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SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
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"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
2945 Private ROBERT COOKE.
4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment.
Killed in action, aged 30 on the 17th September 1916.
Born and enlisted in Skelton in Cleveland.
Son of Alfred and Sarah Cooke, of 31 Cleveland St, Skelton Green, N Yorks.
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Thiepval Memorial. Somme, France
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FAMILY:-
1901. Robert, aged 15, is living at 31 Cleveland St and had been born in Skelton.
He was already working down the Ironstone mine.
His Father, Alfred, aged 52, was a Milk Dealer and Grocer, born at Wymondham, Norfolk.
His Mother, Sarah, age 53, was also born in Wymondham. She had had 10 children and 8 were still living.
He had 4 brothers - John 23 and Arthur 17, also miners, Alfred 12 and Theodore 9.
[His brother Arthur Cooke, 1/5th Bn Yorks Regt, was killed on the 11th November 1916 in the Somme area.]
His sisters were Hannah 25 and Gertrude 18.
1911 Census. Arthur and Robert are still Ironstone miners underground.
John and Hannah work for their Father in the Milk business and Theodore is an Assistant Schoolmaster for the local Council.
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WAR SITUATION:-
The 4th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment were part of the 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
Robert was a Volunteer for service in the War and first went to France on the 9th October 1915.
He must have fought with the Battalion through their trials at Ypres and the trenches at Kemmel before they were ordered to the Somme.
Robert Cooke was killed in action during the Battle of Flers Courcelette one of the Battles of the Somme, an Allied offensive which
was pursued from July 1916 until winter intervened.
Full details based on the Battalion War Diary can be read here.
MEMORIAL:-
Robert is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, which commemorates more than 72,000 UK and Commonwealth men, who have no known grave.
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