KENNETH THEODORE DUNBAR WILCOX
8TH NOVEMBER 1915 AGE 20
BURIED: ,
This is one of the most popular of all New Testament headstone inscriptions in the war cemeteries. Admittedly most people usually quote the whole extract:
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Revelation 2:10
And what is 'a crown of life'?
Blessed be the man that perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those that love him.
James 1:12
The crown of life is therefore given to those who suffer hardship and danger for Christ's sake. By only quoting the words, 'Faithful unto death', the Revd George Wilcox has declared that his son WAS faithful unto death and therefore that he HAS won the crown of life, underlining the conviction that his son was fighting Christ's battle, which is what people on both sides felt both sides in fact felt. In Christian theology, to be awarded the crown of life is not to be awarded eternal life as that it due to everyone, it is simply an award, a prize, like the victor's laurels. The image is popular and can be seen in manywar memorial stained glass windows.
Kenneth Wilcox was educated at Westminster School where he was a scholar. In October 1913 he went up to Oxford but after a year the war broke out and he enlisted immediately. He took a commission in the 9th Battalion The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment and went with them to Flanders on 8 October 1915. He was killed exactly one month later.
The Times' obituary on 19 November describes him as the only son of his parents and describes how, his father, a senior Army Chaplain, " who was on duty at the front, was able to be present at the funeral and to commit his son to rest in a soldier's grave near Ypres". As if it is not bad enough to bury your 'only son', an examination of the 1911 census reveals that Kenneth Wilcox was in fact his parents' only child. The census form has three columns for: total children born alive; children still living; children who have died and Alfred Wilcox has entered under the relevant columns: 2, 1, 1.