SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY
"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"

Private ARTHUR COOKE.

4093 1/5th Bn, Yorkshire Regiment.

who died, aged 32, on the 11th November 1916.

Son of Alfred and Sarah Cooke, of Skelton-in-Cleveland, N Yorks.


Thiepval Memorial.

On the 1901 census Arthur, aged 17, was living at 31 Cleveland St and had been born in Skelton.
He was already working down the Ironstone mine.
His mother and father came from Wymondham, Norfolk and are listed as grocers/milk dealers.
He had 4 brothers - John 23 and Robert 17, also miners, Alfred 12 and Theodore 9.
His brother Robert Cooke, 1/4th Bn Yorks Regt, was killed on the 17th September 1916 in the same area.
His sisters were Hannah 25 and Gertrude 18.

The 1/5th Battalion were formed during August 1914 in Scarborough.
18 April 1915 they became part of York & Durham Brigade, Northumbrian Division.
14 May 1915 - landed at Boulogne.
15th July 1915 the formation became 150th Brigade,50th Division and took part in most of the actions on the Western Front.
Arthur Cooke was killed during the Battles of the Somme, an Allied offensive which was pursued from July 1916 until winter intervened.
Little was gained and over 400,000 lives lost.
The Thiepval Memorial commemorates more than 72,000 UK and Commonwealth men, who have no known grave.