Captain Harold Esmond Cooke (MC)

Harold Esmond was born on 20th June 1889 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, the only son of Thomas Henry Cooke and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Braithwaite).  Both his parents were born in Liverpool, married in 1886 and soon after moved to the Bristol area, where their first child, Mary Braithwaite Cooke, was born in late 1887, followed by Harold in 1889.  He was baptised on 21st September 1890 in St. Andrew’s, Montpelier, Bristol, his parents’ residence 58 Belmont Road, Bristol and his father’s occupation tea agent.

 

In 1891 the family is still living at 58 Belmont Road, Bristol. His father is 38, is a tea agent, his mother is 27, Mary is 3, and Harold is 1. Also in the household are his mother’s sister Isabella Braithwaite, 29, and a general servant. 

 

His father died in 1897, at the age of 45, when Harold was 8.  Probate in the amount of £2,895-2s-6d was granted to his widow Mary and to his brother Joseph Cooke, tea merchant. 

Mary returned to Liverpool with the children and by 1901 Mary, 37, is head of household, living on her own means, at 23 Hawarden Avenue, Toxteth Park. Daughter Mary is 13, and Harold is 11. Also in the household is his maternal aunt, Isabella Braithwaite, 39, and a cousin Sarah Carson, 50, both also living on their own means, as well as a domestic servant.

 

Harold attended the Liverpool Institute School from 1901 until 1904 (however, his name does not appear on the school memorial). 

 

In 1911 they are at 3 Greenhill Avenue, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, a seven room house.  His mother, 47, is living on private means.  Mary, 23, is a school mistress for Liverpool Corporation Education Authority, Harold is 21, an insurance clerk.  They also have a visitor, Margaret Grace Lawson, age 4 (possibly the daughter of Mary’s married sister Isabella).

 

Harold married Emily Wood on Valentine’s Day 1914 in Liverpool in a civil ceremony.  Their daughter Margaret Joan Braithwaite Cooke was born in Wavertree on 16th September 1915.  

 

Soon after war was declared, Harold enlisted as Private 16056, 17th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. He quickly attained the rank of Sergeant and was discharged to commission on 01/7/1915.  He was Gazetted Temporary Second Lieutenant in the 17th Battalion King's.Liverpool.Regiment., on 6th August 1915. The Pals remained at Grantham until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Harold (Lieutenant Esmond Cooke) was a steward at his sister’s wedding, announced in the Liverpool Daily Post on 23rd September 1915. Mary (May) married Capt. Walter Willmer, 19th Battalion King's.Liverpool.Regiment, Walter died at Guillemont on 30th July 1916.  (Mary never remarried, taught for many years, and died in Sussex in 1950.)

 

After being commissioned, Harold apparently remained in the U.K. in the Training Reserve and arrived in France on 8/9/1917.  By then serving with the 12th Battalion King's.Liverpool.Regiment., Harold saw action at Polygon Wood during the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). 

 

 

Harold was posthumously awarded the Military Cross, noted in the Bn War Diary at the end of January in ‘Decorations Awarded During the Month’, and announced in the Supplement to the London Gazette on 18th February 1918:

“T./Capt. Harold Esmond Cooke, attd. L’Pool R.  For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  He captured all his objectives in an attack in spite of strong resistance from the enemy.  He showed great ability in handling his company and set his men a splendid example of courage and determination.”

 

His daughter was two years old when he died.

Probate was granted to his widow, Emily, address 13 Woodchurch Road, Stoneycroft, Liverpool, in the amount of £318-10s-1d.  Emily received his Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £8. The medal card shows Emily living at Hafod Cottage, Brookdale, Meliden, North Wales.  

Emily never remarried and died on 15th February 1972. She now rests at grave Q10 in God's Acre Cemetery, Corfe Castle. The details on the headstone are as follows:

In Memory of

EMILY COOKE

DIED 15-2-72

WIDOW OF

CAPTAIN HAROLD ESMOND COOKE

KILLED IN ACTION 30-11-17

REUNITED

Sadly, Harold had not been found on any memorial.

His daughter Margaret married Emil Frederic Sutton in 1934, lived in London, and died in Dorset on 17th January 1984.  

Margaret also rests alongside her husband in God's Acre Cemetery, her headstone shows her as Joan Sutton. Her husband Emil Frederic Sutton died on 21st March 1985.   

 

Grateful thanks are extended to Sue Noel who contacted this site and took the time to visit God's Acre Cemetery on our behalf and took photographs of Emily's resting place. 

 

We currently have no further information on Harold Esmond Cooke, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

Grateful thanks are also extended to Joe Devereux for permission to use the photograph now shown on this site