Biographical entry
| Home | Browse | Search | Previous | Next |
|
|
Unlocking Regional Memory
Biographical entry
|
|
Cocking, Josiah (1867 - 1960) |
|
|
|
| Born: 1867 Kadina, South Australia. Died: 1960. | |
Josiah Cocking was born in 1867 at Kadina in South Australia and died in 1960 aged 93 at Mayfield, New South Wales. Mr Cocking was a miner and part of the early socialist and free-thought movement of Newcastle. |
Career Highlights |
| Josiah Cocking was born in 1867 at Kadina in South Australia. His father deserted their family when Josiah was very young and the job of raising Cocking and his brothers fell to their illiterate mother. Cocking was fortunate among his siblings in that he received an education, albeit a very limited one, attending at least two years of Elementary school. When he was still very young Cocking was compelled to head off to work at the copper mines. With his family in tow, Cocking traveled to NSW in search of greener pastures. When Cocking's mother took ill with rheumatic fever she was forced to hire help. One of the servants was Mary Jane Anderson who later became Cocking's wife. Cocking pursued work in the mines but found that he often created friction due to his left wing political views which he often expressed passionately and aggressively to employers and co-workers alike. Having alienated most of the NSW copper mining bosses Cocking took his wife back to South Australia in search of work. Unfortunately Cocking soon drew the wrath of his work mates, largely because of his very vocal opposition to the Boer war, a stance that was perceived as being unpatriotic. Eventually however, he was accepted and Cocking, his wife and young child began to settle into their new environment. However, there was a downturn in the mining trade and in 1914 the Cocking's moved to Tighe's Hill, a handy suburb to the Newcastle steelworks and Josiah was never to work in a mine again. Instead he and his son Josiah junior found steady work at BHP. A devout Protestant, Josiah lobbied hard to make every Sunday a holiday. He succeeded and used the time to speak at as many as four different congregations and prayer meetings a week. Josiah Cocking died, a contented man aged 93 and the father of twelve, on the 27th of July, 1960. |
|
|
| ||
|
Published by The Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 5 April 2004 Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 23 February 2010 http://www.nswera.net.au/biogs/UNC0015b.htm |