Shaun Maturin Cox was born on the 24th April 1914 in Howth, Co Dublin. He qualified from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1934 with a degree in Experimental Science. Shaun married Marjorie Ethel Strong-Heckles on Friday 13 Nov 1936 at St Nicholas’s church in Durham. This was reported in the local paper: Being a scientist he would have scoffed at the superstition of not getting married on Friday 13th and to emphasise this he also walked under a ladder. His wonderful wife bought him a barrel of ale and a dart board!
During the war he served 5 and a half years in the Local Defence Volunteers.
Shaun was Manager of J.A. Jobling & Co, Sunderland (UK manufacturers of Pyrex glass) and was awarded an MBE on 9 June 1949 for his contribution to the war effort:
“He successfully developed a method of producing sintered scientific glassware which had hitherto been imported from Germany.”
He became a Director at Joblings in 1950. and lived at Norman Hurst in Westoe Village.
He died in 1979 and his wife Marjorie died in 1997. They are both buried in Harton Cemetery section C.
Sources:
British Newspaper Archives
David Fenton