing special treatment at Llandudnod, Wales.

 

The is clearly referring to Walter Henry Pocock of that address, born in Newbury in 1866 - older than the norm, but nevertheless wounded or taken sick in France.

 

The only match I can find in the medal rolls is Gunner Walter H Pocock 162479 RFA. I can find no service/pension records apart from his appearance as next of kin in his son's records. His death is not recorded by the CWGC.

 

Walter Henry was repatriated for further special treatment at Llandudnod  QUESTION Does anyone know if there was a hospital in Llandudnod that specialised in the treatment of any particular disease or wound type?

 

In order the bring him in from the cold I need to relate his death to his time in the army. Given that he died only 7 months after being brought back to a UK hospital it seems quite likely that the two are linked - but, without documentary evidence to connect the death in Newbury to a specific soldier and to a service related condition it may be impossible to prove. I will get his death certificate and hope!  

 

Edited 21 June , 2017 by Phil Wood

[David_Underdown]

There's a thread on hospitals in Llandudno (which I assume is the actual location) here

Also a survey of sites by CADW (the Welsh equivalent of English Heritage) http://www.heneb.co.uk/ww1/reports/ww1infrastructureandsupport.pdf some stuff on the Home Front Museum website too eg https://homefrontmuseum.wordpress.com/tag/plas-tudno/

[Phil Wood]

Thanks David - the CADW report is particularly useful.  It was a long shot, but I was hoping to find a hospital specialising in something that might show up on his death certificate, which doesn't seem too be evident.  Can't say that I am surprised.

 

I have also now checked the local paper for information on his death, but there is nothing apart from an uninformative notice in the family announcements column. I have also checked and found that there is no entry in the Soldiers Effects Register - so he must surely have been discharged (ie his death certificate will not show he was still serving). Without more to go on it is barely worth ordering the death certificate.

Edited 16 April , 2018 by Phil Wood

[Phil Wood]

I have now convinced myself who this chap was - and I was wrong in my opening post, he was not the chap invalided to Llandudno.

 

He was 53 year old Walter Henry Pocock of 6 Waterloo Terrace, Newbury. An old soldier, he served in the Boer War and mobilised in 1914 as a member of the National Reserve. He became a guard at the internment/PoW camp at Newbury Racecourse in September 1914 moving with the PoWs in November to prison ships anchored off Ryde. While serving in this role on HMS Ascania he was taken ill and subsequently invalided out of the army. He returned to Newbury, where he died on 14 April 1919. 

 

His family must have blamed his army service for his early demise and put his name forward for commemoration on the Newbury memorial.

 

Without a copy of his records, notably the cause of his medical discharge, it is unlikely that the CWGC will ever recognise hims as a casualty of war, so this thread must serve as his memorial (his story will appear on my website when I've written it up).

 

[Phil Wood]

On 15/04/2018 at 15:36, JohnPocock said:

i am very pleased and grateful to read the above of Walter Henry Pocock who was from 6 Waterloo Terrace, Newbury.

He was my grandfather and my daughter and i have been attempting for some time to trace his war record.

We would be pleased if we could find out what regiment he served in during the Boer War.

The regiments name is illegible on his marriage certificate

 

 

I'm afraid I haven't done much more work on Walter Pocock and haven't seen his marriage details - I will try to get into the library in the next day or two to see if the marriage register entry is clear enough to tell his regiment. However, it does not necessarily mean it is the regiment he went to S Africa with.  There are quite a few W Pococks in the Boer War medal rolls, hopefully the regiment will match one of these.

 

[Phil Wood]

Pocock's marriage register entry (2 Aug 1897) gives his occupation as "labourer late 1st Northants Regiment". This doesn't seem to help with regards Boer War service.

[Guest]

Thank you very much.

The fact you were able to "decipher" the regiment helps my daughter and I

Once again thank you must sincerely for the information you have given.

Very best regards,

John W.Pocock