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Archiver > GREATWAR > 2005-03 > 1111522412


From: Martin Willcocks <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] TA in Walthamstow, Essex
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 13:13:32 -0700


Hi Forrest:

Many, many thanks indeed for your continued interest and help on this topic!

It does indeed look as if E. W. Willcocks has no cap badge. His left
arm is half odd the edge of the picture and his right arm is mostly
hidden by the Captain. Just above his left hand is what appears to be a
small section of a horizontal band of white, just to the right of the
pocket flap. Could this be part of the rank badge outline? There is
another light area just to the right of a bright button below this
several inches, that could be a shirt cuff. No sign of his hand is
visible, though he could be wearing dark gloves. Looking at the other
standing 2nd Lt., the wide arm band has a light border at top and bottom
- it could well be part of these that is showing at the extreme right
edge of the photo. Although the other three are apparently wearing
white shirts, unless he has a dark cravat around his neck, he seems to
be wearing a much darker shirt. Under the collar badges of all four is
a somewhat blurry light colored object - in two cases clearly a V, but
difficult to tell in my father's case and the Captain's. On the
original print from which the scan was made, the V is definite on my
father's collar. There is also a trace of a light colored stripe end on
the middle of the arm band (consistent with the 2nd. Lt. armband of the
other standing man.) There is also no apparent cap badge. I conclude
that this photo would likely have been taken either on the occasion of
his promotion to 2nd. Lt., or when the uniforms were changed to reflect
the new Volunteer Force status of these men. By July of 1918 he would
already be Lt., so would he still have one stripe and two pips for that
rank? Regrettably, this is not the original print, it's a copy of the
original made by my sister some 25-30 years ago.

By the two references I meant the one from the London Gazette and the
one from the Index of the Volunteer Force List. After studying your
helpful guide to searching the London Gazette, I was able to retrieve
one of the references with "*Edmund William Willcocks*" and the three
you mentioned with "William Willcocks*". The middle one of these was
Robert William Willcocks, who may well have been a cousin, as Samuel
Willcocks lived in Battersea and had a son Robert who shows up in
censuses in London.
I don't know if his middle name was William, but both Robert and William
are frequent choices in our family! As is Squire - as you've noticed.

All four of the pharmacists you mentioned were indeed directly related.
Edmund's uncle Arthur Squire Willcocks, b. 1860, was in Datchet between
1882 and 1940, when he sold his shop to Mr. William A. Herbert of Cross
& Herbert, and retired. John Squire Willcocks was his son, born in
1898. He had a younger brother Philip Squire Willcocks, b. 1904. Both
of these would be first cousins of my father. Percy Squire Willcocks
was my father's younger brother, born 1896. He and Edmund were in
business together with a third man whose last name was Williams, at 142
High St., Walthamstow, under the name of Willcocks & Williams,
Chemists. Edmund must have qualified there in 1908 while it was
Percival & Co., as his first patent in 1912 was jointly with Ethel May
Percival, widow, trading as Percival & Co., at 140/2 High Street,
Walthamstow. By that time he had also got married, to Florence Edey at
Woolwich in Jan 1912. Florence came from Plaistow, Essex. My mother
was Edmund's second wife.

I previously had only the record you provided re Arthur Squire
Willcocks. The other three I knew about but did not have explicitly
before your posting.

There is a web site about the Datchet pharmacy at
http://www.datchet.com/users/history/pharmacy_history/hhpharmacy.html
which gives a lot of information about Arthur "Pip" Willcocks.

The statement about "no medical exam" is enlightening, as he was not
allowed to join the regular Army for health reasons, yet was allowed to
join the Volunteer Force! I'm itching to get a copy of that book and
see if there's anything about Whipps Cross in it!

This research will not go unrewarded. I will be making a donation to
your web site.

Many thanks and regards,
Martin Willcocks
Taylorsville, UT, USA.


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