John Weatherstone Cookes

A Sub Lieutenant with Drake Battalion, Royal Naval Division, John died on 30th of December 1917 at the age of 22. 

John was born at Balham, Surrey, on 17 February 1895, a son of Walter Ulric and Mary Gertrude Cookes. He was baptised at Saint Mary’s Church, Balham, on 28 April 1895, and his family lived at 10 Dornton Road, Balham. In 1901 his family lived at York Villas, Commodore Road, Oulton Broad. By 1911 they were living at Avonholme, Romany Road, Oulton Broad.

John volunteered and enlisted in the Army. He joined the Suffolk Regiment, service number 14499, and was posted to the 7th Battalion. He was already a Corporal when he arrived in France, with the battalion, on 30 May 1915. John served with A Company. He suffered a contusion to his left thigh and was admitted to 2nd General Hospital on 19 October 1915 and he was discharged to a convalescence camp the next day.

John attended No 2 Officer Cadet Battalion, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was granted a temporary commission as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve for service with the Royal Naval Division and had seniority from 26 April 1917. He was posted to the 2nd Reserve Battalion, Blandford, on 5 June 1917. Fron 27 June he attended a ‘Pioneer Course’ at Reading, which he passed, and he returned to Blandford on 9 August. 

On 7 September 1917 he was drafted to France to join Drake Battalion, France. Initially he was at the Base Depot, Calais, and joined the battalion on 18 September. 

John was reported missing on 30 December 1917. Red Cross and Royal Naval Division records mention information that had come from Petty Officer J. Heald who thought that John had been ‘shot through head’ and, according to Sub Lieutenants G. M. Love and T. M. Bennett, John had been severely wounded and form all appearances succumbed to wounds, they believed there was ‘no doubt as to (his) death’. Officially, on 2 September 1918, his death was presumed by ‘lapse of time’.

John’s medals were sent to/claimed by his aunt Lilias Roberts, who lived at Mostyn, Glossop Road, Sandershead, Surrey. 

John is named on Saint Margaret’s Church War Memorial. 

NOTE: Romany Road was not formally named, as such, until 1933 and it seems that by that date Avonholme had been renamed as 'Helouan'.