Charles Bertram Cook

Forename(s):
Charles Bertram

Surname:
Cook

Initial(s):
C B

Service Number:
1377

Rank:
Lance-Corporal

Regiment:
Northumberland Fusiliers, 1/7th Battalion Territorial Force

Died:
25/05/1915

Aged:
21

Buried:
Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper

Service History:
Enlisted at Alnwick, Northumberland.

Background:
Born 1894, at Alnwick, the son of Charles Henry Cook (a Gardener, Domestic), by his wife, Louisa (née Hocking), of The Square, Bailiffgate, Alnwick.

Cook had three brothers - Ernest Richard; George Harold; & James Percival - & a sister, Dorothy Mabel.

One of two sons lost: see, also, Company Sergeant Major Ernest Richard Cook, MM (Regimental service #290044; Northumberland Fusiliers, 1/7th Battalion Territorial Force; Died 29 July 1917).

Cook's brother, James Percival, also served - he was wounded in 1916.

Pre-enlistment occupation: Architect Pupil.

August 1917 was a tragic month for the Cook family, as recalled by Craig Armstrong in his book ‘Alnwick in the Great War’ (Pen & Sword Books; 2016):

'Â…The family had already lost one son when Lance-Corporal Charles Bertram Cook, 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed during the Second Battle of Ypres on 25 May. The first week of August brought news that they had suffered the loss of their second son when a telegram arrived at their Bailiffgate home notifying them that Company Sergeant Major Ernest Richard Cook MM, 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers, had died of wounds on 29 July. As if this was not bad enough, a second message arrived two days later informing them that their youngest son, Private J. Percival Cook, Seaforth Highlanders, had been wounded in action.'

Local Memorial:
Alnwick War Memorial Alnwick, Memorial Plaque in former premises of the DukeÂ’s School (Source: For Duke's School, Dudley George; August 2018)