Agnes Maude COCKS

COCKS, Agnes Maude

Service Numbers: Not yet discovered
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Staff Nurse
Last Unit: South Australian Nursing Sisters
Born: Mount Gambier, South Australia, 14 August 1871
Home Town: Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Nurse
Died: Burn injuries, Adelaide, South Australia , 28 June 1925, aged 53 years
Cemetery: West Terrace Cemetery (General) Adelaide, South Australia
Road 3 Path 7 W32
Memorials: Keswick South Australian Army Nurses Roll of Honor
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Boer War Service

21 Feb 1900: Embarked
Date unknown: Involvement Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Sister, South Australian Nursing Sisters

World War 1 Service

Date unknown: Involvement Staff Nurse

A Nurse for the War

A NURSE FOR THE WAR.
Nurse A. G. Cock, who went to the war nearly three years ago with the small, but exceedingly, useful band of nurses from this state, and returned home on Sunday, speaks in high praise of British soldiers generally. "We could not have been treated better," she says.' "The soldiers are fine fellows, and excellent, patients; I never heard them murmur during those early, days of war, when fractured bones were common." Nurse Cock was moved about by the military authorities a great deal.
For three weeks her field of labour was at Wynburg, and'she spent ten months at Bloemfontein, two months at Pretoria, and five months on the hospital ship Arcania, in Delagoa Bay, in addition to doing duty in other places. A trip to England was included in the programme, and also a run
down to New Zealand, as a grand finale to a splendid record of service. Miss Cock is not tired of South Africa and she has decided to go to Johannesburg shortly to settle. In her opinion "South-Africa is a money-making place."- From acquaintance with the Boers she is able to say that they are "very obedient patients, but rather sullen." She adds—"I never heard a British 'Tommy' 'talk at' the Boer patients, or say nasty, things to them." Nurse Cock was at the Mooi River when peace was proclaimed. The British officer in command there read out the terms of the compact, and the natives danced for joy.' "I was very sorry the war was over in one way," she confessed, "but for the sake of the sick and wounded, the soldiers on trek, and in camp, and of the wives, children, and relatives of those fighting I was glad that peace had been agreed upon. Nobody, could ever get used to the sights we saw in the hospitals in the early, days of the war, when it was difficult to get supplies up the line, and when the accommodation was unavoidably primitive. We buried as many as 60 patients in one day at Bloemfontein, and there were 30 deaths a day, for months. Twenty, thirty, and some times forty sick men would be placed in a room where we afterwards put only a dozen beds, and a tin of milk had to last for about a dozen men, whereas when the line was clear the same quantity would be , issued to one patient." . However, the medical authorities did all that they could to allay suffering and to save life, and to this end money was spent as fast as it was required.

The Express Telegraph Tuesday 09 September 1902 page 1

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Pre war training

Miss A. G. Cocks was for three years in the Adelaide Hospital, which she left in
November, 1898, having received the usual certificate. Subsequently she was engaged in nursing in connection with Miss Josling's Nurses' Home.

The Express and Telegraph Saturday 10 February 1900 page 4

Served in Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service in WW1

Miss Agnes Cocks, who died on June 28 from pneumonia supervening on a severe burning accident, belonged to a well known pioneer family, her grandfather having come to South Australia In 1836 on the Buffalo. Miss Cocks, who was a nursing sister, received her training at the Adelaide Hospital, and was one of the Australian Sisters who did such excellent work with the colonial forces during the South African war. On the declaration of peace Sister Cocks went to Johannesburg, where she settled for some years, establishing a private nursing practice. Later on she went to England, and continued to engage in nursing in London. She made several trips to Australia to see her relatives, and it was one of her great egrets that she was not present in the Commonwealth when war was declared in 1914, and so was unable to join the Australian nursing sisters. She immediately placed her services at the disposal of the Imperial military authorities, however, and served with a nursing unit in France. During the war she was prominently associated with the hospital established by Millicent Duchess of Sutherland. The strain of war work told considerably upon her once robust constitution, and at the close of hostilities she determined to return to Australia. For several years she had been living with her mother, Mrs. Cocks, of South-terrace. Her health had failed considerably. She leaves three sisters, Misses Edith, Jean, and Dolly Cocks, all of South-terrace, and one brother, Mr. Harry Cocks, of Gladstone.

The Chronicle Saturday 11 July 1925 page 21

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Showing 3 of 3 stories

Biography

Daughter of John COCK and Sarah nee JONES

Agnes Cocks was a nursing sister trained at the Adelaide Hospital. She was one of the six nurses who volunteered to serve with the South Australian contingents during the Second Anglo-Boer War. At the end of the war Sister Cocks chose to remain and nurse at the hospital in Johannesburg. After some considerable time there she went to England, to practise her profession. Agnes returned to Australia several times but because she was in London when war was declared in 1914, she enlisted with the British medical Corps and served in France. After the war she returned to Australia and lived with her widowed mother on South Terrace. On 28 June 1925 following severe burns she suffered in a domestic accident Sister Cocks, died from double pneumonia.

DEATH FROM BURNS.
Miss Agnes Cocks, 53 years of age, who was burned in a fire at South terrace on Sunday, June 21, died at the Adelaide Hospital on Sunday morning. Miss Corks lived with her two sisters at 151 South terrace, and occupied one of two rooms detached from the house. One of her sisters occupied the other. At 2.25 a.m. on June 21 an alarm of fire was given, and it was found that a kerosine stove in Miss Cocks's room had been knocked over,
setting the apartment alight. Miss Cocks was rescued from her room, but not before she had been burned on the face hands, and legs. The fire was not extinguished until it had spread to the adjoining room.

The Register Monday 29 June 1925 page 6

 

 

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