Born:29 April 1894, Shipley
Died: 8 October 1952, Bradford Royal Infirmary
Buried: Windhill Cemetery
Address: 32 Pratt Lane, Windhill
Parents: Alfred & Kezia, nee Hoddy
Spouse: Lilian
Siblings: Herbert, Thomas, George
Occupation: Brick worker
Organisations/clubs:
Military
Rank: Pte
Medals/awards:
Rolls of Honour:
Children: Albert & James
Regiment: West Riding
Arthur Cocksedge
While the Shipley Times & Express
gave extensive coverage to local
men serving in WW1, they were
largely reliant on friends and
relatives passing on information.
Many men went through the war
without their story being told, men
like Arthur Percy Cocksedge of
Windhill, who we first read about
as the war was coming to an end
and then again, much later, in the
reports of his tragic death.
On 4 October 1918 the paper
reported:
Pte Arthur Cocksedge, Duke of
Wellington’s Regt, of Pratt Lane,
Crag End, Windhill, who is on
furlough awaiting an artificial leg,
fell down the steps of the Shipley
Billiard Hall in Rosse Street last
Friday afternoon.
He was unconscious when taken to
Sir Titus Salt’s Hospital and he was
in that condition when he was
removed in the ambulance the
following day to St Luke’s Hospital
in Bradford, the fall having resulted
in severe concussion.
Killed in Action
Pte Cocksedge’s father was killed
in action some time ago.
Research in Ancestry to try and find
how losing a leg affected Arthur’s
life, we learned that he was born in
Shipley on 29 April 1894, the son of
a boatman, Alfred Cocksedge, and
his wife Kezia. He was baptised at
St Paul’s the following month.
The family moved around the
Windhill area and by the time of the
1911 census with Kezia having died
two years before, Arthur, aged 17,
was living at 56 Valley Road and
described as a brick worker.
As well as his father, Arthur was
living with his siblings Herbert,
Thomas and George, and Mary
Hall, who was described as a
servant.
His army record doesn’t tell how he
lost his leg but does contain a
poignant letter from his
grandmother, Emma Hoddy, who
wrote:
Dear Sir
With reference to the telegram
which you sent about Pte Arthur
Cocksedge 266743 2/6 West
Riding Regiment, we wish to say
that we are extremely obliged to
you for same.
When you send any further news
please send it to the above address
as his father, Pioneer A
Cocksedge, late of 58 Briggate,
Windhill, was killed in action in
April 1917.
He left four sons, two are in
France, the two youngest are
living with me their grandmother
as their mother died a few years
ago. Enclosed you will find
addressed envelope.
Again thanking you
I remain
Yours respectfully
Mrs E Hoddy
The army papers also reveal that
Arthur was sent to the specialist
Queen Mary Hospital in
Roehampton to be fitted with an
artificial limb and that he was
discharged from the army on 8 July
1919.
It would appear from electoral
registers that Arthur lived for some
time with his grandmother at 32
Pratt Lane but by the time of the
1939 Register, he had married, was
working as a night watchman and
living with his wife, Lilian and
sons, Alfred and James at 41 West
Royd Avenue.
And that was his address in 1952
when he was involved in an
horrendous accident, reported in
the Shipley Times & Express on 13
October:
Shipley’s second shocking road
tragedy within a period of just over
four months occurred on Sunday
afternoon in Commercial Street.
Skidded
A Shipley father, mother and son
were standing waiting for a trolley
bus to take them to their home at 41
Westroyd Avenue, Windhill, when a
taxi skidded and crashed into them,
fatally injuring all three.
They were Mr Arthur Percy
Cocksedge, aged 57, his wife,
Lilian Cocksedge, aged 56, and Mr
William Hainsworth Hollings, aged
26, the son of Mrs Cocksedge by a
previous marriage. They all live at
the same address.
The accident occurred at the spot
where three Windhill girls had
miraculous escapes from injury in
June and within half a mile of the
tragedy at Saltaire roundabout
where, last April, a fire engine
crashed into a bus queue killing
two persons and injuring several
others.
The taxi driver, Mr William
Dearnley of 54 Granville Road,
Frizinghall, was uninjured but
badly shaken. He was taken to Salts
Hospital suffering from severe
shock. There were no passengers in
the taxi at the time. He is an
employee of Black and Gold Taxis,
4 Charles Street, Shipley.
The taxi was extensively damaged.
Its radiator hit the wall, enlarging a
hole made by the previous accident
at the same spot. The offside of the
car struck the trolley standard.
It is understood that a passing
motorist saw the accident but
Shipley Police are having difficulty
in obtaining eye-witnesses.
They request that anybody who
saw the accident or has any
information about it should
communicate with Shipley Police
Station.
The vehicle was traveling towards
Shipley from the direction of
Saltaire. Immediately after
rounding the bend near the Junction
Hotel it apparently skidded and
mounted the nearside pavement.
Mr Harold Marsh, licensee of the
Junction Hotel, Westgate, Shipley,
which overlooks the scene of the
tragedy, said: “I was having lunch
in the sitting room when we heard a
crash and I saw through the
window that a taxi had run into
three people standing at the trolley
bus stop.
“I dialled for the police and the
ambulance and
then took some
blankets to keep
them warm.
“A man with a
wooden leg was
lying about 20
yards along the
pavement from
the bus stop. He
was injured about
the head and
there was little
we could do for
him.
“Another man
and woman were
lying near the
taxi. The taxi
driver was
terribly shaken
and his speech
was incoherent
with shock. I
took him to the
hotel and gave
him a brandy.
“This was the third accident at the
same spot in the last nine months
and I never saw anything quite so
terrible. There was little we could
do for the victims,” added Mr
Marsh.
Mr and Mrs Cocksedge and Mr
Hollings were returning home from
the Shipley British Legion Institute
where they had met Mr
Cocksedge’s brother, Herbert, who
was probably the last person to
speak to them before the accident.
The call for an ambulance was first
put through to the Shipley Fire
Station but as there was no
ambulance driver available, an
ambulance was sent from Bradford.
Mrs Cocksedge was found to be
dead when the ambulance arrived
and she was taken to Salts Hospital.
Fractured skull
Mr Arthur Cocksedge, who
sustained a suspected fractured
skull, and Mr William Hollings,
whose right leg was severed below
the knee, his left leg fractured and
who also had a suspected fractured
skull, were taken to Bradford
Royal Infirmary where they died
later.
Mr Cocksedge was employed as a
night watchman by Shipley
Council’s Highways Department
and until recently worked for
Baildon Combing Company.
A member of the British Legion
(Shipley) Branch and the Institute,
he served with the 2/6 Duke of
Wellington’s Regiment in the
1914-18 war and lost a leg at
Cambrai in 1917,
Mrs Cocksedge was a social
member of the Institute.
Mr Hollings was employed by John
Smith (Shipley) Ltd, fruit
preservers, of Windhill. He was a
married man with a four-year-old
daughter.
Mrs Cocksedge had a son and a
daughter by her first marriage and
Mr and Mrs Cocksedge had two
young sons, one of whom, James,
is a cripple and is 16 years of age.
The inquest on the three victims of
the accident was opened and
adjourned at Shipley Town Hall
yesterday afternoon.
After taking formal evidence of
identification etc, the Deputy
Craven District Coroner, Mr J H
Winstanley, adjourned the inquest
until Wednesday, October 1, at 10
a.m.
Evidence was given by Mr
Laurence Holling of 9 Prospect
Walk, Windhill, brother of Mr
William Hollings, who identified
all three victims.
Dr D E Price, County pathologist,
who conducted the post mortem
examinations, said the cause of
death in every case was due to
shock and haemorrhage.
In the case of Mrs Cocksedge there
were multiple injuries; Mr
Cocksedge had fractures of the ribs
and the naso axillary lung; and Mr
Hollings, fractured skull and
amputation of the right leg.
Funeral
A week later, the newspaper carried
a report of the family’s funeral:
The funeral of the three victims of
last week’s street accident at
Shipley was held as a joint funeral
at Windhill Cemetery last
Thursday.
The three victims were Mr and Mrs
Arthur Percy Cocksedge and Mr
William Hainsworth Holling, all of
41 West Royd Avenue, Windhill.
The vicar of Windhill, the Rev H D
Pitchford officiated.
At first it was arranged that
cremation should take place at
Scholemoor Crematorium,
Bradford, but it is understood that
owing to the circumstances
surrounding the accident, the
Deputy Coroner, Mr J H
Winstanley, was not prepared to
issue a cremation certificate and the
arrangements were changed to
interment.
Union Jack and poppies
This took place in the same grave
at the local cemetery.
The cortege was headed by three
hearses, Mr Cocksedge’s coffin
being draped with a Union Jack and
bearing a laurel wreath with a spray
of red poppies as befitted an old
soldier of the 1914-18 war and a
member of the Shipley British
Legion.
Black and Gold Taxis, Shipley, one
of whose vehicles was involved in
the accident, were represented
among the mourners and sent a
spray of flowers.
Principal mourners were Mrs W H
Holling (widow); Master James
Cocksedge (son); Mr and Mrs
Laurence Holling and Mr and Mrs
Herbert Cocksedge.
Relatives of the victims are deeply
grateful to Mrs Scott and other
neighbours for their many acts of
sympathy.