Ernest Richard Cook, MM

Forename(s):
Ernest Richard

Surname:
Cook, MM

Initial(s):
E R

Service Number:
290044

Rank:
Company Sergeant Major

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

Died:
29/07/1917

Aged:
21

Buried:
Achiet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery & Extension

Service History:
Enlisted at Alnwick, Northumberland, on 21 April 1915.

Formerly 7/1341, Northumberland Fusiliers.

Died of wounds received.

Awarded a Military Medal.

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

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

One of two sons lost: see, also, Lance-Corporal Charles Bertram Cook (Regimental service #1377; Northumberland Fusiliers, 1/7th Battalion Territorial Force; Died 25 May 1915).

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

Pre-enlistment occupation: Solicitors' Clerk.

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)