Cooke, Charles Ernest
Mentioned in Despatches
Second Lieutenant
3rd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers
Killed in action on Wednesday 26 May 1915 (aged 30)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 42)
Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club (surname spelt Cook)
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance
Family grave headstone in Belfast City Cemetery
BIOGRAPHY
Second Lieutenant Charles Ernest Cooke is commemorated in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Holywood where his surname is spelt Cook.
Charles Ernest Cooke was born on 11 October 1884 in Windsor Avenue, Belfast and he was the second surviving son of Alexander and Eliza Jane Cooke (nee Preston) who were married on 21 January 1874 in the Mariners’ Church of Ireland Church, Belfast. Alexander Cooke, a merchant from Great Victoria Street, Belfast was a son of Charles Cooke, a merchant. Eliza Jane Preston from Dunmore, Belfast was a daughter of John Preston, a merchant.
The Cooke family lived in Belfast, in Rose Bank, Windsor Avenue and in Nottinghill House, 6 Nottinghill.
Alexander Cooke, who was born in Co Donegal, was a linen merchant and he and Eliza Jane had six children:
John Herbert (born 17 November 1876 in Windsor Avenue, Belfast; died 13 July 1883)
Mary Evelyn (born 2 October 1878 in Windsor Avenue, Belfast)
Mervyn Alexander (born 5 November 1880 in Rose Bank, Windsor Avenue, Belfast; died 22 November 1890)
Francis Noel (Frank, born 24 December 1882 in Windsor Avenue, Belfast)
Charles Ernest (born 11 October 1884 in Windsor Avenue, Belfast)
Norman Victor (born 6 March 1888 in Rose Bank, Windsor Avenue, Belfast)
Charles Ernest Cooke was a member of the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Officers’ Training Corps (OTC) from 15 February 1910 until 1911 and prior to 1914 he served with the South African Police during a trip around the world. At the outbreak of war, Charles Ernest Cooke was Adjutant in the Ulster Volunteer Force.
Charles Ernest Cooke was a member of the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Holywood and he volunteered for service the day after war was declared.
During the First World War Second Lieutenant Charles Ernest Cooke served with the 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and he went to the Front at the end of September 1914. He was wounded in action in November 1914 and, after six weeks in hospital, returned to the Front.
Second Lieutenant Cooke was mentioned in despatches by Sir John French in January 1915 for gallantry in the field. He was 30 when he was killed in action at Ypres on 26 May 1915.
Second Lieutenant Charles Ernest Cooke has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium; in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Holywood where his surname is spelt Cook; on the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) War Memorial and in the Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) Book of Remembrance. He is commemorated on the family grave headstone in Belfast City Cemetery.