Selected Biographies

Bull, Oscar Charles – Born: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk on 29.4.1895.[1]  Parents: John Bull (Cattle Drover) and Emma [née Harrald] (Tailoress).  Family Connections: Brother-in-law of Willie Cox [b1879].  Home: 72 Cannon Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1901), 1 Cave House, Cannon Street, Cadneys Lane, Bury St Edmunds (1911).  Occupation: Iron Moulder at Foundry (1911).  Service Record: Oscar enlisted in 1914 as Dvr.A/966 with 1^st Reserve Park, Army Service Corps, being posted to France on 19.8.1914.  He was transferred as Pte.46597 first to 20^th [Service] Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, then to the Regiment’s 18^th [Service] Battalion [2^nd South East Lancashire] as part of 104^th Brigade, 35^th Division seeing action at the First Battle of Bapaume and at Ypres in March and April 1918.[2]  Died: presumed killed on 1.6.1918 and buried in Martinsart British Cemetery [grave ref: I.E.13], Mesnil-Martinsart, Departement de la Somme, Picardie, France.[3]

Bull, Samuel – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk in 1826.  Home: Hall Street, Long Melford (1841).  Occupation: Harness Maker (1841).  Married: Elizabeth Hardy in 1842.  Service Record: Samuel enlisted before 1844 with 5^th Company, Royal Marines holding the rank of Corporal by 1851.[4]

Related Biography

Cox, Willie – Born: Beck Row, Mildenhall, Suffolk on 19.5.1879.[5]  Parents: Isaac Cox (Horsekeeper) and Sarah [née Dennis].  Family Connections: Father to Frederick William Isaac Cox [b1921] and brother of Martin Cox [b1882]; also, father-in-law of William Edward Underwood [b1915] and brother-in-law of Oscar Charles Bull [b1895].  Home: 63 Aspall Lane, Holywell Row, Mildenhall, Suffolk (1881), 3 Reeds Buildings, Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1891), 69 Cannon Street, Bury St Edmunds (1911), 15 Alexandria Cottage, Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1921), Cock and Bell Lane, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Cemetery Labourer (1921), Agricultural Labourer (1939).  Married: Agnes Alice Bull in 1908.  Service Record: Willie enlisted in 1900 as Pte.5564 with the Norfolk Regiment, having previously served with their 4^th Battalion.  Posted to India with 1^st Battalion in 1901 being stationed at Dum Dum and Darjeeling in Bengal until 1904 when he was shipped to South Africa, transferring to 2^nd Battalion in November 1906, before returning to England in 1908 and placed on the Army Reserve.  At the outbreak of war in August 1914 Willie answered Kitchener’s call and volunteered for further duty, being posted to France on 15.9.1914 and joining 1^st Norfolks, then under the command of 5^th Division’s 15^th Brigade seeing immediate action at the Battle of the Aisne, and in October at the Battle of La Bassée.  The following April his unit took part in the Capture of Hill 60 near Ypres and between July and September 1916 at the Battles of Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette and Morval during the Somme Offensive.  Returning briefly to England in October, Private Cox was re-posted to the Western Front at the end of January 1917, joining 8^th (Service) Battalion as part of 53^rd Brigade, 18^th (Eastern) Division, his unit fighting engagements at Arras from January to May and at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917.  The new year saw 8^th Norfolks disbanded, and Cox being transferred with many of his comrades to the Regiment’s 9^th (Service) Battalion on 6.2.1918.  As part of 71^st Brigade, 6^th Division his new unit was stationed on the Somme front, when on 21.3.1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive causing scores of casualties to Willie’s unit during the Battle of St Quentin.  The Battalion was relocated to the Ypres Salient seeing further action at the Battles of Bailleul and Kemmel between 13 and 19 April.  On 23.4.1918 Willie Cox received gunshot wounds to his right arm and left thigh resulting in months of treatment back in England before his discharge in December 1918 as ‘being no longer physically fit for War Service’.[6]  He gave over 18 years of service to his country and may never have fully recovered from the effect of his injuries, recording himself as a disabled soldier on the official UK Census in 1921.  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1956.

Notes – [1] Date of birth taken from Baptism Record of 4.6.1895 at St Johns Church, Bury St Edmunds.  [2] Medal Roll [WO 329] and Medal Index Card [WO 372].  [3] British Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929 [ref: 933730] and Commonwealth War Grave Commission.  [4] British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795-1852 [ADM 27/113], name of unit taken from his daughter Constance’s baptism record of 2.6.1850 at Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford.  [5] 1939 Register.  [6] For details of 9^th Norfolk’s movements see their War Diary [WO 97/1623].  For his miliary career see Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ [WO 363], Medal Roll [WO 329], and Medal Index Card [WO 372/5/64454].