JOHN HENRY JOSEPH COOK
Photograph courtesy of Diane George
Born: 1890, Rangoon, Burma.
Died: 29th September 1918; age: 28; KiA.
Rank: Private; Service Number: 34481
Regiment: Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 1st Battalion.
Formerly 3366, Royal Fusiliers.
Medals Awarded: Victory & British War.
Memorial Reference:
Panel 6.
Pas de Calais,
France.
A family note:
The little girl seated in the front row in the photo, wearing a dark dress with a ruffle collar and a pinny is my nana Emma Daisy. Her first husband was George Henry Fitch who I found on your website, he was killed in 1917 in Egypt, but it gets worse as George’s younger brother Walter also on you website, was killed 2 years later at the Somme. How these mothers and fathers managed to go on with their lives after such tragedies is hard to understand. The small boy in the photo with his arms crossed, Arthur Jr. signed up for duty at 18. He returned to Ipswich and became a fireman at the Bond Street fire station. All of the Cook children were born in India, where their father Arthur Cook Sr. was stationed except the 2 oldest girls.
Janet Kidder
CENSUS
1901 10 & 12, Eagle Street, Ipswich.
Image of 10-12 Eagle street with Arthur in doorway.
John was 11 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
Arthur Cook, 45, a Bread, Flour & Grocery & Provision Merchant – own account – at home, born Ipswich.
Alice Mary Cook (nee White), 39, born Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Alice Beatrice Cook, 22, a Baker & Grocery Shop Assistant, born Colchester, Essex.
Lilly Flora Cook, 20, a Baker & Grocery Shop Assistant, born Colchester.
Ellen Rose Cook, 16, a Baker & Grocery Shop Assistant, born Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, East Indies.
Arthur William Thurston Cook, 15, a Provision Agent, born Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, East Indies.
Annie Kate Lavinia Cook, 13, born Rangoon, Burma.
Emma Daisy Lenora Cook, 10, born Rangoon, Burma.
Agnes Bella Cook, born Rangoon, Burma.
1 boarder also employed as a grocer’s assistant.
1911 22, Newton Road, Ipswich.
John was 21 years old, a Greengrocer’s Assistant. He was married & Head of the Household.
May, 24.
John, 2.
In 1908, Ipswich, John married May Fairweather, born May 1886, Monk Soham, Suffolk.
They had 2 children:
John Arthur Cook, born March 1909, Ashfield, Suffolk.
Constance May Annie Cook, born June 1913, Ipswich.
Soldiers’ Effects to May Cook – widow.
John is also remembered on the war memorial under Fire Brigade at the Town Hall, Ipswich, and at St. Clement’s Church, Ipswich, and also at IPSWICH ODDFELLOWS LODGE.
4 Comments
My great uncle. RIP.
Hello, my nana was John Cooks sister, Emma Daisy. How are you connected? Are you Arthur Cooks child?
Dear Diane George, Please please contact me. I would love to know your family connections and share with you some photos I have of the Cook family. Much affection Janet, granddaughter of Emma Daisy Cook.