Frederick Francis Cooke

Captain - Essex Regiment

Frederick Francis Cooke was born on 9th May 1890 in Bromley, Kent, the son of Frederick William Cooke and his wife Frances Sophia (Harvey). He was the eldest of five children, Robert Chevallier (1891), Elizabeth (1893), Enid (1894) and Frances (1899). Frederick William and Frances married on 15th August 1889 at Kirkley, Suffolk where Frances was then living with her parents having been born and brought up at Thorpe Hamlet, Norwich. Her father, Edward Kerrison Harvey was a magistrate. After their marriage Frederick William and his wife, Frances, moved to Bromley in Kent where their first four children were born and Frederick practised as a solicitor before becoming the district registrar and moving to Newmarket Road, Eaton, Norwich around 1895 where the family lived for about ten years. In 1896 Frederick William had purchased a plot of land close to the church and the Old Rectory in Swardeston at the "Old Rectory Estate Auction" and here he had Swardeston House built between 1903 and 1905. Here Frederick and Frances raised their family and continued to live until the death of Frederick on 29th November 1934. Following the death of her husband, Frances moved to Wymondham where she died on 22nd October 1937.

Having been born in Bromley, Kent, Frederick Francis was educated at a private school, St. Peter's Court near Broadstairs, together with brother Robert, and at Pembroke College, Cambridge where he rowed in the college boat. Upon graduation he appears to have travelled to Ceylon and worked as a tea planter, where he probably met his future bride, but travelled home from Colombo in November 1914, following the outbreak of war, to join the army. On 19th September 1921 Frederick Francis married Joan Beryl Rennie at St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, the daughter of the late James Bruce Rennie and his wife Louisa Isabella (Hill). James had spend several years as a tea planter in Ceylon and only returned to England, with his wife and daughter, in March 1921 only to pass away on 6th September, less than a fortnight before his daughter's wedding. Frederick and Joan lived in Yorkshire after their marriage and had two sons, Frederick Bruce Rennie Cooke (1922) and John Frank Rennie Cooke (1925), both born in Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Frederick Frances Cooke died on 3rd September 1958 in Norwich followed by his widow, Joan, just two years later. Both of Frederick and Joan's sons married and had families of their own and many of their children and grandchildren survive and are believed to be living in East Anglia but remain untraced.

After returning from Ceylon in 1914 Frederick Frances Cooke joined the 1st Composite Battalion of the Essex Regiment with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He served in Gallipoli from September 1916, being promoted to the rank of captain, and the battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt in February 1916 having suffered heavy casualties due to combat, disease and harsh weather. Frederick was wounded twice, eventually losing a leg and partial use of one arm. As a result he was given a medical discharge from the army.

We know he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal (Pip, Squeak and Wilfred). He was also awarded the Silver War Badge (B230498) which was awarded to men who had been discharged from the services, or had been deemed unfit to serve, and was to be worn on civilian clothes only to denote the fact that they had served or had been willing to serve.

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