BORN HULL 12/06/1881. SON OF WILLIAM & ELLEN COOK. MARRIED IN 1904. HIS WIFE OLIVE CLIFFORD COOK, LIVED AT THIS CWGC ADDRESS. EX NER RAILWAY WORKER. SERVED AS AN ENGINE MAN, IN THE ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE. DIED OF FLU, ON 01/11/1918, AGED 37. HE LEFT A WIDOW AND FOUR DAUGHTERS, GLADYS, DORIS, ALICE AND MARIE. BURIED AT HULL HEDON ROAD CEMETERY. HIS NAME IS LISTED ON THE MARFLEET ROLL OF HONOUR MEMORIAL.
NOTE: Possibly the worst maritime tragedy in British waters in peacetime in the 20th Century. HM Yacht Iolaire was approaching Stornoway Harbour, Outer Hebrides, Scotland in the early hours of 1 January 1919 when, due to a navigational error by her officers unfamiliar with the route, she struck the ‘Beasts of Holm’ so violently and she sank so quickly in the stormy waters that there was no time for an SOS to be sent. She was carrying over 200 Royal Navy and some Merchant Seamen home to the islands of Lewis and Harris to celebrate New Year with their families who awaited their arrival eagerly. Many had survived all 4 years of the Great War. 205 men lost their lives, including 20 of the 27 crew. Only 79 men survived. Some were washed up within sight of their homes, and many bodies were never recovered. The islands of Lewis and Harris had already lost over 1000 men in action and this was the final blow. 200 children were left fatherless; widows, parents, siblings, friends and neighbours were left to grieve. The islands never fully recovered, and this needless tragedy resonates to this day. The British establishment kept the files of the official report secret until the 1970’s and thus little is known of the sinking outwith the islands.
