COOK, George Sydney
| Service Numbers: | Not yet discovered |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 22 August 1914, Randwick |
| Last Rank: | Major |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Chesterton, Staffordshire, England, 8 March 1886 |
| Home Town: | Point Piper, Woollahra, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Sydney High School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Died: | Natural causes, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 28 December 1972, aged 86 years |
| Cemetery: |
Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, NSW |
| Memorials: | Norwest Mitchell Remembers Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 22 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry Battalion, Randwick | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1914: | Embarked 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Suffolk, Sydney | |
| 18 Oct 1914: | Involvement 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Suffolk embarkation_ship_number: A23 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW thigh | |
| 8 Jun 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 7 Aug 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, GSW head - fractured skull (severe) | |
| 11 Dec 1915: | Honoured Mention in Dispatches, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, For good work on night of 6 August 1915 until wounded. | |
| 17 Mar 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, England for invaliding to Australia - arriving Sydney 4 May 1916 for recuperation. | |
| 8 Sep 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripedes, Sydney for England - arriving Plymouth 26 October 1916. | |
| 9 Sep 1916: | Involvement Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Sep 1916: | Embarked Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 30 Mar 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 61st Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 May 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Major, 61st Infantry Battalion | |
| 15 Sep 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Captain, 2nd Infantry Battalion | |
| 6 May 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Major, 2nd Infantry Battalion, SS Kaisar-i-hind, London for return to Australia - arriving Sydney 19 June 1919. | |
| 11 Jul 1919: | Honoured Mention in Dispatches, "The Last Hundred Days", For good work from 16/17 September to 11 November 1918. | |
| 18 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Major, 2nd Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour George Sydney Cook's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Roderick Besier
Biography contributed by Michael Silver
George Sydney Cook was born 8 March 1886 in Staffordshire, England, to Mary (née Turner) and Joseph Cook. The family emigrated to New South Wales later that year, settling in Lithgow, NSW. Known as Syd, his father Joseph, served in the NSW Parliament in the 1890s before being elected to the first Federal Parliament in 1901 - he served as Defence Minister from 1909 to 1910, and was the 6th Prime Minister of Australia from 24 June 1913 to 17 September 1914. Syd Cook was educated at Sydney High School.
Working as an architect in the Department of Home Affairs in Sydney before the outbreak of the First World War, Syd Cook was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 2nd Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force on 23 August 1914. On 19 September 1914 he married Elsie Sheppard, the daughter of a grain and produce merchant and former Mayor of Burwood, at Burwood Methodist Church in one of Sydney society's weddings of the year.
He embarked from Sydney on 18 October 1914 on board HMAT Suffolk. His wife Elsie, having trained as a nurse at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, enlisted under her maiden name and sailed for Egypt in November 1914, serving with the No. 2 Australian General Hospital in Cairo.
At the Gallipoli landing with the 2nd Battalion, Cook was wounded. During the battle of Lone Pine, Cook received a gunshot wound to the head, sometime between 6 and 8 August 1915, suffering a fractured skull. He was evacuated to the 19th General Hospital in Alexandria, and then to England. Subsequently, in March 1916, he was invalided to Australia.
He returned to the war, embarking for France from Sydney on 9 September 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides, and rejoined his unit at the front. Cook was mentioned in despatches twice, on 28 January 1916 for his actions at Lone Pine in August 1915 and on 11 July 1919 for his work during the closing stages of the war. He received a recommendation for the Distinguished Service Order on 27 September 1918 for his actions during the attack on Hargicourt, but the recommendation was not endorsed.
After returning to Australia, Syd and Elsie's only child, a son Peter Joseph Cook, was born in Melbourne in 1924. In early 1925 the family moved to Perth, where Syd Cook took up the position of Commonwealth Director of Works and Railways in Western Australia. In 1940 he was transferred to Sydney, and was given responsibility for Commonwealth defence works during the Second World War including the design and installation of the submarine net across Sydney Harbour to protect against Japanese submarines.
Elsie Cook founded the well known antique business "Grafton Galleries" in 1945, which continues to be run by the Cook family.
The story of Syd and Elsie Cook's wartime experiences were emortalised in Thomas Keneally’s 'The Daughters of Mars' and the Shift Theatre’s 'The Girls in Grey', but the most comprehensive documentation is in Peter Rees' book "The Other ANZACs" and the 2014 ABC television series "ANZAC Girls".
His brother Captain Joseph W. Cook served with the Yorks and Lancashire Regiment of the British Army during World War I.
Major George Sydney Cook died in Sydney in late 1972 just six months after Elsie's passing.
Reference: Australian War Memorial - https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11013202
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