Huthwaite WW Two Memorial
1939 - 1945 Remembrance
Leonard Cockayne
Fusilier 11000945 11th Battalion
Royal Scots Fusiliers
Killed in Action 11 August 1944 : Aged 23
RANVILLE War Cemetery : IX A 5
Huthwaite Online WW2 Remembrance
Fusilier 11000945 Leonard Cockayne was born 1911, sharing Huthwaite birth with both parents and all his siblings. A coal mining father Mr John Cockayne was raised in Club Yard. Marriage Q4 1903 to Miss Sarah Jane Hardy from Factory Yard, finds this wedded couple initially raising a family in Club Yard. Huthwaite 1911 census can only partly list Cockayne household headed by John 27, wife Sarah Jane 24, then mothering Edith Hardy 9, John 7, Samuel 4, while noting sad loss of youngest infant Edna.
Mr Leonard Cockayne must therefore have been next born within just a few months after also moving family into their future New Hucknall Colliery housing. He unfortunately eludes all currently available records, including 1939 census which addresses 20 Newcastle Street that only infers two additional younger siblings named Charles born 1913 plus Anne born 1919.
Fusilier 11000945 L. Cockayne is ultimately acknowledged serving the Royal Scots 11th Battalion when killed in action on 11th August 1944 aged 23. War grave records hint he just missed potentially earning due future promotion to Lance Corporal.
Killed in Action - L/CPL. L. COCKAYNE (Huthwaite)
Great sympathy is felt for Mrs. Cockayne, of 20, Newcastle Street, Huthwaite, who has received news that her youngest son, Leonard, has been killed in action in France. This followed quickly upon the death of her husband after a long illness.
L/Cpl. Cockayne was the only one of five brothers to be in the Forces. He was 23 years of age and had lived all his life (before being called up nearly four years ago) at the above address. He had been in Britain until about three months ago. In civil life he was employed at Messrs. Jackson's Dye Works, Sutton, where one of his colleagues was J. Morgan, of Newcastle Street, Huthwaite, who recently met his brother in Italy.
Fond of football, L/Cpl. Cockayne played with the school eleven (New Street), later on with a Sutton factory team, and subsequently with Army teams. The double bereavement is a heavy blow to his mother, particularly as her elder daughter has been seriously ill in hospital for some weeks.
HOLD HIM, DEAR LORD NOW HE IS THINE LOVE HIM AS WE LOVED HIM WITH THY LOVE DIVINE 12 Jul 12 by Gary Elliott Updated 20 Dec 20