BORN HULL 11/11/1883. SON OF ROBERT COOK AND MARY ANN BROADHEAD, OF NEW MICHAEL STREET, HULL. BROTHERS, ROBERT AND GEORGE AND SISTER ALICE, WHO LIVED AT CONVENT LANE, GREAT THORNTON STREET, HULL. EMPLOYED AS A CATTLE DROVER. HE LIVED AT 1 CHAPEL COURT, OSBORNE STREET HULL (1911 CENSUS). HIS ARMY RECORDS DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT, 5 INCHES TALL, 129 LBS WEIGHT AND 36 INCH CHEST SIZE.
HE MARRIED ROSINA STERRY (1885-1921), AT HULL, ON 23/01/1916. HE LIVED AT 14 THORNE TERRACE, STRICKLAND STREET, HULL WITH HIS WIFE, AND FIVE CHILDREN (ARMY RECORDS ADDRESS). HE WAS CALLED UP ON 22/03/1916. POSTED TO FRANCE ON 27/09/1916. SERVED WITH THE 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. REPORTED MISSING AND KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, ON 3RD MAY 1917, AGED 33. HIS NAME IS LISTED ON THE HULL TECHNICAL COLLEGE MEMORIAL AND RECORDED ON HULL’S WALKER STREET MEMORIAL (AS J T. COOKE).
HIS YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, HILDA, DIED ON 13/05/1917. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOW, ROSINA AND THEIR 4 CHILDREN, WHO MOVED TO 11, BICKERTON’S BUILDINGS, WILLIAM STREET HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
Angela Palmer, writes on 13/1/2009. John was my great-grandfather who was killed in action at the battle for Oppy wood, which was part of the battle of Vimy Ridge. He died on the 3rd May 1917. Almost all the battalion were killed in the battle. My great-grandfathers body was never found, he has no known grave. His name appears on the Arras Memorial. Never known by me but we will never forget him.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE JOHN THOMAS COOK 28046. Born, perhaps ironically, on 11th November 1883 in Hull, the eldest of five children to Robert and Mary Ann Cook. John married Rosina Sherry in January 1916 and the family history rather honestly states this was “just before he went to war so Rosina could receive his pension if he died”. She needed it. The couple already had four children Thomas, Rosina, Harriet and Lillian. Robert was killed in action on May 3rd 1917 during the fighting for Oppy Wood. His body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was 33 years old. Rosina died in 1922. Their eldest child was sixteen at the time. Their youngest eight.
