William Cox was the son of Arthur and Sarah Elizabeth Cox, of 24, Mold Rd. Arthur Cox married Sarah Jones in 1890 and by the time of the 1911 census had 9 children: Edward 18, William 14, Elsie 13, Elvet 11, James 10, Annie 7, Edith 6, Leonard 3, Lilian 6 mos.

William was born in 1897 and he was 20 when he died in 1917 in Egypt. He was employed as a labourer at a brickworks in 1911.

William Cox was one of four Buckley soldiers who died on 26 March 1917 at the First Battle of Gaza, the others being Edmund Godfrey Catherall, William Henry Hayes, and Arthur Millington. All are named either on the Jerusalem Memorial or Gaza War Cemetery. Edward Catherall from Pentrobin, named on the Hawarden Memorial, also died 26 March and is named on the Jerusalem Memorial. From an article on Wikipedia, British casualties amounted to 4,000; 523 killed, 2932 wounded and over 512 missing. The CWGC website list 175 men from the RWF who died on 26th March, named on Jerusalem or Gaza memorials, and 6 who died on 27th March.

The RWF were part of the 158th (North Wales) brigade which advanced from Mansura, attacking a position called Ali Muntar. “The attacking infantry brigades met with stubborn opposition from determined defenders, firing from strong entrenchments with a clear view of the infantry line of advance, over completely open ground. In these conditions, the attacking infantry’s artillery support proved inadequate and a very high number of casualties was suffered.”