The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4760) Private Frederick John Cocking, 5th Pioneer Battalion, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (4760) Private Frederick John Cocking, 5th Pioneer Battalion, First World War.

4760 Private Frederick John Cocking, 5th Pioneer Battalion
KIA 26 November 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frederick John Cocking.

Frederick Cocking was born in January 1886 to Thomas and Mary Ann Cocking of Tothill, Lancashire, in England. He was educated at the Ryde House School at Ripley in Surrey. His parents both died around the turn of the century. By the time he was 15 years old he was living in Blagdon, Somerset, boarding with his sister Christine who was employed as a “lady’s companion”. At this time Frederick was undertaking an apprenticeship with a drain and sewage contractor, and he would go on to work as a builder. Frederick Cocking left England in 1911 with his eldest brother William, arriving in Melbourne on 15 September, and took up work as a bricklayer.

Frederick Cocking enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before being sent to Egypt, but he was returned to Australia in October 1915 suffering from venereal disease. This he was treated for, and was deemed well enough to return to active service in March 1916. He left Melbourne on 7 March 1916 on board the troopship Wiltshire.

Cocking was again sent to Egypt, where he was posted to the 5th Pioneer Battalion. On 25 June 1916 he was sent on to Marseilles in order to participate in the fighting on the Western Front. Shortly after its arrival, the 5th Pioneer Battalion entered the front line near the French village of Fromelles. On 19 July 1916, infantry battalions of the 5th Division took part in a disastrous operation against German positions, suffering the largest number of casualties by a single Australian division in a 24-hour period. The 5th Pioneer Battalion remained close to the action, but not part of it. Instead they entered the battlefield once the operation was over, conducting salvage work, repairing trenches, and burying the dead.

After spending some time in the north recovering its strength, the 5th Australian Division returned to the Somme later in the year. By late 1916 the 5th Pioneer Battalion was in the front line near the French village of Longueval. Winter had set in, and constant rain made the trenches a muddy morass. The Pioneers, charged with construction and maintenance of the trenches and roads among other duties, became demoralised as everything they did was hampered or even destroyed by the sucking mud. The battalion’s war diary records that the “men feel they are working to no purpose and get very exhausted.”

On 26 November, Private Frederick Cocking was with his company digging a sap from the front line of trenches to the second line. A man nearby, Driver Punch, later described how there was “a hiss and a roar, and a shell had caught three of our brave mates, which killed them instantaneously.” Private Frederick Cocking was one of the men killed, together with Privates Jack Thompson and Tom Nugent. A fourth man was wounded in the blast. Their bodies were removed from the battlefield and buried nearby.

Today the three men lie side by side in the AIF Burial Ground at Grass Lane, Flers. Frederick Cocking’s grave bears the simple epitaph: “he gave his life for the homeland.” He was 30 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Frederick John Cocking, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section