Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Henry Cook was born in Addlestone (near Chertsey), county of Surrey, England on the fifth of June 1896 to John William Downescook and Eleanor Holman. He had 10 siblings: John, George, Rose Eleanor, Alice, Robert, Emily, Lesley, Charles, Violet and Edith and he was the seventh child. He spent his childhood in England and when he began to work, he was a farm labourer, unlike his father who was a paper hanger. On the fifth of November 1913, when he was 17, William departed for Brisbane on the Themistocles. With him was his mother and the six youngest children of the family. They arrived in Brisbane before travelling to Melbourne and moving into 228 Stanley St, West Melbourne. It is thought that William’s father travelled to Australia later on with one of William’s older brothers as he was living with them when William enlisted. The Cook family’s name was Downescook when they were in England however, when they arrived in Australia, they changed it to Cook for unknown reasons. William abandoned his farm labourer job and instead became a painter.

On the eighth of March 1915 at 19 years and 10 months of age, William Cook enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. As he was under 20, his father wrote a letter of permission and signed some papers to show that he was allowed to join up. He was assigned to the 7th Infantry Battalion, 6th Reinforcement who were currently fighting in the Gallipoli campaign. At this stage he was 9 stone 7 pounds (61.5 kgs.) and five feet and four inches. His chest was measured at 34-36 inches and he was recorded as having a fair complexion, dark brown hair and blue eyes. It was also recorded that he had a scar on his forehead, a birth mark at the bottom of his spine and that he was very thin. Cook trained at the Depot Broadmeadows WWI training camp in Victoria from the eighth of March 1915 till the 9th of April 1915. He embarked from Melbourne on the 15th of June (at 20 years old) on the HMAT Wandilla A62 and headed to Gallipoli.

He arrived on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the fifth of August and joined his battalion. A few days after Cook’s arrival, the 7th Battalion joined the Battle of Lone Pine. The battle began at 5.30pm on the sixth of August when Australian soldiers marched into Turkish gun fire. The Australian troops were successful in making it into the Turkish trenches, the communication lines and beyond. The Battle of Lone Pine was an attack planned as a diversion from other minor battles going on at the time such as the Battle of Chunuk Bair. The 7th Battalion joined the attack on the seventh of August at 6pm. The battle ended during the evening of the ninth of August. Throughout the three days of the attack, 2000 Australian causalities were counted, and 6000 Turks were found wounded or dead. The 7th Battalion returned to the Pine on the 11th of August to clear out the trenches and bury the dead. At this stage William Cook was sent to hospital due to dysentery. He was admitted to the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station on the Gallipoli Peninsula. On October the third, Cook was transferred to Mudros, Greece on the hospital ship Neuralia and soon after was sent to Malta. Whilst this was happening, the 7th Battalion continued to fight alongside the 1st Battalion at Lone Pine due to the loss of the Suvla Bay attack. They were relieved by the 12th Battalion on the 12th of October. The battalion disembarked Gallipoli for Sarpi Camp, Lemnos, Greece the next day. 

On the fourth of January at 8am the battalion departed for Alexandria, Egypt on the HMTS Empress of Britain. The battalion arrived three days later and went by train to Tel-El-Kebir. They arrived at Tel-El-Kebir and trained here until the first of February. Then they went by train to Serapeum and crossed the Suez Canal at 11.50am. They trained at Serapeum until the 25th of March. They travelled back to Alexandria and embarked on the HMAT Megantic at 6am the next day. On the 31st of March the battalion arrived in Marseilles, France. From here they travelled on a train via Orange to La Creche (outside of Baillieul) where they arrived at 6pm. The battalion rested here and explored the country of France before moving to l’Hallobeau on the 15th of April. From here the battalion marched closer to the front line and arrived in Fleur Baix on April the 24th. On the third of May the 7th Battalion fought on the front line in France for the first time. They relieved the 5th Battalion and fought until the 28th of May. They marched to the Divisional Reserve, near Sailly and arrived on the ninth of June. Ten days later the battalion marched across the Belgium border. Whilst this was happening, on the 28th of June William Cook was being transferred from Monte Video, Weymouth to Perham Downs, Salisbury. Monte Video was a training camp in England that Cook had been training at to get his strength back and get back into the rhythm of war. He was moved to another training camp, Perham Downs in Salisbury for reasons unknown. On the ninth of July the 7th Battalion marched to Bailleul, France which was a central station for the Allies fighting at Flanders. From here the battalion fought in the Battle of Pozieres from the 22nd till the 26th of July. The Battle of Pozieres was essential because the high ground in the village of Pozieres would be useful to launch future attacks from. The Australians managed to successfully capture the village however due to the heavy artillery being used by the Germans, over 23,000 Australian causalities were recorded. During this time Cook left England to go and join his unit in France on the 25th of July. Cook was taken on strength to join the battalion from reinforcements on the third of August. This meant he was able to fight alongside his battalion when they fought at Albert on the 14th of August.

On 30th of September 1916 Cook took part in a "very successful" raid on German trenches, for which he was mentioned in routine orders.

On the 30th of August the battalion went by train to Ypres and relieved the battalion at the front line there. They were relieved by another battalion and marched back to Dominions Camp where they stayed from the 25th of September till the eighth of October. From here the battalion fought at Hill 60 on the ninth of October for five days. Hill 60 was almost an underground war. There were so many mines and tunnels being dug below the surface and the soldiers didn’t know if one was going to blow up. They then travelled to Dernancourt where they arrived on the 23rd of October. They fought at the Gueudecourt line a week later. On the 18th of November the battalion moved to St Vaast near Amiens and from here marched onwards to Fricourt where they arrived on the fourth of December. Ten days later they fought in Grease Trench in front of the Gueudecourt line. They were relieved by the 2nd Battalion on the 22nd of December. The battalion went back to the front line to relieve the 5th battalion on the 19th of February 1917 and then moved to the front line opposite Pronville where they were relieved on the 23rd of April. During the summer of 1917 the battalion trained at Biefvillers where they received reinforcements and new supplies. On the 19th of October, the 7th battalion arrived at Lillibeke Bund. From here they fought in the Battles of Passchendaele before they went back to continue training at La Clyette. The Battle of Passchendaele began on the 31st July when the British commander in chief, commanded the British troops into battle. The first Australian troops joined the battle on the 20th September. After the Australians captured Broodseinde Ridge on the fourth of October it began to rain. The final push was to capture the village of Passchendaele. The rain turned the dirt into mud. This made it very difficult for the troops to make their way up the hills to the higher ground. Under heavy fire the Australians made ground, but they could not keep it. The conditions were so bad and there were so many causalities that the Australians had to fall back. From here, they could do no more and they handed it over to the Canadians.

It was at this time that William Henry Cook left the battalion. He went to be a Batman for the 2nd Infantry Battalion headquarters. A Batman was like a secretary to higher rank officers. However, he still stayed in France, in the same area as the 7th Battalion. On March the 13th 1918 the 7th Battalion moved to Seddon Camp to get more supplies and reinforcements. Between 19th of April and the 6th of August, they helped secure the front line between Bailleul and Estaires. During this time, on the ninth of May, Cook re-joined the unit and fought to secure the line. On the eighth of August, William was relocated to Batman duty at a nearby hospital. On the 16th of August, Cook re-joined the battalion. However, on the first of July Cook travelled to England onto Folkestone for duty. Here he received further training and lessons about being in the army. He travelled back to France on the completion of his duty on the 29th of July. On the 30th he re-joined his unit. On the fourth of October, he received more training at the 2nd Battalion Class of Instruction. Due to all this extra training Cook was receiving it is thought that he was probably going to get a promotion. Meanwhile, the battalion fought at the Somme till November the eighth. The battalion arrived at Favril on the 11th of November and it was here that they heard the war had ended. Cook joined them on the 21st of November. Just before Christmas, the 7th Battalion moved to Belgium where they awaited the notice that they could go home.

William Henry Cook embarked from Devonport, Plymouth, UK on the 21st of March 1919. He arrived in Adelaide on the seventh of May before embarking to Melbourne on the Kildonian Castle. He was formally discharged on the sixth of July 1919. He married Daphne Alice Leach in 1919 when he was 23 years old and had five children. He returned to his previous occupation of a painter when he came home. The 1950s was a hard decade for William. He suffered PTSD, depression and the loss of his son. In fact, he was even in hospital for some time. Cook was awarded the three standard medals: the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. However, he didn’t receive them when he came home from the war so on the 30th of March 1940 he sent in a request. His wife sent in a request on the eighth of June 1967 as well. Cook did not support ANZAC Day and he would never participate in any kind of commemorative event. He did not agree with any ideas of nationalism or patriotism. He would say that he stood up for his country once and didn’t need to do it again. He was a very quiet man who never had a drivers’ license either. Unfortunately, in 1977 at the age of 81, William Henry Cook died of leukemia.

ANZAC Spirit

William Cook showed the ANZAC qualities of mateship, courage, determination, patriotism and strength. Just by signing up at such a young age, Cook showed courage. He had no idea what fighting a war was like, in fact he hadn’t even lived in Australia for very long. He was going out to fight a war for a country he barely knew. He was also fighting for his homeland, England. This shows patriotism to both countries and lands that he knew. Even if Cook didn’t agree with nationalism in his later life, he certainly showed it when he was younger. He put his life on the line for a place he’d lived in for only 2 years. Cook showed determination when he became ill with dysentery. Dysentery killed many soldiers in WWI and you had to be a tough man to survive it. Cook showed determination by surviving this disease and then coming back to fight with his battalion again. Cook also showed a lot of strength because he managed to survive the whole war. Not only did he fight in Gallipoli, he also fought on the Western Front. He fought in some of the ugliest battles in history such as the Battle of Passchendaele and the Battle of Pozieres. Cook’s courage to sign up, his strength and determination to come back from illness and survive the whole war is a testament to our nation and shows the strength that our soldiers had in WWI. They never gave up and they kept fighting even in Gallipoli and they deserve our utmost respect and commemoration.

Bibliography

UNSW Australia 2016, The AIF Project, Canberra, accessed 11 March 2019, https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=61158

Australian War Memorial n.d., Advanced Search - WW1, Canberra, accessed 11 March 2019, https://www.awm.gov.au/advancedsearch?query=William%20Henry%20Cook%202126&people=true

National Archives of Australia n.d., Record Search, Australian Government, Canberra, accessed 11 March 2019, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx

Australian War Memorial n.d., Unit Diaries - Subclass 7th Infantry Battalion, Australian Government, Canberra, accessed 11 March 2019, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1339178

Dean, A 1933, 7th Battalion AIF Book, W. & K. PURBRICK, Melbourne, Victoria, accessed 11 March 2019, https://www.preddonlee.com/7th_Battalion_AIF.pdf

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Australian War Memorial 2019, Advanced Search - AWM, Australian Government, Canberra, accessed 24 March 2019, https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search

State Library of Victoria 2019, Advanced Search, Victorian Government, Victoria, accessed 24 March 2019, http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-explore/search?query=any,contains,william%20henry%20cook%202126&tab=default_tab&group=ALL&vid=MAIN&search_scope=Everything