Henry Broadley Cockcroft (1891 - 1965)

Born 8 Jun 1891 in Heilbron

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Maria Magdalena (van Rooyen) Cockcroft — married 28 Aug 1923 in Oranjeville, Heilbron, OFS

Died 22 Sep 1965 at age 74 in Frankfort

Biography

• He was farming at "Duringfontein" (Doringfontein), Dordrecht district between 1882 and 1884 when Harry Rufus and Charles Beaucamp were baptised.

He supported the Boer side in the Anglo-Boer wa, and this evidently led to some friction with other members of the family. The will of Henry Broadley Cockcroft and Annie Margaret Cockcroft, dated 20th November, 1901 (i.e. during the war) records their address as Arcadia, Klip River, Natal, and was witnessed by his elder brother Mark Baillie Cockcroft, farmer of Ladysmith and nephew Gordon Powell Cockcroft, farmer of Ladysmith (my great-grandfather). After the war he spent the rest of his life in the Orange Free State. H.B. Cockcroft's Death Notice records his nationality as "Afrikaner".

Considering the history of Cockcrofts in commandos in the Eastern Cape and other military activities, one has the impression that many of them were ambivalent about taking part in the Anglo-Boer War, being of British Stock yet having friends and family amongst the Boers. There were Cockcrofts who thought of themselves as Afrikaners and who fought for the Boer Republics. Other Cockcroft families, particularly those in the Cape was little or no conflict, took no active side and as farmers would provision whoever called without a thought whether the traveller was Afrikaner or Khaki or Rooinek. [4]

Sources

"South Africa, Orange Free State, Estate Files, 1951-2006," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC34-SQ4 : 15 April 2015), Anna Margaretha Viljoen Cockcroft in entry for Henry Broadley Cockcroft, 22 Sep 1965, Death; citing Frankfort, Master of the Free State High Court, Bloemfontein; FHL microfilm 004369864.

www.1820settlers.org [McArthur-306 : Ian McArthur - 19 Oct 2016]