Fred Maddock
Frederick Arthur Maddock was born in Hatton on 28th August 1893.
In 1901 Fred was living with the family of his uncle James Maddock, with his aunt Mary and his cousins John, Clara and Maggie Maddock and James’ niece Ada Maddock. They lived on Greenside Lane in Hatton.
Ten years later, 18-year-old Fred was living with the Robinson family at Little Greenside Farm in Hatton Lane in Hatton. The Robinsons were farmers, and Fred was working as a horse driver on the farm. Their son George Robinson would also serve in the Great War.
When Fred enlisted at Warrington in May 1915, he was living at Appleton Waterworks, the home of his uncle John Maddock and working on the farm. He joined the 3rd Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment and was given the rank of Private and the service number 26267. In the August he was posted with the Expeditionary Force to Europe and onwards to the Mediterranean two months later. In June 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
On the electoral roll of 1918, he was listed as an absent voter in Hatton. At the end of the war, he contracted an infection and was admitted for treatment to the Addington Park War Hospital at Croydon in Surrey in February 1919. He was demobilized in the June at Shrewsbury and transferred to Class Z Army Reserve. Fred was awarded the 1914-15 Star in July 1920, whilst living at The Square in Hatton, but by the time he received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal in 1922 he was residing at 8, Taylor Street in Lower Walton.
In late 1920 Fred married Elizabeth Ann Thorley, the niece of Joshua Meredith, who also served in the Great War. They had four children: Freda Mary in 1921, John Frederick in 1922 (who sadly died at the age of three years), Thomas in 1924 and Harry Edward in 1928.
The 1939 Register showed the family living at 14, Thelwall Lane in Latchford, Warrington County Borough. Fred was employed as a charge man in a power house on the London Midland and Scottish Railway.
Fred Maddock died on 14th July 1979, less than a year after his wife passed away. He was buried at St. Luke’s church in Whitley. He was 86 years of age.