Walter Charles Cook was born on the 6th September 1883 to a family of bakers. His father, William George, was at least a second generation baker. William was born around 1848 in Edmonton, Middlesex and by 1876 had moved to Bexley where he met and married Eliza Ann.
William and Eliza were running a bakery in Erith High Street in 1881 and had one child, Rennie, who was just three months old at the time of the 1881 census. They employed a German-born assistant, Augustus Schuffel, who also lived with them. It is known that William and Eliza had a total of nine children, one of whom sadly died. However, the family cannot be found on the 1891 census and subsequent census data only records another six children. It is known that Walter was the third eldest son; therefore it is likely that the eldest son was born in late 1881 or early 1882. However, it has not been possible to find any information about the child who died.
The family appear to have moved to Bexleyheath before William Henry (or Henry William) was born in 1882. Walter was born soon after in September 1883. His two younger brothers, Frederick and Samuel, were born in around 1887 and 1888 and his two sisters, Letitia and Nina were born in around 1889 and 1893.
In 1901 the family were running a bakery on the Broadway in Bexleyheath. However, Walter and his elder brother William did not work in the family business, instead both were hardware assistants. Walter (and likely William) worked at the local branch of Mence Smith’s, a chain of hardware stores in the South East owned by George Mence Smith. Walter’s sister Rennie lived next door to the bakery where she was working as a domestic servant for John and Maria Bell.
In around 1906, Walter was one of many people who emigrated from Britain to Canada. During the early twentieth century, emigration from Britain reached unprecedented levels, with over 3 million people leaving between 1903 and 1913. Canada was the most popular destination during these years, drawing almost half of Britain’s emigrants. He settled in the province of British Columbia (BC), which saw an influx of immigration from Europe, China, and Japan. BC’s economy was heavily dependent on natural resources and Walter became a miner. Little else is known about his life in Canada before the start of the war or exactly where he lived. His service record lists a brother, George Cook, as his next of kin who was also living in Canada, in Regina, Saskatchewan. It is likely that this is the eldest brother believed to have been born in late 1881 or early 1882.
Walter enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in May 1915 at Camp Vernon, BC. His service record describes him as being 5ft 7ins tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and black hair. Little is known specifically about Walter’s service during the war. He joined the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion which was part of the 8th Infantry Brigade, a unit of the 3rd Canadian Division. On 24 June 1915 the British Government enquired whether Canada could supply any more formed bodies of troops. It was decided that there were enough reserve and surplus troops already overseas and the 3rd Division began to form in France in December 1915. Walter appears to have moved to the front in February or March 1916. During the spring of 1916, the 3rd Canadian Division was involved in enemy diversionary attacks around Ypres Salient.
Walter had been on the Front for no more than three months when he was killed whilst attending to a fellow soldier wounded by shell, he was 33 years old. The Bexleyheath Observer reported his death on 2nd June 1916:
News has just been received by the relatives of Walter Chas. Cook, of the Canadian Contingent, of his death. The late Pte. Cook was the third son of Mr. W. G. Cook, formerly a baker at Bexleyheath, but now of Upper Wickham Lane, East Wickham, and before he left England he was employed at the local branch of Mence Smith’s. About ten years ago he went to British Columbia, and on the outbreak of the war enlisted out there. After training in Canada and England, he went to the Front some three months ago. A letter sent home by the deceased’s chum states: “It was the same beautiful, self-sacrificing spirit which I have noticed so much while we were comrades, which was the cause of his death. A few of the boys were out of their dug-outs when a shell burst amongst them. Walter was dressing a wounded man when another shell landed amongst them, which caused his death.” He was buried behind the lines, and a suitable monument erected to “one who proved a man, and to his comrades a hero.”
Walter is buried at the Menin Road South Military Cemetery. The Menin Road ran east and a little south from Ypres (now Ieper) to a front line which varied only a few kilometres during the greater part of the war. The position of this cemetery was always within the Allied lines. It was first used in January 1916 by the 8th South Staffords and the 9th East Surreys, and it continued to be used by units and Field Ambulances until the summer of 1918. The cemetery was increased after the Armistice when graves were brought in from isolated positions on the battlefields to the east and the Menin Road North Military Cemetery.
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