Son of Charles Peter Cooke, merchant, and Annie Eliza Cooke, of 2 Grove Terrace, Bristol Road, Weston-Super-Mare. Younger brother of Herbert Cooke.

​

Cooke was born on 17/06/1886, and attended the School from 1901-1903. He served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, with the Welsh Regiment 9th Bn..  He was awarded the Military Cross. Cooke sadly lost his life on 07/07/1916, as a result of the War.

 

Cooke is remembered on Thiepval Memorial, France, pier and face 7A and 10A.

​

​

Football

​

Cooke gained a cap for football in 1903. He played in the 1st XV, and is described in the Chronicle: “plays an excellent game, his kicking being very well placed. A good tackler.” Dec. 1903

​

​

Military Cross

​

Cooke was awarded the Military Cross on 3rd June 1916 in London Gazette issue 29608, page 5572.

​

​

Concern for Cooke (BGS Chronicle July 1916)

​

"Considerable anxiety is being experienced regarding the fate of Second Lieutenant R.C. Cooke, Welsh Regiment, the famous Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, Western XI., and Welsh International hockey forward, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.P. Cooke, of Brunel House, Weston-Super-Mare, have been notified by the War Office that he is 'missing believed killed'. Lieut. Cooke was unquestionably one of the finest outside rights in the kingdom. After practising as a solicitor for some while in Weston, he took up a partnership in a well-known legal firm in South Wales, and, on the outbreak of war, was proud to enlist as a private. He was quite recently awarded the Military Cross for repeatedly cutting German wire under heavy fire. The above is an extract from the local press received just before publication. R.C.Cooke was at the School 1901-1903, and all Old Boys hope that he may have been picked up and saved." - July 1916