1902 -
Nursing Sister Agnes Cocks returned to Adelaide today. (She was Agnes Maude Cocks, not "A.G. Cock") "
vwma.org.au/explore/people/795459
....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 labor was at Wynburg, and she spent ten months at Bloemfontein, two months at Pretoria, and five months on the hospital ship Arcadia, 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 sometimes 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 Advertiser [Adelaide], Tuesday 9th September 1902
....At an early hour on Sunday morning, Miss Agnes Cocks, a trained nurse, who occupied a room at the rear of a house in South-terrace, was taken to the Adelaide Hospital, suffering from burns about the head and hands. She stated that she got up to make herself a cup of coffee, and lighted a kerosene lamp. She accidentally knocked the lamp over, and some of the articles in the room caught fire. Damage was done to the extent of about £15 to £20.
The Advertiser, Monday 22nd June 1925
....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 Cocks 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 kerosene 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 29th June 1925
Her obituary, which appeared in the The Register on the 3rd July 1925:—
....Nursing Sister Agnes Cocks, who died last Sunday from double pneumonia, following a severe burning accident, was a grand-daughter of an old colonist of the same name, who arrived in Australia on the Buffalo in 1838. Sister Cocks was trained at the Adelaide Hospital. On the outbreak of the South African War she was one of the six nurses who were chosen to send overseas. At the termination of war she remained behind, and nursed for a considerable time in Johannesburg. Later she proceeded to England, and continued to practise her profession, making several trips to Australia in the meantime. Being in London when war was declared, she joined up with the Imperials; and saw service in France. Sister Cocks lived with her widowed mother on South terrace, and she leaves three sisters— Jean, Edith, and Dolly— and one brother, Harry.
www.findagrave.com/memorial/158487676/agnes-cocks
