History of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea
Donald George Cockrill, AMIMCE, LRIBA
Donald George Cockrill was born on Thursday 18th July 1895 and in common with many others in the Cockrill family he was articled to J W Cockrill. He served in the army from the outbreak of the Great War until 1919 and was twice wounded. He left with the rank of Lieutenant in the Monmouthshire Regiment. Back in Civvy Street he became Chief Engineer and Assistant Surveyor for Great Yarmouth Borough Council.
Donald George Cockrill
In 1926, at the age of thirty-one Donald secured the position of Borough Surveyor and Engineer at Boston, Lincolnshire. A post he retained until his retirement thirty-four years later in July 1960. His first big task was the building of the Isolation Hospital, later known as the White House Hospital. His last big task was the huge West Side sewerage scheme. In the intervening years he saw the council house stock rise from twenty in Westfield Avenue to about two thousand including the Carlton Road estate and the Wheeler Close estate. A heavy work load was thrust upon him during the Second World War: he was head of the Civil Defence rescue organisation for the borough, also taking under his wing decontamination and roads and sewers. Part of that work was with first-aid buildings that involved a great deal of work some of which had to be accomplished very quickly. Some of Boston's work parties were sent to other parts of the country, notably to Croydon and Grimsby where they won the Commissioner's Cup.
Another area of public works in which he took a keen interest was salvage. His enthusiasm must have put Boston at the top of the salvage league because he was appointed as one of two advisors for Lincolnshire to the Ministry of Supply becoming the only advisor after his colleague's death. In this capacity he travelled throughout Lincolnshire. Boston's excellence in salvage continued after wartime; in 1951 it won the national waste-paper contest, bringing a prize of £1,000 to the town, with a collection rate of 2,341 tons per thousand population per month. Another war-time task was the building of many camouflaged defensive points. At one such point, the Grand Sluice Bridge, he was presented to the Duke of Gloucester and General Alexander and then joined them on a top secret tour of defences in the district.
His wife, Mabel nee Jeffries, also played her part during the war. She was a local warden in charge of collecting savings money and the local representative of the Knights of Columbus which arranged leave accommodation for foreign troops in this country. Post-War she was a member, and President of the Inner Wheel.
Outside of work Don Cockrill was a good all round sportsman with his main interest being hockey. In his younger days he played for Norfolk on many occasions and for years he captained the Boston Hockey Club.
Don and Mabel Cockrill retired to a large house in Yarmouth Road, Gunton, near Lowestoft where he died in June of 1970, the service being held at Gorleston Crematorium.
