Wm.+Maddocks

Maddocks, William Richard (Died of Wounds)

Richard William Maddocks was baptised on the 2nd September 1888 in All Saints Church, Mackworth, the son of Richard and Alice Fanny Maddocks. In 1891 the family were living with his grandfather, also named Richard in Mackworth. By 1901 the family were living at The Castle, Mackworth, with his father’s occupation described as farmer. The 1911 census records the family having moved to Bowbridge Farm, Mackworth and William is now “Farmers Son Working on Farm” A good deal must have happened to the enter family over the next few years. The records for the War Graves Commission state:- Maddocks, Pte, William Richard, 1965, 25th Battalion, Australian Infantry. Died of his wounds 2nd July, 1916. Aged 27. Son of Richard and Alice Fanny Maddocks, of The Rectory, Edgerton, Alberta, Canada. Born at Mackworth, Derbyshire, England. He is buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Extension, Nord.

Bailleul was occupied on 14 October 1914 by the 19th Brigade and the 4th Division. It became an important railhead, air depot and hospital centre, with the 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 53rd, 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Stations quartered in it for considerable periods. It was a Corps headquarters until July 1917, when it was severely bombed and shelled, and after the Battle of Bailleul (13-15 April 1918); it fell into German hands and was not retaken until 30 August 1918.

The earliest Commonwealth burials at Bailleul were made at the east end of the communal cemetery and in April 1915, when the space available had been filled, the extension was opened on the east side of the cemetery. The extension was used until April 1918, and again in September, and after the Armistice graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields and the following burial grounds:-

PONT-DE-NIEPPE GERMAN CEMETERY, on the South side of the hamlet of Pont-de-Nieppe, made in the summer of 1918. It contained German graves (now removed) and those of a soldier and an airman from the United Kingdom.

RENINGHELST CHINESE CEMETERY, in a field a little south of the Poperinghe-Brandhoek road, where 30 men of the Chinese Labour Corps were buried in November 1917-March 1918.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY contains 610 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 17 of the graves were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials.

BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION contains 4,403 Commonwealth burials of the First World War; 11 of the graves made in April 1918 were destroyed by shell fire and are represented by special memorials. There are also 17 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War and 154 German burials from both wars.

The Australian Army embarkation records give us the following:- Service Number: 1965 Rank: Private Roll title: 25 Infantry Battalion - 1 to 8 Reinforcements (June 1915 - January 1916) Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918 Date of embarkation: 16 August 1915 Place of embarkation: Brisbane Ship embarked on: HMAT Kyarra A55 The records also include that he was living in Manly, Brisbane, Queensland. His occupation was a “Freezer” and its states his father’s address as Morley Fields, Grenwich, Ripley Derbyshire. In the churchyard of All Saints Mackworth is the gravestone of William’s grandfather, Richard Maddocks. It is inscribed:- Richard Maddocks, 21st June 1892, aged 66 years. Below it has been added:- Pte William R Maddocks, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) elder son of Richard and Alice Maddocks who laid down his life for his country June 2nd 1916 aged 27years. Note that the date on the gravestone does not coincide with the date of the War Graves Commission or the Australian records.


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