September 1909 Territorials' Church Parade

Following the transformation and reorganisation of the old Volunteer movement in 1908 all existing Battalions throughout the country were rebranded as the Territorials. It was not until the following year that the Battalion received their new uniforms.

The local newspaper reported it thus:

"On Sunday afternoon the local Territorial’s, together with a number from East Grinstead attended Divine service at the Crawley Parish Church the rev. H. L. Barratt-Lennard preaching an inspiring and appropriate sermon. Mr A. T. Harmes presided at the organ, and the service, which was largely attended, was very bright and enjoyable.

The East Grinstead men were met at Three Bridges by the Crawley contingent, and the bands of both enlivened the marches to and fro. After the service the “Terriers” had refreshments at The Railway Hotel, and subsequently they marched back to Three Bridges, the East Grinstead men completing their journey from this point in brakes. In their new uniform the men looked extremely smart, and quite a crowd gathered to watch their arrival and departure. Capt. Beale was in command and Lieut. Hankey was also present. The N.C.O’s on parade were Sergt. – Inst. Nye and Sergts. Cook, Thornton, Smeed, Warner, Cullen and Grayling."

Also appearing in that weeks Crawley column were lineage advertisements from John Penfold & Son, corn merchants and H. Clement Pace, dressmakers. Both Penfold and Pace would lose sons in the coming conflict. 

The Crawley Volunteers

At the beginning of 1914 Ted Cook, head of the family business R. Cook & Sons was also a Sergeant in the territorials – ‘the Saturday Night Soldiers.’ Ted had been with the old volunteer movement since the early 1890s. Here is an excerpt from a report dated December 1906:

There was a large gathering in the railway hotel assembly hall, Crawley, on Wednesday evening on the occasion of the annual smoking concert and distribution of prizes to the Crawley men connected with the ‘C’ company of the 2^nd Vol. Batt. Royal Sussex Regiment.

Captain. SWP Beale, in command of the company, occupied the chair, and he was supported by Major Oxley, a former commanding officer of the company.

Amongst the awards was the award for Best All-Round Man. – The challenge cup for the best all round man in the company, presented by the ladies of East Grinstead and District, was awarded to Sergt. Cook. Sergt. Cook also received the gold medal presented by Mr T. Baker (Crawley) to the best shot in the Crawley section.

The toast of the evening was given by Mr T.H. Martin who submitted “The Healths of the Officers, non commissioned officers and the men of the ‘C’ Company of the 2^nd Vol. Batt. Royal Sussex Regiment. That was a great mouthful (laughter).”

In his speech Mr Martin said that he sincerely trusted that the volunteer movement in Crawley would get an impulse from the evening. He could remember 40 years ago when there was a very good company of volunteers, in Crawley, but it eventually dwindled down and became almost extinct. Then, about 16 years ago, Mr Henty and Major Oxley set the thing going again and attained a good deal of success, but after a time, it again dwindled; now, again, it was coming to the fore, and he thought he might say this was very much indeed due to the efforts of Sergt. Cook (applause).

After that gathering and the observations they would hear, he hoped the Crawley section would go merrily on, that new recruits would be obtained and that is would be even better than it was 40 years ago (applause).

“Now,” concluded the chairman, “the toast. Let it be a hearty one. Let there be hearty drinking and rousing cheers” (applause).

The toast having been enthusiastically honoured, Capt. Beale replied. Referring to the cup won by Sergt. Cook, he said that it was his (the speaker’s) duty to decide who was the best man in the Company. There were 88 men, all good, and the task of deciding upon one was enough to turn ones hair grey (laughter). The prize applied to the previous years work only, and the chief thing that had happened was the progress made by the Crawley section during that time, and this was due to Sergt. Cook (applause). The medal kindly given by Mr T. Baker of Crawley, also won by Sergt. Cook was a great encouragement, and he hoped someone would give a similar prize for competition among the East Grinstead men.

Major Oxley gave “The Visitors.” When he first knew Crawley, he said, he was told that nothing lasted here for more than two years (laughter), but that was 16 years ago and he could say that the volunteer movements was as strong today as it was then. He well remembered when the recruits attended to be sworn in one slim youth who first came forward was Sergt Cook (laughter); another who advanced with a shy face was Sergt. Thornton; and yet another, who just passed the standard for height, was Corpl. Quickenden (laughter). These had done yeoman service for 16 years and he hoped they and others would continue to render that service; also that more recruits would be obtained as a result of that gathering. The regiment was a good one and they were all proud of it (applause).

The evening ended with the National Anthem.

One Hundred Years Ago........

In early 1914 the Cook family business, now being run by the three brothers, Ted, Bert and Chris, was thriving. Projects recently completed were a school in Preston Park, Brighton and renovations to the Three Bridges railway station. 

The heir apparent to the business, Eddie Cook, was attending the Grammar School at Brighton where outside of the classroom he was making a name for himself on the cricket pitch, but during the winter months he played football for his school house.

Eddie played for Marshall House against Smith House and the report reads - 

Play at first was very even. Collins made several attempts to break through, but was unsuccessful, while the Marshall forwards showed lack of combination. They improved later, and Cook scored the first goal. After the interval, Marshall had most of the game. Cook scored again, and Taylor time after time dribbled right up the field and at last succeeded in giving Marshall a third goal. The Smith House defence were playing a useful game but they had too much to do, and Hawkins gave Marshall a further lead. The Smith forward strained every nerve to score, and just before time, were rewarded through Long. Result Marshall House 4, Smith House 1.

The following week, Eddie also played for the School Second Eleven:

At the start of the game the Taunton House forwards made several good rushes, during one of which they managed to score. The Second Eleven were awarded a penalty kick owing to one of the opposing backs handling the ball but Secretan failed to score from it and half time came with the score 1-0 against us. In the second half he game livened up considerably, and our forwards, through Cook, soon scored. Our opponents, however, quickly took the lead again, scoring from a corner kick. After some good play in midfield, Hawkins neatly netted the ball, from a good centre by Collins, but the opposing right back ran right through and scored. Before time was reached both sides had added another goal to their score, with the School Second Eleven losing 4-3. 

Renny Richardson.

Thoughts on the Centenary

We are just five days into the New Year and it is really amazing to read the many articles appearing in various media outlets about the Centenary. It is also very welcome to see some of the articles and the recent speech by MP Michael Gove beginning to address the issue that concerns me most of all about the upcoming commemorations.  This is the ‘lions led by donkeys’ myth that has been perpetuated for far too many years now.

Over the coming months and years it should become apparent to everyone that the reality of the Great War was nothing like ‘Blackadder,’ and ‘Oh What a Lovely War.’ To think about those men in such terms is a veritable insult to their memory and their sacrifice.

I am very much looking forward to the forthcoming BBC programmes both fact and fiction about the Great War and the plethora of new titles to be published.

On the Great War fiction front, I have very much enjoyed the marvellous At Break of Day by Elizabeth Speller – In fact, I bought several extra copies to give to family and friends at Christmas.

On the factual side, I am re-reading First World War by Martin Gilbert which is probably the best single volume history of the war out there.

Finally, one of the best things to come out of publishing my own book has been getting in touch with my long lost cousins. My cousin Jackie and I met up for the first time in over 35 years recently and to my delight she had a vast collection of family photographs. The picture below is of our great great great grandfather, Richard Cook and, we believe, Eddie Cook taken sometime around the turn of the last century. The little boy would grow up and go to war as 2^nd Lieutenant R.E. Cook of the 11^th Suffolks and would die of a gun shot wound to the abdomen during the battle of the Lys on 13^th April 1918, aged just 20. These are the facts and it is these facts that should be remembered not caricatured and belittled.

Renny Richardson.