Pte 26177 Stanley Cooke

Stanley enlisted in Liverpool in about May 1915 joining the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 26177.

His half brother Robert, a ships Chief Steward, drowned in September 1915 in the Bedford Basin, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Bob was chief steward on the Caronia, a Cunard liner on the Liverpool to New York route before the war. The ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty when war broke out and converted to an armed merchant cruiser, patrolling the North American coast between Halifax and New York. Bob was drowned when one of the ship's boats was in collision with H.M.S. Leviathan in port. His body was recovered the next day and was buried in the naval lot in St. John's Cemetery, Halifax, where the epitaph on his large granite stone reads:

"IN MEMORY OF ROBERT M. COOKE, CHIEF STEWARD, H.M.S. CARONIA, WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY DROWNED IN HALIFAX HARBOUR SEPT. 6 1915, AGED 33 YEARS.  AS A TRIBUTE OF THE HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH HE WAS HELD, THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED BY THE CREW OF ABOVE SHIP".

Robert was a widower with a young son.  

Stanley arrived in France some time in 1916.

He was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 20, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.   

His death was reported in the press on 02nd September 1916:-

COOK - July 30, killed in action, aged 20 years, Private Stanley Cook K.L.R., (late cook of Cunard steamer Mauretania), the dearly-loved son of Mr and Mrs Cook, 7 Markfield Road, Bootle (deeply mourned.)

Stanley's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. 

On 01^st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.” 

Soldiers Effects say Cook, to his father William H. including a War Gratuity of £4-10s. No pension card has been found, either because Stanley had no dependants, or his parents made no claim.

Stanley was remembered on the first anniversary of his death, along with his half brother, in the Liverpool Echo, on 30th July 1917 under the heading Lost At The Battle of Guillemont :

“Cook – In ever-loving memory of Stanley, K.L.R. (Pals), killed in action in France, July 30, 1916, aged 20. Also of our Bob, who was accidentally drowned in Bedford Basin, Halifax, N.S. Sept 6, 1915. (Two of the best.) Both sadly missed by Mother and Dad and all at 7 Markfield Road, Bootle.”

Stanley is commemorated in Liverpool's Hall of Remembrance, Panel 11 Right (as S. Cook).

His father died in Crosby, aged 76, on the 22nd August 1936. 

His death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on24th August 1936: 

COOKE— August 22 suddenly residence son-in-law 3 Hatherley-avenue Great Crosby WILLIAM HENRY dear beloved husband Eliza Cooke. Funeral St Luke's Church Great Crosby to-morrow (Tuesday) 11.30 am. 

Probate:-  

COOKE William Henry of 3 Hatherley Avenue, Great Crosby Lancashire died 22 August 1936 Administration Liverpool 3 November to Maud Lillian Jones (wife of Albert Edward Jones) and Gladys Goodall Cooke spinster. Effects £650. 

Mother Eliza, dob 9th Aug 1860, appears on the 1939 register at 3 Hatherley Avenue with Gladys, George and Ivy. She died shortly afterwards aged 79 on the 21st December 1939. 

Her death was reported in the Liverpool Echo on 22nd December 1939: 

COOKE— December 21 at 3 Hatherley Avenue, Crosby, in her 80th year, ELIZA, beloved wife of the late William H. Cooke. Funeral at St, Luke’s Church, Crosby, to-morrow (Saturday) at 11.30 am.