Arthur Gordon Cohen (COH3832)

Basic Information

Unique reference:

COH3832

Gender:

Male

Birth

Date of birth:

1893

Place of birth:

Bradford, Yorkshire

Death

Date of death:

12 Tevet 5676 (19 December 1915)

Died in combat?:

Yes

Place of death:

Belgium

Cause of death:

Killed in Action

Burial place:

Essex Farm Cemetery

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Arthur in uniform, Bradford Grammar OBA
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Headstone, photo by Nick Hooper

Places

Addresses

Family home:

18 St Pauls Road Bradford, Yorkshire (1911)

Schools

Name:

Bradford Grammar School

Year started:

1902

Year left:

1908

Name:

Bradford Technical College

Arthur Cohen was born in the winter of 1892-3 in the Manningham area of Bradford. His father was Maurice Cohen who was the son of a Jewish Russian immigrant Rosa, who settled in Liverpool where she had five children. Her husband’s identity is unknown. Arthur’s mother Rebecca Gordon, from Wolverhampton, was also from a Russian immigrant family. Maurice and Rebecca married in Birmingham in 1887, then lived at 18 St Paul’s Road, Manningham, for over thirty years. Although the family were Jewish, they do not appear to have been part of either of
the two main elements of Bradford’s Hebrew community, the German businessmen who settled in the 1820s and 30s were already well-integrated into Bradford’s commercial life, and those who fled Russia to escape persecution in the 1880s-90s .

By 1891 Maurice Cohen was in business as an optician, with premises at 11 Darley Street in the centre of Bradford. He may also have made scientific instruments, such as barometers.

Researched and written by Nick Hooper, October 2015, for Bradford Grammar School's 'Old Bradfordians'

Military Record

Military service:

Army

Military record no.:

2338

Date discharged/death:

19 December 1915

Rank at discharge/death:

Sergeant

Assignments

Regiment:

West Yorkshire Regiment

Battalion/unit:

6th Battalion, C Company

Posting:

Arthur crossed to France on 16th April 1915, with 49th West Riding Division. From July the Division was stationed in the north-eastern part of the Ypres Salient.

For much of the autumn there were heavy rains which flooded the trenches. Only regular rotation between the front, support and reserve made the conditions endurable. The Division was promised it would leave the Salient before Christmas. The 6th Battalion entered the trenches for the final time on 15th December.

On the 17th there was heavy shelling, in which Laurence Denison suffered a mortal wound, then all was quiet. At 5.15 a.m. on the 19th sentries heard a hissing sound which presaged a German gas assault. Another O.B. related what happened in a letter: ‘The gas came over in the early morning in great green clouds. All telephone communications had been cut and so one of my platoon doubled off with the warning. Within three minutes, if that, the artillery had drawn an impassable curtain of fire across their line. Isolated [German] parties managed to struggle out and across but were mown down to a man by machine gun and rifle fire. At no point did they enter our trenches. ... Of those killed I think you will remember Gellert and Cohen. The boys are full of plans for Christmas.’

The Battalion had one hundred casualties, a quarter of those in the line, of whom eighteen were killed. Effective gas masks (the ‘Tube’
or P.H. Helmet) had recently been issued and the men were alert, so the deaths were caused by shellfire. O.B.s Gellert and Rickards fell in the same attack. Cohen was taken to the dressing station at Essex Farm, but had died and was buried there.

Researched and written by y Nick Hooper, October 2015, for Bradford Grammar School's Old Bradfordians

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Medal index card
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Medal roll
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Register of effects

Roll of Honour

A. G. COHEN, 19 December 1915

Commonwealth Graves Commission

Rank:

Serjeant

Date of Death:

19 December 1915

Age:

22 years old

Regiment / service:

West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), 1st/6th Bn.

Cemetery:

Essex Farm Cemetery, Belgium

Grave reference:

I. O. 17.

Additional information:

Personal inscription:

PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD IS THE DEATH OF HIS LOVING ONES

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