TOPIC:

In St. Martin in the Bullring, Birmingham Parish Church.

Private F.J. Cooke
Private E. Martin
Private W.C. Smith

The three names above are also on Birmingham's ABW memorial; Cooke appears there as J.F. Cooke.



Also in the church is this South African Veterans Association memorial board.

Good Morning Berenice......

Just about had a nice connection...... The following is from my collection......

COOKE, J. F. (James Francis)

REG. NO.: 7002
RANK: CORPORAL
REGT: WEST RIDING REGIMENT, VOLUNTEER SERVICE COMPANY
BARS: CAPE COLONY, ORANGE FREE STATE, TRANSVAAL, SOUTH AFRICA 1901, SOUTH AFRICA 1902

REMARKS / HISTORY:
1. 1914 - 1915 STAR, 4 - 3 COMPANY QUARTERMASTER SERGEANT J.F. COOKE, WEST RIDING REGIMENT
2. 1914 - 1918 WAR MEDAL, 4 - 3 COLOUR SERGEANT J.F. COOKE, WEST RIDING REGIMENT
3. INTERALLIED VICTORY MEDAL, 4 - 3 COLOUR SERGEANT J.F. COOKE, WEST RIDING REGIMENT
4. IMPERIAL SERVICE MEDAL, KING GEORGE V, JAMES FRANCIS COOKE
5. CORONATION MEDAL, KING EDWARD VII
6. VOLUNTEER FORCE LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL, 4195 COLOUR SERGEANT J.F. COOKE WEST RIDING REGIMENT
7. SERVICE DOCUMENTS ON MAIN FILE.
8. VERIFIED - 1st COMPANY ON Q.S.A. ROLL
　
Mike

Another good find, thanks Berenice.

FJ/JF Cooke is a mystery - no trace anywhere. Presumably he died in the UK before going to SA - unlike the other two Cooke is not listed on the Warwickshire Rgts memorial in Warwick.

The SAWVA plaque is very rare.

There's a North Staffs. Regiment reservist, lived and worked in Blackpool and buried in Blackpool Cemetery, who died during training at Lichfield before being sent to South Africa, and he's not named on the Blackpool memorial. I guess it all depended on whoever compiled the names for a memorial as to who got remembered.

The best part of a decade too late, but came across this and thought it worth putting...at least somewhere! The Birmingham Evening Mail for 14 August 1901 runs a story titled "Birmingham Ambulance Volunteers" in which Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Luke Freer writes to a Major Richards, assumedly of the wider battalion. In this letter Freer describes the fates/performances of several members of his force, including the line "...Private Cooke, of ours, has died...". There is no other mention of him in the reproduced letter, which was dated 9 July 1901. Perhaps this is the relevant Cooke, forming part of the Ambulance Department of the Volunteer Battalion?

See this memorial stone - Britstown Cemetery, South Africa


Source:
graves.eggsa.org/northerncape/Britstown-...ain/ssf/DSCF3571.JPG