The Orys and Cook Family Tree » Vancouver George Cook DCM (1892-1946)

Personal data Vancouver George Cook DCM 

• He was born on 1ST Q 1892 in West Peckham, Kent. England.Source 1

  Name: Vancouver George Cook Year of Registration: 1892 Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar District: Malling County: Kent Volume: 2a Page: 636
  
  First name(s) VANCOUVER GEORGE
  Last name COOK
  Birth year 1892
  Birth quarter 1
  Registration month -
  Mother's last name -
  District Malling
  County Kent
  Country England
  Volume 2A
  Page 636

• He was baptized on March 13, 1892 in West Peckham, Kent. England.

  First name(s) Vancouver George
  Last name Cook
  Gender Male
  Birth year -
  Birth place -
  Baptism year 1892
  Baptism date 13 Mar 1892
  Residence Kent, England
  Place West Peckham
  County Kent
  Country England
  Father's first name(s) William Watson
  Father's last name Cook
  Mother's first name(s) Sarah Ann
  Mother's last name -

• Resident in the year 1901: Hamptons, West Peckham, Kent..Source 1

  Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 744; Folio: 84; Page: 5.
  
  1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
  Hamptons, West Peckham, Malling, Kent, England
  
  First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Gender Age Birth year Occupation Birth place
  Wm W Cook Head Married Male 47 1854 Foreman Rag Cutters ''Paper Mill'' West Peckham, Kent, England
  Sarah A Cook Wife Married Female 41 1860 - Salehurst, Sussex, England
  Frances Cook Daughter - Female 11 1890 - West Peckham, Kent, England
  Vancouver Cook Son - Male 9 1892 - West Peckham, Kent, England
  Thos Cook Son - Male 6 1895 - West Peckham, Kent, England
  Minnie Cook Daughter - Female 3 1898 - West Peckham, Kent, England
  Alice Still Nurse Child - Female 1 1900 - Plaxtol, Kent, England

• He died on November 20, 1946 in Uxbridge, Middlesex. England, he was 54 years old.

  Name: Vancouver G Cook Birth Date: abt 1892 Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1946 Age at Death: 54 Registration district: Uxbridge Inferred County: Middlesex Volume: 5f Page: 338
  
  Rank Captain
  First name(s) Vancouver George
  Last name Cook
  Post nominals DCM MBE
  Death year 1946
  Death date 20 Nov 1946
  Record set British Army, Royal Artillery Officer Deaths 1850-2011
  Category Military, armed forces & conflict
  Subcategory Regimental & service records
  Collections from Great Britain

• A child of William Watson Cook and Sarah Ann Luck
• This information was last updated on September 9, 2018.

Household of Vancouver George Cook DCM

He is married to Margaret Mcl Anderson.

They got married in the year 1930 at Rawalpindi, India, he was 38 years old.

First name(s) Vancouver G Last name Cook Marriage year 1930 Marriage place Rawalpindi Country India Spouse's first name(s) -
Spouse's last name - Page 73 Line number 15 Record source GRO Index Army Marriages (1881 to 1955)

First name(s) Vancouver G Last name Cook Sex Male Marriage year 1930 Vancouver G Cook married one of these people
Maggie Mcl Anderson Marriage place Rawalpindi Place type Place Country India Type Armed Forces Source Gro Index Army Marriages (1881 To 1955) Records year range 1930 Archive reference ARM2 Page 73 Line number 15 Archive General Register Office
Record set British Armed Forces And Overseas Banns And Marriages

Notes about Vancouver George Cook DCM

Thomas Watson Cook – Rifle Brigade

St George’s Chapel, Ypres, is a haven of solace just five minutes walk from the busy main street of the town where locals and visitors shop, or have a drink or a meal in one of the many cafe’s and bars. It is here that we find the memorial to Thomas Watson Cook secured to the back of one of the chairs. Thomas is one of many who are remembered either in brass or wood on the wall of the chapel or, as Thomas, on the back of one of the chairs.

St George’s Memorial Church, is an Anglican Church within the Church of England’s Diocese and falls under the care of the Lord Bishop of Gibraltar. The Chapel is visited by thousands of people each year who are visiting the area for a holiday or military pilgrimage.
Thomas Watson Cook memorial chair in St George's Chapel , Ypres© Carol Sklinar 2014

Thomas Watson Cook memorial chair in St George’s Chapel , Ypres© Carol Sklinar 2014

Thomas’s plaque tells ” In Memory of My Brother 4855 Rifleman Thomas Watson Cook Rifle Brigade July 31st 1917?. A simple memorial to his Thomas from his brother. Who was the brother that thought so much of his sibling to have paid for the memorial within the walls of this special Chapel so far away from home?

Firstly, looking at the CWGC collection, in the hope of the parents and their address being recorded on the site. Yes, parents are mention but sadly, only by initials – Mr W W and Mrs S A
Menin Gate, Ypres © Carol Sklinar 2014

Menin Gate, Ypres © Carol Sklinar 2014

Cook. Also recorded is their address – Mill House, Hamptons, Tonbridge, Kent. A good start so far! I now also know his age and that he is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, just a short walk away from St. George’s Chapel.

The collection of records named Soldiers Who Died in the Great War, tell that Thomas was born in West Wickham, Kent. At the time of his enlistment in Maidstone, he was living in Hampton, Kent.

I seem to be going out of the order in which I research men and women in the hope of finding the names of Thomas’s parents. The Register of Soldiers’ Effects helps in a little by having his mother, Sarah A, as his beneficiary. Armed with this information the 1901 census would find fewer results. It did. William W Cook aged 47 was a foreman rag cutter in a paper mill living at Hamptons in West Peckham. Sarah A is there along with Frances aged 11, Thomas aged 6, Minnie and a young man who has been transcribed as Vancouter. I did think that this could be a mis-transcription and was proved correct when I input one word into Freebmd – Vancouver. Yes, Vancouver George Cook was born in the Malling Registration District in the March Quarter of 1892. Just as an added extra, there were a few people with the same first name, our Vancouver died in 1946 aged 54.

Ten years later, Thomas now 16 years of age, is in London working as a servant in the home of Leopold Victor Swaine, no occupation or other information given, aged 70 and his wife Charlotte Jane aged 66 – the couple having been married two years. Thomas was one of six servants in the house at 14 Queens Gate, London. As a snippet of added information Mr Swaine was born in Germany and his wife came from Mauritius.

Still in 1911,Vancouver, was now 21 and serving in the 136th Battery, Royal Field Artillery based at Louisberg Barracks, Borden. His Victory Medal Roll entry gives his service number as 50662
Vancouver Cook DCM Citations

Vancouver Cook DCM Citations

and rank as W.O.II. His Medal Card gives a little more information – as W,O.I he served as 1029855. Abbreviations on this card LS & GCM. AO 368. 1926 – GCM could be the abbreviations for General Court Martial, Army Order. Plus Col. Comdt Peshawar Dist – interesting, but not out main focus! But saying that there is an entry for a Vancouver George Cook in the Probate Calendar, who has been awarded the D.C.M. and the M.B.E., he left over ¹2000 to his wife – are these two men the same? Well, it looks like it according to the D.C.M. Citations having the same serial number as previous records. The next question and I am not going to answer this one, is, did he get the M.B.E. or have I led myself up a long garden path?

Back to the main man and who was the brother who had the inscription ” In Memory of My Brother 4855 Rifleman Thomas Watson Cook Rifle Brigade July 31st 1917? placed in St George’s Church. It seems that brother was none other than Vancouver George Cook.

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Timeline Vancouver George Cook DCM

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