Major Herbert James COCKMAN DFC (1919)

1st (Perak) Battalion, Federated Malay States Volunteer Force
Born 28 December 1898, in India
Killed in action 15 February 1942, aged 43
Commemorated on the Singapore Memorial; also on the Singapore Malayan Civil Service War Memorial.

Herbert Cockman was the son of George Herbert Cockman and Mabel Marion, née Cartland. He married Mary (Mollie) Campbell, née Rutter, of Sherborne, Dorsetshire, at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore, on 5 November 1924.

He was educated at St Paul’s School, and before coming to Merton he served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force during the First World War, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

His DFC citation reads:

On 25th September [1918], when on a long-distance bombing raid, this officer performed very gallant service. Heavily attacked on the return journey, he was severely wounded, his left arm being shattered and his right leg hit. Owing to his wounds and loss of blood he was unable to control his machine [an Airco DH9a single-engined light bomber], but by instructing his observer he was able to keep his formation until he crossed the lines. Owing to his condition he had the greatest difficulty in landing, and it was only due to, his determined courage that he succeeded in doing so.

He served in the British colonial administration in Malaya between the wars, and was made Captain in the Malay Volunteer Infantry in 1935. He was also a member of the Perak Rugby Football Club, Ipoh.

Major Cockman was tied to a tree and shot by the Japanese at Geylang, Singapore, after being captured in action in February 1942.

After the Second World War, a street in Ipoh was named Cockman Street in his honour. (Today the street is known as Jalan Datuk Onn Jaafar.)