Subject

Royal Engineer killed by an exploding bomb while assisting in the attempt to disarm it.

Andrew Behan has kindly carried out some research on this man: Somewhat difficult to trace this chap with any certainty. We know he is buried at Brookwood Military Cemetery aged 40 years. I believe he was born on 13 June 1900 in Manchester and that he served in the Royal West Surrey Regiment from 6 April 1921 and was given the Service Number 6078928, but am unsure how this same service number was allocated to him in the Royal Engineers.

My gut feel is to go with:- Sapper Joseph Thomas Maycock was born on 13 June 1900 in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of Joseph Thomas and Mary Ann Maycock. His father was a Carter and the 1901 census shows they were living at 3 Moore Street, Manchester. His father died and his mother remarried an Arthur Spavins. He enlisted into the Royal West Surrey Regiment in Woking, Surrey, on 6 April 1921 giving his occupation as a Gardener and his mother was living at 18 South Road, Woking. On the 1939 England and Wales Register he is shown living at 18 South Road, Woking and his occupation is recorded as a Builders Labourer. It was on the 13 December 1940 when he was serving as a Sapper with 5 Bomb Disposal Company - Royal Engineers that he was killed, aged 40 years, when a bomb that had fallen on 590 Romford Road, Manor Park a week earlier on 5 December 1940 and was causing serious disruption to traffic movements, was being dismantled and exploded. He is buried in Grave 5.E.4 at the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. His grave.