Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward Christian Cook served twice in the South African (Boer) War. First service was as a Private S.N. 210 in the 4th Queensland Imperial Bushmen during which he was wounded and returned to Australia. Second service was as a Private S.N. 652 in the 6th Queensland Imperial Bushmen.

(source- AWM Boer War Nominal Roll, Murray p. 483 and 519).

Ancestry Family Tree

EDWARD CHRISTIAN COOK
Birth ABT 1881 • TORQUAY, DEVONSHIRE,ENGLAND.

Death 6 MAY, 1958 • BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA.

Edward Christian Cook served twice in the South African (Boer) War and again in WW1. First service was as a Private S.N. 210, 4th Queensland Imperial Bushmen, Boer war. Second service was as a Private S.N. 652, 6th Queensland Imperial Bushmen (1st Draft), Boer war. Third service was as a Captain rising to Major in the British Army, Royal Engineers, WW1, during which he was awarded the Military Cross (M.C.) for his actions.

When he joined the 4th QIB in 1900 and his details were published with the rank and file in The Queenslander, 19 May 1900, his N.O.K. was recorded as his father, Como, Ormiston, Cleveland Line. In the Boer War Service Paybooks for the 4th QIB, Bk 2 p. 11, it is noted he directed part of his pay to his mother Mrs. Annie Cook. He was invalided from service due to a gunshot wound returning to Brisbane for discharge on 23 Jan 1901.

Not long after he was selected in the First Draft of the 6th QIB and embarked again for South Africa in Aug 1901. The members of the draft mainly consisted of men who had served in previous contingents in South Africa and were assembled as reinforcements for the 5th and 6th QIB contingents already in South Africa. Men in the draft were not recorded in the original nominal roll for the 6th QIB but he was recorded in the Boer War Service Paybooks for the 5th QIB (to which he was allotted), Bk 4 p. 89.

The Brisbane Courier, 16 May 1902, notes when the 5th QIB embarked to return to Australia that, S.N. 652, Private Edw. Cook, remained in South Africa for further service. The Boer War Service Paybooks for the 5th QIB unfortunately do not indicste a date of discharge or return to Australia.

He served again in WW1 as a Captain rising to Major with the British Army, Royal Engineers. During WW1 a report in The Brisbane Courier, 3 Sep 1917, p. 7, noted his parents Mr. and Mrs. A. Cook of Sherwood had received notice from their son Capt. Edward Cook, who was attached to an English regiment of engineers in France, had been awarded the Military Cross (M.C.).

A report in The Cairns Post, 16 Jul 1918, p. 6, noted that Captain E. C. Cook, M.C., of the Royal Engineers had been promoted to Major, had been on active service for 3 years 9 months, and had previously been an employee of Queensland Railways. In a report in the Brisbane Courier, 1 Aug 1919, it noted his mother recieved advice Edward was serving with occupation forces in France. It is unclear when he was discharged and returned to Australia but newspaper reports in 1920 have him back in Brisbane participating in Anzac Day commemorations.

When his mother passed in 1935 an obituary was published in several Brisbane newspapers which noted that she and her husband had emigrated from England to Queensland in 1881 with 4 children. It noted that 2 of her sons had seen active service in the Boer war and another in WW1 and her son Edward was recorded as a Major, M.C.

Edward's death in Brisbane in 1958 was reported in The Canberra Times, 14 May 1958, p. 10, which stated he was 79 years of age when he passed. Given his parents emigrated to Queensland in 1881 this appears to suggest he was born in England.

It appears he was born about 1881 at Torquay, England, a son to Alfred Cook and Annie Maria Cook (nee Bowden). He married Ethel Fanny Chamberlain at Newton Abbot, England in 1915 while he was on active service. They had two children in England while he was serving with the British Army.

(source- AWM Boer War Nominal Roll, Murray p. 483 & 519; Qld State Archives- Boer War Service Paybooks 4th QIB, Bk 2 p. 11, and 5th QIB, Bk 4 p. 89; varios newspaper articles- see links).