James Cook 1835-1911

The James Cook memorial is the most important in the Wembdon Road Cemetery, being Listed Grade II for its fine design and execution. The story of the man it remembers is a remarkable one: a boy from the courts of West Street rising to Town Clerk and benefactor of numerous good causes.

CHILDHOOD

James Cook was born in 1835 in Bridgwater. He was baptised on 11 December 1835 in St Mary’s Church. In years to come this church would be a special place for James: he would leave a permanent mark on it with statues and stained glass. At the time of his birth, however, such lavish grandeur would be unknown to James’ family: his father, James Cook senior, was a cabinet maker of West Street, from a family of builders. Moreover, despite this Church of England baptism, his parents were  Unitarians, and they would have scorned such religious decorations.

In St Mary’s baptism register James’ mother was called Anne, although she usually went by the name Elizabeth (as she had for the baptism of her like-named daughter Elizabeth Ann in November 1832). The 1851 census has her as ‘Elizabeth A’, at which time she was 45 years of age (the census being held on 30 March).  Her pre-marriage surname has not be identified. She was from Meare, and was born 1805/6. The register of baptisms for Meare only survives from July 1805 onwards, and records:

• 17 November 1805: Elizabeth Laver, daughter of Stephen and Jenny
• 14 September 1806: Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Robert and Mary

Whether either of these is the same Elizabeth as James’ mother is unknowable.

In the 1841 census we find James senior, Elizabeth, daughter ‘Anne’ (Elizabeth Ann - aged 8), young James (aged 5), William (aged 3) and Frederick (1 month – who would also be known as Francis). They were living in Cook’s Buildings in West Street, a court probably built by James’ grandfather Robert Cook. This was a row of nine tightly packed ‘half houses’, with a shared garden that was used for drying all the houses’ laundry and a communal toilet at the end. The front door of their home opened into the only ground-floor room, which served as kitchen and living room, as well as bedroom, then upstairs was the main bedroom.

Later photographs show the cheek-by-jowl living conditions around the West Street Courts, and the many children being raised there. Cook would have been one of the boys seen running and playing through the courts, around the nearby streets and St Matthew’s Field, and swimming in the Durleigh Brook at Bathing Place. With so many of his extended family living nearby Cook would have been better off than most of his playmates, but, all the same, his childhood is never mentioned in later life.

The Unitarians gave children like James the chance to go to a school. In Friarn Street, not too far from James’ home, there was a schoolroom for around 60 pupils, which was the home of the minister. This was headed by the minister himself, William James in the 1830s, then R. Lant Carpenter from 1842. It was presumably here James learned to read and write and he must have showed enough promise to be encouraged and supported. James may have progressed to either the Bridgwater Grammar School or Dr Morgan’s, although no mention of his early education survives.

When James was eleven, his sister Elizabeth Ann died, aged 14. She was buried in St Mary’s churchyard in March 1847. This was probably not the family’s first choice, at this time the churchyard was a place of horror, with overuse of the ground and reopening of graves for additional burials happening within months. There was a Unitarian burial ground in Friarn Street, and it is a puzzle why she wasn’t buried there, but lack of money may have been a contributing factor.

EARLY CAREER

Oddly, in the 1851 census we find the family of James Cook senior (including Elizabeth, James junior, William and Francis) living in the Police Station in High Street. This is a puzzle. The best guess is they were lodging there, Elizabeth possibly acting as housekeeper, as it would be unusual for the whole family to be imprisoned, and Bridgwater’s gaol was in Fore Street at this time anyway.

The important thing about his 1851 census entry is the description of fifteen-year-old James Cook junior as a ‘writing clerk’. James’ parents had clearly recognised their son was clever, and made sure he had a decent education. James’ obituary recalls:

from quite an early age he manifested a partiality for the legal profession. It was his great ambition to become a lawyer, and although not possessing the advantage of influence, he lived to see his heart's desire amply fulfilled. He started his career in the office of Mr. Benjamin Lovibond, a solicitor, at Bridgwater and in 1859 was articled to Mr. Eustace Barham, of Bridgwater to whom, it is believed, he paid a larger premium than is usual in order that he might have the full benefit of Mr Barham's knowledge of the law.

Benjamin Lovibond served as clerk of the peace for Bridgwater and in politics was a supporter of the liberal party (the ‘Whigs’). James was later an avid supporter of the Liberals, and it may have been under Lovibond this connection was formed. It is not clear when James started or finished working for him, but was presumably in his employ at the time of the 1851 census. Lovibond would die in 1868 at his home in King Square. James is described as chief clerk to another firm, Carslake and Barham, in a debt case described in the Bridgwater Mercury of 21 October 1857. He was 22 years old at that time.

On 15 April 1858 James married Ellen Symons, one year his junior, at the Unitarian chapel in Bridgwater.[1] She was the youngest daughter of William Symons, a prosperous brick and tile manufacturer. James and Ellen were cousins, Ellen’s mother being Ann Cook (1806-1868), sister of James’ father. It may be that the Cooks’ connections to the Symons were the means by which young James had secured a job as clerk to Lovibond and then been able to propel himself through exceptional hard work. James and Ellen had a close relationship – despite the huge memorial raised to James after his death, Ellen would add an additional tablet ‘Memory’s tribute to my dear husband’ and she would be by his side throughout his long illness at the end of his life, which resulted in much travelling for his health. They set up home in Church Street on the east side of the river.

In November 1858 James and Ellen moved in with a ‘Mr Symons’ in Hamp, perhaps as a joint tenant. This could be Ellen’s father, although it may be her brother Clifford, who was like-ages with James, and who he would grant power of attorney in 1886. Clifford worked for a time in the law office of Mr Anstice, so he and James may have bonded over similar careers. James and Ellen would only live here for a couple of years.

In June 1858 we see the first instance of James’ civic involvement, when he was appointed to the management committee of the Bridgwater Regatta, a series of sports and races held on the River Parrett. In the following year, July 1859 he was the committee’s treasurer.[2] This indicates how his peers in the town were beginning to recognise his competence and trustworthiness. In October 1858 James put himself forward for the town’s voter list, although the town’s conservative party members objected the following year as James had moved to Hamp, and so his application was no longer valid. This objection was not upheld, and indicates James’ favouring of the liberal party at this time, of whom he would be a lifelong supporter.[3]

In 1859 James was articled to Eustace Barham, as noted from the obituary quote above, meaning he was bound to the firm for the term of his training. This was essentially an apprenticeship to become a solicitor. That James paid a higher than usual premium may indicate a degree of hesitation on Barham’s part to take him on, but certainly shows James was serious in pursuing his career.

At the end of that year, however, on 5 December 1859 James’ mother Elizabeth died, aged 54.[4] She was buried in the Dissenters’ side of the Wembdon Road Cemetery. James was evidently close to her as he seems to have commissioned her memorial, the inscription of which was later added to the side of his:

To the revered memory of Elizabeth the beloved mother of James Cook who died 1859 aged 54 years. This tablet is affectionately inscribed by her sorrowing son. Frances her daughter who died in infancy. Elizabeth Ann another daughter died in March 1847 aged 15 years. I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death

The bodies of James’ sisters were transferred from St Mary’s Churchyard to this expensive brick vault. We learn from this inscription that James was aware of his sister Frances, but did not know when she was born or died (possibly in 1835 when a Frances Cook, aged 6 months was buried in St Mary’s churchyard). James would have expended a lot of money, not only on grave and memorial, but also its brick vault and the exhumation of his sisters. The use of the term ‘ransom’ on the memorial inscription thus seems quite fitting. Why his father James had not contributed, at least to the year of Frances’ death, is a mystery.

James’ like-named father remarried the next year, 1860, to Mary Rust of Colyton, Devon, and would move out of Bridgwater.[5] We know little of James’ relationship to his father. His elevation to respectable middle class may have put him at odds with his working class father, even if that man was a skilled artisan. When James senior died many years later he was remembered as ‘a very intelligent and kind-hearted gentleman’.

James and Ellen moved in 1861 from Hamp to Castle Street, then called Great Chandos Street, and were settled in by the time of that year’s census on 7 April.[6] They lived with 16-year-old Eliza M. Price, their servant. Next door was the household of the Symons, headed by Ellen’s father William, where Clifford was also living. Interestingly, the house beyond that was occupied by Paul Octavious Haythorn Reed ‘attorney at law’, with whom James would later partner with.

That year, 1861, Cook seems to have dabbled in property speculation. He purchased land on the east side of Bath Bridge and intended to build on it. He laid draining pipes to help clear water from the wet land. Clearly building and developing was not to his taste, as he sold the land in 1863 to Philip Gilbert, builder. He was possibly encouraged by his Symons in-laws: they owned the Crossways Brickyard at Somerset Bridge, so building houses here may have been intended for brick-yard workers.

In May 1860 we find James’ name in a list of supporters of a petition to Robert Ford, the Mayor of Bridgwater, to adopt the Free Libraries Act in the town. This act allowed towns to raise their local taxes to fund libraries.[7] The petition was successful and the act was used to purchase the books and collections of the George Street Literary and Scientific Institution. James would be a lifelong and consistent supporter and benefactor of libraries in the town. Cook’s rise from his West Street origins meant he must have used the town’s reading rooms and collections to advance his education, and he was thus keen to provide the same opportunities for those who would take them.

In April 1863 we find James subscribing money towards a fund to support the widow of the late Reverend Thomas George James. Rev. James was the vicar for St Mary’s Church, which is the first indicator of Cook moving away from Unitarianism of his childhood towards the established church.[8] It is possible that Paul Reed influenced his decision, as his Symons in-laws remained dissenters. Being an Anglican would have helped Cook’s career and removed some social barriers faced by dissenters, although he seems to have whole-heartedly embraced Anglicanism, and been close friends to a number of clergymen, especially Rev. Trevor who was minister in Holy Trinity near the Symons’ house in Taunton Road. However, even as late as 1899 Cook was still tainted by his non-conformist background.

LEGAL PROFESSIONAL

James will have been conducting his role as articled clerk for Carslake and Barham, and appears on behalf of the in debt case in the papers in July 1863.[9] This was the sort of lower-level casework James will have been cutting his teeth on. He presumably moved to London early in the following year to complete his training. In ‘Trinity Term’ 1864 James passed his examinations at the incorporated law society. He was highly praised for his performance, and the note mentions he had served his clerkship to Carslake and Barham of Bridgwater and Torr, Janeway and Tagart of 38 Bedford Row, London.[10] Cook’s obituary expanded on this:

His articles expired in 1864, and in that year he went to London to prepare for his final examination. His industry at this critical period of his life was truly prodigious, for he read fourteen hours a day at the Law Institution for several months. His perseverance was rewarded, for not only did he brilliantly pass his qualifying examination, but he also gained a first prize. On returning to his native town, Mr. Cook shortly afterwards entered into partnership with the late Mr Paul. O. H. Reed.

James was back in Bridgwater by August that year, when he was in court defending a pick pocket. Although unsuccessful, Cook’s defence was described as ‘ingenious’.[11] In October he acting on behalf of his father-in-law’s company, Colthurst, Symons and Co., chasing a debt for the delivery of a barge-load of tiles.[12]

On 14 November 1866 James was robbed by a John Brinsley of a silver watch and £1 16s 8d. Details aren’t given in the papers about the incident, but this seems to be a case of pick pocketing - ironic given his defendant the previous year.[13]

In March 1867 Ellen appears in the historical record, sadly not for pleasant reasons. This case was brought before the borough police for an incident:

BOROUGH POLICE. Mrs. Cook, wife of Mr. James Cook, solicitor, was summoned for assaulting Mary Ann Classey, on the 26th ult. Mr. Lovibond appeared for defendant. From the complainant's statement it appeared that in December last she entered Mrs. Cook’s service as house and parlour maid, that on the 14th ult. she received a month’s notice to quit, that on the day named she asked Mrs Cook for permission to go out to seek for another situation which was refused, on account of complainant having neglected to perform certain work she had been asked to do; that complainant insisted on leaving, and that when near the door the defendant caught hold of her clothes and dragged her back, and also “dashed” her head against the wall. The defence was that Mrs. Cook was perfectly justified in what she did, and used no more than necessary violence in keeping her servant in the house. The Bench dismissed the case without troubling Mr. Lovibond to call any witnesses for the defence.[14]

It is interesting to see Cook’s former employer acting as their solicitor for the trail. It’s a shame, given the scarcity of records for Ellen’s life, that this is one of the few more vivid mentions of her we have.

In the mid-1860s Cook partnered with Paul Octavious Haythorn Reed (1826-1903). About nine years Cooks’ senior, Reed had followed his father into a law career. He had qualified in 1849, and by the 1860s was running a large firm and was heavily involved in civic activities in the town. In October 1862, Paul was appointed clerk to the Bridgwater Union (the organisation that organised social welfare and ran the workhouse). He was a widower, his wife Charlotte having died in 1862, leaving a brood of six children. Notes among the Reed family papers suggest that while Reed concentrated on civic activities, Cook took on the majority of the office work of the firm. In April 1865, for a case heard in the Cardiff County Court, Cook was still (or apparently) working independently. The first mention found so far of the firm of Reed and Cook appears in Perry's Bankrupt Gazette of 21 October 1865 in relation to Thomas Wilkinson, former innkeeper of South Petherton.[15] To give some idea of Cook’s workload, in one edition of the Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser, of 21 March 1866, he is mentioned in relation to five separate cases at the Police and County Courts.

Cook’s obituary noted:

these two able lawyers built up a practice that for extent of its clientage and importance of its work was unequalled in the West. Indeed, the style of the firm - Messrs. Reed and Cook, now altered to Reed and Reed - is today a household phrase throughout the greater part of Somerset. At the height of his success Mr. Cook had, it is believed, the largest practice, with the exception, perhaps, of the late Mr. Clifton, of Bristol, and any solicitor in the West of England... At Taunton where he had a branch office his clientage was even larger than at Bridgwater. This was largely due to the fact that the town possessed several branch railways. For many years the number of clients who sought his advice and assistance on a market day at Taunton were said to average not less than fifty or sixty, and on his return to Bridgwater he would immediately proceed to his office, where he would write or dictate all the letters pertaining to the business of his Taunton clients.... Mr. Cook in the days of his vigorous manhood - and he was then of splendid physique - was in the habit of rising at six o'clock in the morning, Winter and Summer, leaving four or five times a week for Devon and Cornwall, and returning to Bridgwater by the last train at night. Although his time was almost entirely taken up by his enormous law business, he never allowed a week to go by without perusing the more important legal reports and in this way kept himself well informed of the latest decisions.

LIBERAL POLITICS

Cook was now twenty-nine, respected as a lawyer and ready to take part in politics. In July 1865 there was a general election. Cook was a firm supporter of the Liberal Party, and in a fractious meeting in the Town Hall for the electors of Bridgwater on 10 July, was accused of starting a brawl by waving a yellow handkerchief. Yellow was the colour of the liberal party and after the conservative candidate, Henry Westropp, had finished an address to the audience, Cook, who was on the platform, waved the handkerchief over Westropp’s head. This was described by Mr F. Trenchard, the Conservative’s solicitor, as ‘the most disgraceful thing a man could do’, which had enraged the conservatives in the crowd, who stormed the stage, forcing the liberals out a back door. Such violence was pretty typical at such political meetings, and blaming Cook for an almost inevitable brawl was fairly weak on Trenchard’s part.[16]

The 1865 election would come to haunt Cook and Reed for more serious reasons than boyish larks at hustings. That year Westropp (conservative) and Kinglake (liberal) were elected, but a petition in early 1866 decried corrupt election practices, and Westropp was unseated, leading to a by-election in June. During the examination of evidence in April 1866, Reed and Cook were called forward and both denied any bribery had taken place on the liberal side. The two of them had been employed as agents for Kinglake, a Mr H. Lovibond (but not Benjamin Lovibond), a Mr Bate and a Mr Baron. The matter settled for now, but would return in a couple of years.

LOCAL SOCIETIES

In April 1867 Cook is mentioned as vice chair of the ‘Duke of Somerset’ court of the Order of Foresters. The Duke of Somerset had only formed in 1865, and it may have been easier for a younger lawyer like Cook to be given such a chance.[17] This was a mutual aid society, where members would pay dues in exchange for what amounted to insurance in case of accident, illness or death. In the days before the welfare state these organisations were an important safety net for many families. Cook was presumably wealthy enough not to need to be part of such an organisation, but his upbringing in the courts of West Street may have been important in forming his opinion of the need for such organisations.

In July 1867 James was recorded as Worshipful Master of the Grand Lodge of Perpetual Friendship of Freemasons in Bridgwater. This was during a meeting in the Town Hall of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Somerset. The Perpetual Friendship lodge had recently moved from their rooms in the Lamb Inn to rooms in the Clarence Hotel.[18] That Cook was Master that year would indicate that he had been a member for some time, and the connections would have helped advance his career.

In the following decade, in 1876 and 1877 Cook was president of the Loyal Fountain Lodge of the Odd Fellows, which dined at the Fountain Inn on West Quay.[19]

LOCAL POLITICS

In October 1867 Cook spoke in a public town meeting against proposals to build a water works in Bridgwater. His opposition at this time is surprising, as he would later be instrumental in negotiations for the Wembdon Reservoir system, but his key arguments that such a scheme would be ruinously expensive for the town and that water could still be had within the town itself. A passing reference in the debates also mentions he had been in France that year – possibly for the Exposition Universelle in Paris.[20]

In November 1867 James was nominated to the Town Council as a liberal candidate for the north ward of Bridgwater, alongside fellow liberals William Bowering, William Symons, Francis Thompson and Paul Reed, although the latter two pulled out. The other three were elected.[21] From so many mentions of his involvement in various committees, he seems to have flung himself into this civic role. He was also a member of the Market House Trustees, and in November 1867 elected as chair of the paving sub-committee and served as a member of the gas sub-committee.[22] Further debates over the town’s water supplies followed that month.[23] In November of 1867 we find James mentioned as a member of the Port and Navigation Committee and their resolution to call for more berths for shipping. Given his contribution to the town’s regatta in the previous decade, it is perhaps unsurprising that he kept up his interest in the life of the river.[24]

LIBERAL POLITICS II

In 1869 Bridgwater would be disenfranchised, meaning it lost its two members of parliament, on account of widespread bribery occurring in elections. After the 1865 election the liberals had petitioned against the campaign of the conservative candidate Westropp, who was subsequently unseated following a hearing at a parliamentary select committee. Of an electorate of 598 individuals, 173 people were found to have been bribed and 25 people guilty of bribery. The conservatives got their revenge after the 1868 election, when both liberal candidates Vanderbyl and Kinglake were unseated for the same practices in early 1869. Bribery of this sort was common in every town in England, but with the petitions and counter petitions, things had got out of hand in Bridgwater. In late summer 1869 an enquiry was held in the town hall from 23 August to 16 October.

Cook was first called before the enquiry on 6 September. The firm of Reed and Cook had been paid £100 by Vanderbyl, who had given similar sums to the other liberal-supporting law firms in the town. When asked about this Cook honestly answered ‘if all the lawyers who received payments, and all those who took part in the payment of bribers were included in the list of corruptible voters, he doubted whether there would be many more than fifty righteous voters left’.[25]

He was called again the next day to give further evidence. He reported that Westropp had been well-known to be free with money in return for votes, as had Mr Gray, another conservative candidate in 1868. Cook recalled a meeting of the liberal-supporting lawyers, who knew how much money the conservatives would be throwing at the election, and so they decided they had to respond with a fund of £2,000-£3,000 in an attempt to return Kinglake, although Cook said he was opposed to this idea. It was soon apparent the conservatives would flood the town with money and win the election, so most of the liberal supporters switched their efforts to Taunton. Reed said he would concentrate on Bridgwater and ‘sink with the ship’. On the day of the election, the liberal headquarters was the Globe in on the corner of Eastover and Salmon Parade. A messenger arrived and said the liberal voters were refusing to vote without being paid. Cook said the liberal voters should be gathered and he would see what could be done. This last minute act of desperation won the day, but Cook said that his and Reed’s ‘connection with bribery at the last election had caused both himself and his partner ever since great grief and mental torture’.[26] Cook was called again on 8 September, but was too ill to attend.[27] It is possible the stress of the past two days had overwhelmed him.

Cook was able to give evidence again on the 10^th. He admitted that his firm had paid £3 15s to Mr Hodges of the Railway Hotel to supply carriages to convey voters to the poll: ‘he knew that payment was an illegal one, but he was sorry to say the law was departed from in many instances’. When the questioning was finished, the chair of the enquiry thanked Cook and ‘that they were indebted to him for the fairness and candour which he had displayed in giving his evidence’.[28] At the end of the enquiry Cook asked for an was granted a certificate on 17 October. This meant, having given good evidence, he was exempt from any threat of prosecution for his actions. This must have been a relief.[29]

The fallout was not yet over though: in March 1870 prosecutions were held at court in Taunton  and much of the same evidence was brought up. Again, Cook and Reed were called as witnesses. Solicitors were listed as ‘the chief, if not sole agents on the Liberal side and included Mr Barham, Mr Lovibond, Mr Reed and Mr Cook.[30] When examined again, Cook complained of the pressure put on him by Lovibond. He recounted the dismay of the liberal side in how they could not garner any support on their own side in the town without it. The decision to offer bribes was taken knowing the conservatives were already offering them, and the money was sent from London. 

Despite this protracted public humiliation, Cook’s career did not suffer. Through the year his name appears in several court cases through the county. As a sign of the respect he had earned, in July 1870 he was elected Borough Treasurer for Bridgwater, following the death of W.J. Knight, the previous incumbent.[31]

This episode did not put James off of active political engagement. In 1878 he served as Liberal solicitor for reviewing the voter’s list for the parish, for example.[32]

HOMELIFE

By the time of the 1871 census, James and Ellen, both aged 34, were living at 3 Taunton road, and with them was Sibrinah Wills, aged 20, of Bridgwater. Their home was between those of Ellen’s brother Clifford Symons on the side towards town and her father William Symons on the other. The Cooks were presumably living in part of the Octavian House complex – now 8 to 10 Taunton Road.

In 1872 the couple appear to have moved to Wembdon. In July, while some building work on new villas on Wembdon Road, opposite to the modern junction with Inwood, a scaffolding collapse resulted in the injury of a boy – Ellen, mentioned as living nearby, lent her carriage to rush him to hospital.[33] In 1876, while advertising for a (specifically tall) parlourmaid, Ellen gave her location as Wembdon.[34] Later we learn that this home was the ‘Oaks’ which was a large modern villa on the Wembdon Road.

The house had a cellar, inside toilet, two stair cases, a smoking and card room, was served with gas. Nearby was set of stables and coachhouses, which had adjoining meadowland.[35]

LICENCED VICTUALLERS

In 1874 we find Cook toasting the ‘Success of the Weston super Mare licenced victuallers association’ as its solicitor.[36] Given Cook travelled so much for work, it is perhaps unsurprising he would find himself on committees and giving advice to organisations all over the county. If nothing else, from this we learn that Cook was not a teetotaller. Part of his job would have been to represent members in professional legal actions against them, relating to their licences and collective lobbying against national restrictions. In 1877 Cook was noted as solicitor to the Bridgwater licenced victuallers association, having been so since its formation and he was paid for his services. He was also solicitor to the East Somerset association, alongside Bridgwater and Weston.[37] Clearly this was a cause he was happy to support. Perhaps his childhood in West Street gave him a broader perspective on the importance of pubs as essential social and recreational places for the working classes. If nothing else it would have distanced himself from the more radical wings of the Dissenting churches, and more firmly as an establishment figure.

LEGAL WORK

Through the 1870s we can trace Cook’s legal activities through cases mentioned in passing in the newspapers. Cook’s obituary makes special mention of 1874 in relation to his legal practice. Whether this was a particularly important year, or just chosen as a good example is unclear.

One of the most remarkable cases Mr. Cook figured was in connection with a charge head at the Bridgwater Quarter Sessions (in November, 1874) of unlawful wounding preferred against three Norwegian sailors. Mr. Cook was called upon at the last moment by the Recorder to defend the alien seamen, and so finely did he conduct the defence that the jury acquitted two of the accused men, the other being sentenced to a short term of imprisonment. The learned Recorder, in summing up, is recorded to have said that "although Mr. Cook was instructed so late, it had seldom been his good fortune to hear prisoners defended with greater ability. Mr Cook had, "displayed abilities which would do credit and honour to those who practiced in the higher ranks of the profession".

In 1874 Mr. Cook appeared for the defence in a charge against a bank official, and when the accused was committed for trial Mr. Cook prophesised that the case would not last ten minutes, as the prisoner had not, he contended, committed any crime in the eyes of the law. Mr. Cook's view proved to be correct for the bank official was in the time stipulated discharged by Mr. B.P. the presiding judge. The council for the prosecution, who was afterwards Lord Justice Lopes, felt so strongly that the law ought to be amended that in June 1875 he succeeded in passing through the House of Commons an Act to amend the law with reference to the falsification of accounts. It was a remarkable coincidence that within a short time of the passage of this Act Mr. Cook was instructed by the same bank to enforce the new Act against another of their officials.”

We get a glimpse of Cook’s professionalism in a letter he wrote to the Weston Mercury, 29 April 1876. Cook had been defending a lad called Templeman, who was accused of fraudulently selling skimmed milk. Cook argued that Templeman had no idea, and was just selling what his employer Minifle had given him. The judge had dismissed this and charged Templeman, but after trial Cook was dogged in getting the conviction quashed.

RELIGION

In March 1875 Cook paid for two carved statues to be placed in niches at the east end of the nave of St Mary’s Church. Each statue is about 4 feet 10 inches tall and were carved by Bradford and Sons of Eastover.[38] Seven years later he would donate a further two for the west end of the nave.[39] By doing so Cook was not only helping to decorate the principle church of the town, he was also following in the footsteps of Mayor Browne, who had donated the adjoining roof angels, and distancing himself from his childhood Unitarianism. Decoration of this sort was frowned upon in the Dissenting communities, and seen as essentially Roman Catholic, a church that was hated.

TAUNTON

Taunton had been without a fully functional Town Council since 1792, and despite numerous attempts for a new charter to be issued to restore it, it was not until 1875 that a serious effort was made to address this shortfall. In the meantime the town’s parish councils, Market Trustees and Health Board had fulfilled the major functions of local government. A petition that year led to a public meeting with the aim of securing a new charter, and thus a new council. Cook’s obituary recalls:

In 1876 Mr. Cook was honoured for being appointed to conduct the case in favour of the incorporation of the town of Taunton, and despite the stern opposition offered to the proposal, the Charter was in due course, granted to the county town, the opinion at the time being that Mr. Cook's brilliant advocacy was largely responsible for the success that attended the petitioners case.

Opposition would have come from locals not keen for more layers of local government, and the necessary rise in taxes (‘rates’) needed to pay for the infrastructure, despite a council being better able and more accountable for governing.

TOWN CLERK OF BRIDGWATER

In 1877 Cook was appointed as Town Clerk of Bridgwater. When J.H.B Carslake stepped down, the Mercury reported:

it is no secret, we believe, that Mr Carslake is to be succeeded by Mr James Cook, who on Friday last resigned as borough treasurer. The selection is one that will be sure to meet public approval, for Mr Cook, first as Town Councillor, and afterwards as borough treasurer, which necessitated his attendance at most of the council meetings, has acquired a thorough experience of the duties to be performed and an intimate knowledge of the affairs of the Corporation generally.[40]

That October the town decided to proceed with a waterworks scheme and an Act of Parliament was obtained to bring it about.[41] Cook had opposed this back in 1867, but now as clerk his job was to enact council decisions, and he did with some gusto. His obituary recalled:

In connection with the Bridgwater Water-work scheme which was carried into effect during the occupancy of the Town Clerkship by Mr. Carslake, it will be recalled that the Town Council had many claims sent in by owners and occupiers of several mills on the stream from which the towns supply was secured, and that eventually the claims were placed in the hands of an arbitrator to decide the question of compensation. Mr. Cook conducted the case for the Corporation, but the necessity for hearing of the claims, by the arbitrator was rendered unnecessary, as Mr. Cook affected a compromise. The bargain was one entirely favourable to the town, and saved Bridgwater, it is believed, several thousand pounds. This opinion was on several occasions publicly expressed by the late Mr. Alderman Holland and others. 

The waterworks were opened in 1879, thirteen years after the first resolution for their need. To celebrate, Thompson Brothers erected a temporary fountain on the Cornhill of rockwork and evergreens. Cook took part in the civic procession. At the banquet held in the evening, Mr Jacobs, a former mayor of Taunton, praised Cook’s ‘ability and perseverance, and no other man’s services were coveted as his were’.[42]

MOVING HOME

After James was made Town Clerk in 1877, the Cooks decided that they needed to move back to central Bridgwater. For a number of years Cook had been horse keeping, but he gave it up in February 1878, when he sold a bay mare pony, various harnesses, phaeton carriage and gadabout dog cart.[43] These may have been used to quickly get into Bridgwater and were thus no longer needed. In August that year he put their home in Wembdon up for sale. There seem to have been no takers, so Cook put the property up for rent the following month.[44]

They moved to King Square in Bridgwater by January 1881 at least. Their home was on the east side of King Square. It was a luxurious home, and included a billiard room extension with lead roof. The legal offices for Reed and Cook were on the south side of the square, a very short walk away.[45]

In the midst of all this work, the Cooks found time for travel. In the April 1881 census James and Ellen were in Devon visiting the household of the Pratt family in Newton Abbot. Ellen’s brother Clifford Symons was with them. On 28 May 1881 the West Somerset Free Press reported that Cook had left Bridgwater for Liverpool in order to embark on a Cunard Steamer to the United States. The Town Councillors wished him a pleasant trip, and hoped it would do his health some benefit ‘which has not recently been so satisfactory as his friends could desire’. This last comment hints towards a growing sense that Cook was overworking himself.

James sailed on the Gallia, a 3081 tons ship from Liverpool via Queenstown to New York, arriving on 31 May. He sailed with Thomas Ware, a Bridgwater merchant and fellow member of the Town Council.[46] Depending on how long Cook and Ware stayed in America for, they may have read the news in July that year of the assassination of President James Garfield, or the surrender of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull. October would see the Gunfight at the O.K. Coral.

Cook was home by the end of the year (Thomas Ware at least was back in Bridgwater by September 1881): in December he was installed as ‘W.M.’ of the masonic Lodge of Perpetual Friendship in Bridgwater.[47] Continuing his work for local friendly societies, in 1882 he was noted as a member of the Oddfellows ‘Friendship’ Lodge.[48]

RAILWAY

Through 1882 and 1883 Cook supported the Bridgwater Railway Bill, keen for better transport links for the town. He was part of a committee engaged in negotiations and petitions leading up to an Act of Parliament.[49] This would ultimately become part of the Somerset and Dorset Railway system, and was an effort spearheaded by Alfred Peace. Work would begin in 1888.

BATH AND WEST

In March 1883 Cook was honorary secretary of a committee for bringing the Bath and West of England Agricultural Show to Bridgwater.[50] The Bath and West Society had been founded in 1777 with the aims of encouraging agriculture, arts, manufacture and commerce in the West Country. Organising the show took up a considerable amount of Cook’s time and effort and it was later stated that he bore the lion’s share of the responsibilities. ‘Few outsiders can realise the immense amount of time and labour that have been bestowed upon this work by Mr Cook since the formation of the committee, as far back as October 1881’.[51]

For the show, the town was decked out with 80 fir trees and numerous other trees, gas was supplied for illuminations on the Cornhill, the bell ringers of St Mary’s were employed to ring each day, the B.A. Christy band would play each evening and fireworks would be held one night. The showground was set up in fields opposite St Matthew’s fields.[52]

The show eventually yielded some £1300 in profit, which came as a surprise, as the committee had expected to make a loss. It was decided to make the most of the opportunity, and they decided in the following year to hold the first annual cheese, dairy and agricultural produce exhibition, and  establish the Somerset Agricultural Association. Cook was appointed as one of two secretaries to this new organisation.[53] In later years it would be remarked ‘if anyone can claim to be the founder of the association  it possibly lies with this gentleman [Cook]’ having convened the meeting which led to its creation.[54]

Such was the triumph of the show, and appreciation of the people of Bridgwater for its success (and no doubt boosting various businesses in the town),  that a subscription was begun in June 1883 in order to thank him for his efforts. A total of £140 and 9 shillings was raised In August, and it was decided that a public subscription be held to award him a silver tea and coffee set and salver, commissioned from J.T. Rainforth of Eastover, which would be given to him at a public dinner in October. All six pieces of the set were engraved with Cook’s monogram and motto ‘Fide et Industria’ and presented in an oak chest. The Mayor, W.T. Holland, gave hearty speech in favour of his friend – Cook received the presentation and speech with some embarrassment, but thanked everyone for their kindness. At the end of various glowing speeches, Holland added that Cook had only accepted the award on the condition that he might match the fund in making donations to various causes in the town – the library and the hospital.[55] In October 1883 Cook donated 50 Guineas to the Free Library Committee to buy books.[56] In November 1883 he donated a further 50 Guineas to the Ladies’ Association of the Bridgwater Infirmary, which had been established to provide a bed and the maintenance of a convalescent patient at the Weston super Mare sanitorium.[57]

Although in many ways 1883 was a triumph for Cook, it was tainted by a tragedy befalling a close friend of his. In August 1883 a fire ripped through the Bridgwater Mercury officed, the home of the family of John Dunsford, which killed Mrs Ellen Dunsford and three children. Cook took the lead in the relief effort, being appointed secretary of the relief fund and immediately donated £5 5s.[58]

In happier events, the year closed with great celebrations in Bridgwater on the completion of the new town bridge. In November 1883 Cook took an important role in the ceremony of the opening: on the procession arriving at the bridge, Cook read the Mayoress an address and presented her with a silver key. The key is now among the collections of the Blake Museum.

A BUSY LIFE

Continuing his support for local agriculture, in 1884 Cook donated a silver cup to the Bridgwater Poultry Show, to be given to the exhibitor who won the greatest number of prices at the annual show.[59] In September that year he paid for a luncheon for the inaugural meeting of the Somerset Agricultural Society, and it was planned the first show would be held in Taunton the following year.[60]

In September 1884 Cook was president of the ‘Abraham Lincoln’ Lodge of Druids who met in the Beaufort Arms in St John Street. This sort of Druid was a friendly society, of the sort he had been supporting for years not a religious order as it is now.[61] In July 1885 Cook convened a meeting for a parade for all the friendly societies in Bridgwater, intended to raise funds for the Infirmary.[62] That month he attended the anniversary dinner of the ‘Star of the West’ Lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids, held in a large tent behind the Nag’s Head Inn in West Street.[63]

At home, by 1885 Ellen Cook had commissioned Abraham Squibbs, artists and photographer of Bridgwater to make a ‘crayon drawing’ of the altar piece ‘descent from the cross’ in St Mary’s Church. Given James donations to the church over the years, it seems the couple held it in very high regard at home.

In more mysterious and ambitious moves, in October 1885 Cook purchased a large portion of the Pathe estate which included Burrow Mump, with 272 acres, for £14,500.[64] Whatever grand plans he intended for the Mump, or all that land, we can never know. The following year his life would change dramatically.

EVERYTHING CHANGES - PARALYSIS

Everything changed for the Cooks in 1886 when James’ health took a severe turn. As early as 1881 the newspapers reported that his friends were concerned for his health, but he does not seem to have eased the sheer amount of work he was undertaking. The year started typically enough for him: in January being elected as honorary vice president of the Somerset Agricultural Association in thanks for his devoted services since the formation of the association.[65] He was still well enough in February, when he presided over the annual dinner of the Friendship lodge of Odd Fellows in the Ship Aground. He was still signing letters on 25 March, but must have collapsed prior to this.[66] He was 51 years old at the time.

The Bristol Times and Mirror reported on 24 March 1886 of the anxiety in Bridgwater over the previous week of his critical condition. Elsewhere it was reported that he was ‘smitten by paralysis and there is little hope of recovery’.[67]

The most likely cause for James paralysis was a stroke - a sudden blood clot in an artery to the brain. The commonest medical cause of paralysis at the time would have been a stroke due to undiagnosed and untreated high blood pressure. Although Cook’s life is well-documented over the following years, the exact nature of his condition is not entirely clear. He seems to have been able to speak in public, and to stand, but how well he was able to do either is unknowable. A stroke usually causes paralysis down one side of the body. If his right arm and leg were paralysed, then his speech and ability to write and/or his swallowing may have been affected too. If his left side was affected, then he might have lost some insight and reasoning skills, some memory and concentration skills. It would therefore been hard to work as a lawyer or a manager with cognitive difficulties. Paralysis can also mean a blood clot in a spinal artery, which might affect the spinal cord and paralyse both legs, but his arms and his memory and thinking would be unaffected.[68]

In the first week of April the newspapers reported that Cook’s health had improved slightly.[69] However, it would have been clear to James and Ellen that life would not return to normal. In May Cook resigned as Town Clerk in favour of his business partner, Paul Reed. At the same time their partnership was dissolved and James and Ellen moved to Bath for a brief time. At this time his health had improved slightly.[70] By August James and Ellen were in Bournemuouth, where they received a vellum resolution from the Town Council of Bridgwater expressing thanks for his long service. He wrote a letter of thanks for their kind gesture.[71]

Despite being out of action, Cook still took the time to subscribe to good causes, including money towards the George Williams Memorial Hall in Eastover.[72] He also wrote to the Bridgwater Mercury with recommendations of a second Church Parade of Friendly Societies (the first having been organised by him the previous year which raised £50 for the Infirmary), this time to raise money to bring the Somerset Agricultural Society to Bridgwater in 1887.[73]

Fearing the worse, on 19 October 1886 Cook granted power of attorney to Mr Clifford Symons, his brother in law. James was able to sign the document, which was witnessed by Charles Chard the Borough Accountant of Bridgwater. As it happens, Clifford died in 1899, before James would die in 1911. Charles Chard was Bridgwater Borough Accountant, who would, in years to come, act as James’ secretary and accountant.

Again, in sign that James and Ellen were accepting that life would not be returning to normal, by November they had put their properties in Bridgwater up for rent. This included their house on the east side of King Square, then their offices on the south side of the square.[74]

Again, in the following year, despite his incapacitation, Cook was still active in supporting good causes. In 1887 he donated ten guineas as a prize to wives and daughters of farmers competing in butter making.[75] At the annual show that year in May, the Cooks contributed artworks for the Fine Arts exhibition.[76] In 1887 Cook contributed to the purchase of a gold chain for Bridgwater’s mayor, and his name and dates of office was engraved on one of the eighteen links.[77] He was also helping the Borough of Taunton by advancing a loan of £2000 over 30 years to help their finances.[78]

WESTON SUPER MARE

Cook’s obituary tells us:

When in 1886 Mr. Cook dissolved partnership with Mr. Paul Reed, he and Mrs. Cook travelled a good deal in hope of regaining his former health. He tried many seaside places on the south coast, but none suited him more so well as Weston Super Mare.

In 1888 the Somerset Agricultural Society held their annual show in Weston super Mare, at which time Cook was still an honorary secretary and vice president. At this time he was living in Weston, where he and Ellen would settle.[79]

We find him more active in the following year and still trying to continue some effort towards his civic activities in Bridgwater, and even visiting his hometown: James was recorded as one of the shareholders of the Bridgwater Dairy Factory, and was even present at the George Inn for a shareholders meeting in February. Alfred Peace was the chair, and Cook participated by interrogating the accounts.[80] In March 1889 Cook donated £20 for the improvement of Monmouth Street and the demolition of the Rookery (which belonged to Alderman Foster), a row of squalid cottages near St John’s Church.[81]

In May and June 1889 the Cooks were staying at Mrs Hill’s guesthouse at 7 Greenfield Place. By September they had moved to the Grand Atlantic Hotel.[82]

James health still seems to have been bad at this time. In February 1890 Cook gave £5 to the Somerset Agricultural Society to be given as a prize at the upcoming show.[83] He was unable to attend their meeting in June and sent his apologies.[84] In September 1890 Cook attended a council meeting in Bridgwater, where a testimonial was given to Mayor F.C. Foster in thanks for his term of service. Cooks was accompanied by his wife – the only woman there – suggesting her presence was necessary to aid him.[85] At the same time Cook attended a meeting of the Free Libraries Committee. He indicated that he wanted all books in the collection with any damage to be repaired and that he wanted the committee to spend fifty guineas ‘in the purchase of such technical and literary works, including ‘leaves of a life’ or ‘Reminiscences’ by Montague Williams Q.C. as the committee in their judgement should think proper’. All of this would be at his expense.[86] Cook’s visit to Bridgwater and generosity were firmly thanked by the committee and by the Town Council. In response to this, Cook sent them a letter:

Acknowledging the resolution of thanks to him for his gift of books to the Free Library, and the congratulations of the Corporation upon his improved state of health. He was thankful to state that his mental faculties were as clear and strong as ever, and this his physical powers were surely but slowly returning’.[87]

In January 1891 Cook sent more £63 and 11 pence for the expenses undertaken at his request for the library.[88]

In the 1891 census Cook and Ellen were lodging in the County Boarding House, Weston super Mare, which was run by an Angus Earp. Interestingly, also living in the house ‘living on own means’ was a Hester Disney of Bleadon, who would later become James’ nurse, and would look after him until his death. The live-in nurse would have helped James with mobility, for instance getting from bed to wheelchair and then from wheelchair to the toilet. He was probably unable to wash himself and may have had bowel and bladder problems. He may have had difficulty swallowing so needed help with meals.[89]

In September 1892 Cook seems to acted on behalf of the Liberals in Somerset by objecting to registration of certain conservative voters on grounds of two people claiming property rights on the same property. Cook is described as belonging to the firm of ‘Reed and Cook of Bridgwater and Taunton’ which is something of a puzzle as the partnership had been dissolved at the outset of Cook’s illness.[90] In June 1894 the firm of Reed and Cook is again mentioned.[91] It may be that Cook had attempted to return to work in a modest way, although with only two mentions on the record presumably this effort could not be sustained.

In December 1892 Cook was at least able to attend a meeting of the Somerset Agricultural Association.[92]

JAMES’ FAMILY

Sometime before 1890, Cook’s brother Francis (born 1841), a cabinet maker like their father, seems to have died, although  there is little trace of him after the 1871 census. Brother William (born 1839) had moved to London by 1871 and had a large family. We do not know how well James got on with his brothers, their class differences would have come between them, although James left good amounts of money for his brother’s children in his will.

In January of 1893 James’ father, James Cook Senior died at the age of 82. The Weston super Mare Gazette, noted in its section that Cook senior had been a tradesman of Highbridge ‘but has not followed any occupation for many years past’. He was buried in the Highbridge Cemetery. Cook was described as ‘a very intelligent and kind-hearted gentleman, and up to his death retained his faculties in a remarkable degree.[93]

RETURN TO BRIDGWATER

In 1893 James and Ellen returned to Bridgwater, moving back into Octavian House with her Symons relatives.[94] We also see James’ more active engagement in civic life. In January he donated a clock to Bridgwater Town Council for the council chamber.[95] In February 1893 Cook was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Bridgwater and in July he was presiding as a magistrate in this office over the police court alongside the Mayor T. Manchip, and would attend when he could over the following years. [96] Then in April James was elected to the Board of Guardians for Bridgwater, an organisation his former business partner Paul Reed had been a member of since 1862.[97] This momentum culminated in November 1893 when James Cook was elected unopposed as a town councillor for the north ward of Bridgwater.[98] It was unanimously agreed among the majority liberal members of the town council that Cook should be elected mayor for the coming year. Suddenly though, after all this momentum, he unexpectedly declined, out of fears that his health would prevent him undertaking the duties. H.W Pollard was instead elected in his place.[99] However, James still tried to help the people of Bridgwater in other ways: the following month Cook offered to pay the expenses of further books for the library in George Street.[100] In June 1894 Cook offered to pay for a YMCA picnic in celebration of that organisation’s jubilee.[101]

Although James eased up his pace of council work, in December 1893 attended a meeting of the Somerset Agricultural Association - Cook was still honorary secretary - who were planning their next visit to Bridgwater the following Spring.[102]  In May 194 at a meeting of the Town Council, Cook proposed a motion to thank the mayor for his efforts in regard to the Somerset Agricultural Association’s visit to Bridgwater, which had been another success.[103] The Association’s visit to Bridgwater had happened earlier in the month and most of the hard work was attributed to T.H. Boys the Bridgwater secretary for the association.

It is in this interlude in Bridgwater where we gain some rare glimpses of Ellen’s activities. In December 1893 a report on the meeting of the Bridgwater Women’s Liberal Association noted Ellen Cook as its president, although she was unable to attend that meeting.[104]  In April 1894 Ellen distributed prizes at the Dr Morgan’s School Athletics day.[105] No doubt she was doing more, and had done much more over the previous decades, but the civic activities of women were less reported on. 

In 1894 James and Ellen were the victim of theft by their cook, Rebecca Kennedy, who had stolen a silk umbrella, tea, cocoa, sugar, sheets and clothes, and was sentenced to six weeks hard labour.[106]

Cook is entirely absent from the newspapers in 1895. It seems possible that his two-year burst of activity in Bridgwater had taken its toll, and his health again collapsed. That year he and Ellen settled in Weston super Mare. He did not stand for re-election to Bridgwater Town Council in 1896.[107]

RETURN TO WESTON

Cook’s obituary tells us:

He had visited Weston frequently, and for as long as a month at a time before he settled there in 1895. Since Mr. Cook had been a resident of the 'Brighton of the West' he had done much to advance the interests of the town.

If we assume Cook’s health collapsed again in 1895, this may have been the motivation for James and Ellen leaving the industrial smoke and stressful politics of Bridgwater, and return to the sea-air at Weston. By May 1898 the Cooks were living at a house called ‘Claire’ in Arundel Crescent.[108]

In the 1901 census James described himself as a retired solicitor. Living with him and Ellen were Hester Disney, his nurse; Florence Finnimore, their housemaid; and Bertha Cottrell, their Cook. In the 1911 census we learn in this entry that Ellen had never had any children born alive. Living with James and Ellen were Mary Jane Bishop, their cook, Winnifred Edith Baker, their housemaid, and Hester. Otherwise we learn relatively little about home life from other sources.[109] Instead, despite being retired, James couldn’t help himself by being active in various civic causes.

ANIMAL WELFARE

James was able to get around in a horse-drawn wheelchair, as his obituary recalls:

...to his great difficulty in walking, besides maintaining a carriage and pair, Mr. Cook used a pony chair daily in getting about and his was a familiar sight in Weston.

This means of travel did not come without its risks: in July 1902 Cook was the victim of a vehicle crash, when he was returning home in his pony carriage. At the top of in Orchard Street near the Boulevard, his carriage was crashed into by a milk cart. His carriage was overturned. Fortunately, although shocked, Cook (described as an invalid) was unhurt.[110]

Alongside this, Cook will have made use of the local providers of transportation. In October 1890 Cook presided as chair over the Weston super Mare Wheelchair and Donkey Show. Cook spoke of how

‘since he had been an invalid he had visited Brighton, Bournemouth, the south coast of Devon and other places, but he had never found anything in those placed that would compare with the chairmen and donkey chairs of Weston super Mare. He found at the recent show no less than 37 donkeys on parade and 50 drivers accepted the invitation to a good supper. Taken as a body the wheelchairmen were extremely civil and obliging and wonderfully kind to their animals, the chairs were wonderfully easy to ride in and were kept in good order, and the donkeys were well fed and well cared for’.

Cook’s illness will have meant a ride in the donkey wheelchairs would have been a handy way to get round, or just enjoy a day being driven around the seafront.

 Of the £32 distributed as prizes, Cook had donated £5 5s. Ellen participated in distributing New Testaments that had been donated for each driver. In return the drivers had purchased Cook an oak inkstand, mounted with silver as a small acknowledgement ‘of the interest he had manifested in their welfare’. He was due to preside the following year, but was unable to attend.

On 21 November 1898, his birthday, Cooks hosted a dinner for the wheelchair men of Weston super Mare.[111] In October 1899 Cook again presided over the Weston super Mare Wheelchair and Donkey Show, and was delighted to report that not a single member of the donkey keepers of Weston had been fined for animal cruelty. In October 1900 Cook again chaired the annual wheelchair and donkey prizes in Weston, although he had stated his desire to retire as chair of the association. In October 1902 Cook again chaired the annual Wheelchair and Donkey Show in Weston, standing in for the president Mr Baretoe, who was absent. He paid for the wheelchair men and their wives to have tea, followed by a musical evening.[112]

RSPCA

Expanding on his generosity towards the donkeys of Weston super Mare, Cook turned his attention to wider animal welfare. By July 1901 Cook was chair of the Weston branch of the RSPCA. His obituary recalls:

The work of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals especially appealed to him, and his purse and interest were ever ready to further the humane objectives of the society. Not only was he a generous subscriber, but for some years he had placed a room at his residence at the disposal of the committee. He was also president of the society for one year- although pressed to hold office for a longer period he declined- and was a member of the managing committee.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals had been founded in 1824 and branches had been established across England to help fund the work of the local inspectors and bring prosecutions against cases of animal cruelty. James’ legal background and expertise would have been especially useful for the organisation. He was re-elected in July 1902. In July 1903 held  a garden party at his home for the association. He seems to have stepped down as President at this time, but returned in July 1906, then re-elected in 1907 before retiring in July 1908. He remained a member of the committee for the rest of his life.[113]

SOMERSET AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION

One area that Cook maintained after his retirement to Weston, was in regard to the Somerset Agricultural Association. He remained one of the honorary secretaries of the Somerset Agricultural Association. He was unable to attend the February 1896 meeting. In February 1897 Cook was well enough to attend a meeting of the association. That year he was elected as President, and was able to chair a meetings in July and December that year. Cook offered a prize of £10 10s for the best beast in the cattle class at the next show.[114]

In 1898 Cook was able to chair meetings of the Somerset Agricultural Association in March, April, May, July and December.[115] That year the annual show was to held in Weston super Mare at the Recreation Grounds. Cook was deeply involved in the organisation and he held a grand banquet at Victoria Hall for 250 invitees. During the banquet a portrait of Cook, in his robes as Town Clerk of Bridgwater, was hung in an ante-room. The two vellum addresses presented to him by Bridgwater Town Council were hung either side. His portrait was reproduced in the catalogue to the show.[116] Through 1899 to 1901 Cook served as President of the Association, and often chaired meetings and attended meetings of the finance committee. This was clearly an organisation very close to his heart.[117]

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Moving from agriculture and farming to more domestic pursuits, Cook’s obituary tells us that he was ‘passionately fond of flowers and took a deep interest in his beautiful garden’.

In August 1899 Cook helped organise the Weston super Mare and Somerset Horticultural Society show, and he hosted a luncheon and was highly praised for his efforts in organising. The organisation had until January been referred to as the Weston super Mare and East Somerset Horticultural Society, but Cook had recommend the ‘east’ be dropped as Weston might one day become County Town due to its size and centrality.[118] In March 1903 Cook was president of the Weston super Mare and Somersetshire Horticultural Society, although at that meeting there was concern the annual Flower Show would be cancelled for lack of support.[119]

Even with the simple pleasures of gardening, we see above Cook’s ambitions and enthusiasm leading him back into politics and grand plans for his new home town.

A TOWN COUNCIL FOR WESTON?

In September 1894 Cook, although living in Bridgwater at that time, wrote of his support for the incorporation of Weston super Mare to form a Town Council. Cook provided the charter he had helped Taunton devise to act as a model. However, incorporation was rejected in October.[120]

Three years later and after the Cooks had permanently moved to Weston, on October 1897, Cook again urged Weston super Mare to incorporate, although this was still met with opposition.[121] In April 1898 Cook put himself forward as a candidate of the West Ward of Weston super Mare Urban District Council, primarily on a platform of incorporation for the town ‘as the best and least expensive form of government’. He was elected.[122]

In late January 1899 Cook published a manifesto in the Emmanuel Parish Magazine (the ‘Chronicler’) arguing via 9 points for the Incorporation of Weston super Mare. The magazine included a picture of Cook. The publication provoked a mocking response from the editor of the Weston Mercury and an angry letter with accusations Cook was both a radical and a non-Conformist, and had voted against progressive improvements to the town during his time in office.[123] It is amazing to see here, given his long commitment to the Church of England, that Cook’s Unitarian background was remembered and used against him.

In April 1899, having served a year Cook resigned from the council of Weston on account of the negative impact the position was having on his health.[124] No doubt the stresses of all the politicking had worn him down. His obituary recalls:

He was elected a member of the Weston Urban District Council by a large majority as an advocate of incorporation, but he has to resign at the end of twelve months in consequence of the week proving injurious to his health.

NATIONAL POLITICS

Although local politics proved too stressful, Cook kept an interest in the national cause of Liberalism.

In April 1897 he attended a meeting of the Liberal Association in Wells, to which he was still honorary secretary, and was able to read aloud at the meeting.[125] In January 1900 he presided over a meeting of the Liberal Association in Wells.[126] In January 1906 Cook was unable to attend a Liberal Party Meeting in Weston super Mare on account of a bad cold, but he sent a letter in support of R.B Silcock. Silcock’s three main policies were opposition to Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill which would ‘enable the Irish not only to control their own affairs, but would place them in the supreme position in the British Empire’; he also cited opposition to taxes ‘on the necessaries of life was to increase the misery of the destitute, to increase the  strain on the struggling and to diminish the comforts of many’; and in opposition to tariffs, which he saw as creating a millionaire class in America ‘to the detriment of the community at large’.[127]

SUPPORTING EDUCATION

From Cook’s obituary:

He was chairman of the British Schools at Weston Super Mare for two years and on the formation of the School Board became an enthusiastic member of that body, as well as chairman of the School Managers' Committee...He was likewise one of the managers of the Western Science and Art School. 

We can first trace this enthusiasm in September 1896 when Cook gave out prizes at Weston super Mare British School, and gave advice to the students there. Hand-in-hand with James’ belief in the importance of public libraries, he considered good schooling to be important for self-improvement, based on his own success. Ellen handed out sewing prizes to the girls, while giving them advice ‘not only to sew, but also to cut out and make their own garments’.[128] Likewise, Ellen will certainly have been wealthy enough to buy her own clothes, but may have thought it more virtuous to put the effort into making her own.

In January 1900 Cook was elected a chair of the British School in Weston super Mare. At a prize giving in December, Cook praised the teaching staff, but urged parents to be careful with their children’s reading and for them to avoid their exposure to the ‘penny dreadfuls’ – sensationalist tabloid newspapers.[129] In July 1908 James and Ellen gave prizes to pupils of the British School, Cook even giving half a crown to each student with perfect attendance.[130]

In March 1903 Cook was elected president of the Weston super Mare School of Science and Art.[131] Through 1905 to 1908 we find mention of Cook presiding over meetings of the Weston super Mare Urban District Education Sub Committee[132] In June and November 1908 Cook is recorded as chairman of the Weston super Mare school attendance committee.[133]

AN EYE ON BRIDGWATER

Cook’s obituary in the Bridgwater Mercury noted that Chard: ‘ the borough treasurer of Bridgwater (who for many years filled up most of the leisure time at his disposal in acting as Mr Cook's secretary and accountant, etc.)’. Although the Cooks’ focus was in Weston, they still kept an eye on Bridgwater, for example in August 1897 and March 1903, James sat as a magistrate in the police court.[134]

In September 1896 Cook sent a letter to a town meeting in opposition to the alteration of the course of the River Parrett. At that meeting it was feared changing the course of the river might be a threat to the Bath Brick industry, which relied on the unique silt deposits in the river.[135] Given his brother-in-law Clifford Symons was managing director of Colthurst Symons and Company brick and tile manufacturers, this intervention is perhaps unsurprising.

In November 1897 Cook is mentioned in relation to Bridgwater Carnival. He prevented the Bridgwater bonifaces from holding a benefit night on 5 November, essentially where a pub would have extended opening hours while entertainments were held to raise money. Cook was criticised as instead of ‘being the publicans advocate he has now become their opponent’.[136]

In October 1900 Cook was elected president of the Bridgwater Infirmary for the following year. That month he took part in the Infirmary parade and church sermons, which raised money for the institution. In August 1901 Cook, a month before his term of office ended, donated 100 guineas to the institution.[137]

Touchingly, James’ obituary tells us that:

Mrs. Cook had nearly always accompanied her husband in his frequent visits to Bridgwater, when he had requisitioned his carriage and pair and come by road, instead of by rail

BRIDGWATER LIBRARY

In September 1906 the new Library was opened in Bridgwater, after a donation from Andrew Carnegie of £3,500. Cook had contributed 25 guineas to mark the occasion.

The newspaper reports made notice that the town had been one of the first to take advantage of the Free Libraries Act and made special mention of Cook:

This gentleman has, from the first, always taken a deep interest in the Free Library movement in the town, and his recent splendid gift brings his total contribution to the Bridgwater Free Library up to £175. Such a noble example is worth of emulation. With the money already in hand, and the money the committee are yet hopeful of receiving, it will be possible to procure a supply of books that will meet the wants of every class of the community’. Alderman F.C. Foster proposed a vote of thanks to Cook: ‘They all knew him, for in Mr. James Cook – applause -  they had a gentleman who had always taken a deep interest in the Free Library of the old town of Bridgwater and has continued to do so up to the present moment, by recently giving a handsome subscription in aid of the books which they were hoping to provide for the library’.

Cook was there and responded:

It afforded him the greatest pleasure to stand there to respond to the resolution they had just passed, first because, as they were all aware, Bridgwater was his native town, and , secondly during that portion of his professional life that he spent in Bridgwater he was able to make his mark for the benefit of the inhabitants upon several important events, such, for instance, as the visit of the Bath and West of England Show in 1883, which raised the prestige of the town considerably, and in the introduction of a water supply for the borough, which had resulted in a considerable profit to the inhabitants. It was during the time that he had the honour of holding the office of Town Clerk that the Free Libraries Act was adopted in Bridgwater, during the Mayorality of the father of one of Bridgwater’s most promising sons. He referred to the late Mr. Francis Thompson (applause). From that time to the present it had always been a pleasure to him to help forward by pecuniary and other support the Free Library movement in Bridgwater, and, on behalf of the donors, both of books and money, he asked the gathering to accept their most cordial thanks, and their sincere wishes that the new library would start on a prosperous and useful career (applause)’.

Later Cook suggested that thanks be expressed to Andrew Carnegie through the addition of a bust of the man on the outside of the building and he would be pleased to support such an effort.[138] His obituary tells us that this was accomplished (although it is unclear what happened to the bust subsequently)

He was present in September 1906, when the new Carnegie Library was opened in the Blake Gardens, and was mainly responsible for the possession of a stone bust of the millionaire donor, which is a conspicuous feature of the handsome buildings. 

OTHER GOOD CAUSES

Alongside the host of other good causes mentioned above, there are a number of smaller organisations Cook supported:

• In November 1896 James was made a vice president of the Weston super Mare cricket club.[139]
• In August 1897 when they participated in the harvest festival in St Jude’s church in Weston super Mare. Ellen helped with the decorating, James gave a short speech.[140]
• In February 1903 Cook was a patron of the United Kingdom Commercial Travellers Association and helped sponsor a show in Weston in their support.[141]
• In 1904 James  opened the Weston Super Mare Baptists Church fete on Bristol road and donated five guineas to the funds. He performed the same duty in 1905 after the mayoress of Bridgwater was unable.[142] The Baptist church a little way across the road from the Cooks’ house, hence this unusual connection for devoted Anglicans. 
• In 1905 and 1906 Cook is mentioned as leading patron of Mogg’s Military Band, a prize-winning band under the conductorship of a Mr H Mogg.[143]
• In August 1907 James Cook presented the Weston super Mare YMCA a portrait of St George Williams, framed in oak ‘with and English gold flat’ which had been made by W. Sheppard of Weston. In the following year James and Ellen hosted a social evening for the start of the YMCA winter session.[144]

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

In late February 1899 the Cooks suffered a ‘sudden family bereavement’ which meant they were unable to attend the Weston super Mare Philharmonic Society meeting.[145] This was the death of Ellen’s brother Clifford Symons, who was aged 64. Evidence over the previous decades indicates a close relationship between them all.

In January 1902 the Cooks were the subject of a hoax. Twelve individuals in Bridgwater and Burnham, solicitors, tradesmen and auctioneers, received letters supposedly from Mrs Cook asking them to meet at their home in Weston super Mare on urgent business. Some men showed up at their door after making the journey, while others had luckily not been able to attend, and had sent telegraphs to that effect – to which Mrs Cook replied to say not to come and it was a hoax. She was also able to head off other men she worried might have been sent letters. James offered a £5 reward for the identity of the hoaxer.[146]

In January 1903 Cook paid for the wedding cake of Constance Julia Trevor and Rev A.P. Waller, Constance being the daughter of George Trevor sometime vicar of Holy Trinity in Bridgwater.[147]

In April 1903 Cook’s old friend and business partner Paul Reed died. James attended the funeral, while Ellen sent a bouquet of flowers.[148] This must have been a sad loss of a close friend for James.

DEATH

Cook died at his home ‘Claire’ 24th November 1911, three days after his 76^th birthday.

It seems Cook’s death came suddenly. His obituary shows he was still quite active until the end:

On the previous Sunday he walked to the parish church at Weston, as he did with unfailing regularity, and, always of an emotional nature, was, it is understood, greatly affected by the announcement made by the Rev. J. J. Langham, to whom he was deeply attached, of his impending departure to Bridgwater.

On the following day he was troubled with a cold, and on Tuesday he was attended by Dr. Vickery. His condition rapidly improved, and it was not the intention of the doctor to visit him until Friday. Mr Cook retired to rest at his usual hour - 9.30 - on Thursday night, after partaking of a light fish supper, but he was unable to sleep. Just after twelve o'clock he became restless, and at his request was assisted to change his position in bed. Almost immediately afterwards, and before the doctor could be sent for, he passed away very peacefully, death being attributed to sudden failure of the heart's action.

FUNERAL AND BURIAL

The first part of James’ funeral was held in the Emmanuel Parish Church in Weston. Cook’s friend, Rev Langham led the service.Afterwards the body was conveyed by road to Bridgwater and met the mourning coaches outside the premises of Davis and Son in Fore Street, near the corner of George Street. From there the cortege proceeded to the Wembdon Road cemetery. Attendance at the graveside was thin due to bad weather, although a marqueehad been arranged. Langham was joined here by Rev George Trevor, sometime vicar of Holy Trinity, who had travelled from Devon for the funeral.

Despite his committed Anglicanism, James considered being buried with his mother to be more important than burial in consecrated ground. So in death, he returned to his Unitarian childhood.

A CONTROVERSIAL WILL

James had drawn up his will on 17 June 1902. His executors would be Charles Chard (Bridgwater Borough Accountant, who had served on the Town Council with James and had for many years been acting as his secretary and accountant), Henry Chapman Salmon, bank cashier, and John Thomas Dunsford, proprietor of the Bridgwater Mercury.

Cook left his estate as follows:

• £600 to Charles Chard (executor)
• £25 Henry Chapman Salmon (executor)
• £25 John Thomas Dunsford (executor)
• £300 for a suitable memorial over his burial place, with railings (see this page on his memorial)
• His portrait in oils painted by ‘Ricks’ to the Corporation of Bridgwater, along with an enlarged photograph of him in his official robes as Town Clerk, and they be hung in the Grand Jury Room or Council Chamber of the Town Hall, with a brass plaque ‘James Cook, Town Clerk from 1877 to 1886’. Ricks is James Ricks, who was active 1878 to 1914 and brother to George Ricks of the George Temperance Hotel. It is unclear what happened to these portraits, or whether they were ever handed over, as they are not in the Town Council’s collection today. Perhaps Ellen couldn’t be without them, and by the time of her death the bequest had been forgotten.
• £300 to erect a stained glass window in St Mary’s Church, specifically in the eastern wall of the south chapel (as he says ‘generally occupied by the Corporation of Bridgwater on State Occasions’, which was in memory of his mother and father. He directed the plaque below it to read ‘This window was given by James Cook J.P. and for nine years Town Clerk of Bridgwater in memory of his parents’. This window was executed and took the form of the four saints of Great Britain, a statement in glass of James’ Unionist politics. Given his parents were Unitarians, it is perhaps appropriate they are not named! The window was dedicated in January 1913.[149]

• His furniture and household effects to ‘his dear wife’ Ellen Cook.
• His framed letters addresses and testimonials and the silver tea and coffee service presented by the inhabitants of Bridgwater to his nephew Wilfred Cook (son of brother William Cook).
• His white and gold tea and breakfast service to Mrs William Savidge Akerman ‘which I long since promised her’. The Akermans had lived next door to the Cooks and Symons on Taunton Road.
• £100 to nephew Wilfred Cook
• £25 to each of Wilfred’s two children
• £50 to each of Charles Chard’s children
• £200 to Hester Disney ‘my attendant’
• £10 each to his coachman and any other servants at the time of his death
• £500 to the incorporated law society of the United Kingdom, which was to be invested to provide an annual sum ‘Cook’s Prize’ to be competed for by candidates below the age of 25 at the time of their passing the final examination articled to any firm from Somerset. This prize seems to have been set up and was granted a prize in 1938.[150]
• £50 to each of the children of his brother William (excepting Wilfred, mentioned above)
• £200 to the Solicitors Benevolent Association for the relief of poor and necessitous Solicitors and Proctors in England and Wales and their wives widows and families
• £1000 to the Cottage Hospital Dunster, to be called the ‘James Cook Bequest’
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of Holy Trinity Church, Bridgwater. Each church mentioned here and below were to invest the money and use the proceeds for purchasing meat and bread to be distributed to the deserving poor of their parishes on Christmas day each year. Each to be called the ‘James Cook bequest’. The Holy Trinity charity ceased in 2001.
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of St Mary’s Church, Bridgwater. This charity is still operating.
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of St John’s Church, Bridgwater
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of the parish church of Bishop’s Lydeard
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of St Peter’s Church, Wiliton
• £200 to the vicar and churchwardens of St John’s Church, Weston super Mare.
• £26 a year to brother William Cook, but applied in the absolute discretion of his trustees – possibly evidence of James’ opinion of his brother.
• All the residue after these and funeral expenses and any other debts would be equally divided between the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, the Bridgwater Infirmary and the Royal West of England (Weston super Mare) Sanitorium.[151]

In total, Cook’s estate was valued at £55,948, with about £36,000 leftover for the three hospitals.[152]

The most controversial section of his will was as follows:

I desire to place on record two facts. First that as my wife’s income arising from her own separate estate and from a large sum which she had belonging to me (and about the latter I do not desire my trustees to incur any litigation or unpleasantness) is reasonably sufficient for her purposes I make no pecuniary provision for her by this my will. Secondly that I am not indebted to the extent of one shilling to any member of the Symons family, some of whom have treated me badly for many years.

There seems little sign that James and Ellen were on bad terms. She made an extra and separate addition to his memorial in the Wembdon Road Cemetery, which bore the inscription “Memory’s tribute to my dear husband”. At his funeral she had provided a floral cross with the note 'a last tribute of affection from his sorrowing wife, not lost but gone before'. James had left Ellen ‘his dear wife’, the furniture and household effects, although this would be null and void ‘in the event of her in any way questioning the validity of this my will and making any claim against my estate’. She did, however, seek to challenge the will. In mid-December 1911 she began proceedings via Reed and Reed (Cook’s old firm) to contest the provisions.[153] However, by the end of January she withdrew the challenge, instructing her solicitors to halt proceedings.[154] Instead, in March, the three hospitals moved to set aside a small allowance for Ellen for the rest of her life. Initially £250 was proposed, which she rejected, instead £300 – so £100 from each institution – was eventually agreed upon.[155]

With regard to the Symons family, the bad feeling must ultimately remain a mystery. Father-in-law William Symons had died in 1876, and as late as 1886 Cook had granted brother-in-law Clifford Symons power of attorney, and they had lived together a few times over the decades. However, Clifford’s death in 1899 may have been the start of the rift with the remaining family. We might speculate that Cook’s humble origins in West Street may have been remembered and looked down upon.

Ellen died on the 5^th of May 1923, having kept a quiet life in the intervening time. She was buried with James, under his great stone memorial in the Wembdon Road Cemetery.

Miles Kerr-Peterson March 2025, with much help from Jillian Trethewey and Clare Spicer.

Additional material has been compiled over the years with the help of Helen Bright-Chard, Dr. Peter Cattermole, Harry Frost, Gillian Hefferland, Andy Slocombe, Astrid Wilkins, and Dr Anthony Reed.

---

[1] Bridgwater Mercury, 21 April 1858

[2] Bridgwater Mercury, 9 June 1858; 13 July 1859

[3] Bridgwater Mercury, 13 October 1858; 28 September 1859

[4] Sherborne Mercury, 13 December 1859

[5] Bridgwater Mercury, 7 March 1860

[6] The Justice of the Peace, vol XXVI, (1862) p.392

[7] Bridgwater Mercury, 9 and 10 May 1860

[8] Somerset County Gazette, 16 April 1864

[9] The Western Flying Post; or, Sherborne and Yeovil Mercury, 21 July 1863

[10] The Solicitors Journal and Reporter, 25 June 1864, p.679

[11] The Taunton Courier, 31 August 1864

[12] Somerset County Gazette, 22 October 1864

[13] Western Daily Press 18 March 1867; Western Gazette 22 March 1867

[14] Western Gazette, 8 March 1867

[15] Cardiff Times, 21 April 1865

[16] The Taunton Courier, 2 August 1865

[17] Jarman’s History.

[18] Somerset County Gazette, 20 July 1867

[19] Wells Journal 24 February 1876; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 7 March 1877

[20] Somerset County Gazette, 5 October 1867

[21] Somerset County Gazette, 9 November 1867

[22] Western Gazette, 8 November 1867

[23] Western Gazette, 15 November 1867

[24] Western Gazette, 29 November 1867

[25] Western Daily Press, 7 September 1869

[26] Western Daily Press, 8 September 1869

[27] Western Daily Press, 9 September 1869

[28] Western Daily Press 11 September 1869

[29] Western Daily Press, 18 October 1869

[30] Daily News (London), 25 March 1870

[31] Western Daily Press, 28 July 1870

[32] Somerset county gazette, 5 October 1878

[33] The Taunton Courier, 3 July 1872

[34] The Western Daily Press, 10 April 1876

[35] Bridgwater Mercury, 7 August 1878

[36] The Weston Mercury & Somersetshire Herald, 31 January 1874

[37] Somerset County Gazette 10 February 1877

[38] Western Gazette, 5 March 1875

[39] Central Somerset Gazette, 13 May 1882

[40] Bridgwater Mercury, 9 May 1877

[41] Somerset County Gazette, 3 November 1877

[42] Tiverton Gazette, 9 December 1879

[43] Bridgwater Mercury, 6 February 1878

[44] Bridgwater Mercury 7 August 1878; 4 September 1878

[45] Western Daily Press 15 January 1881; West Somerset Free Press, 27 November 1886

[46] The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; Microfilm Serial or NAID: M237; RG Title: Records of the U.S. Customs Service; RG: 36. With thanks to Jill Tretheway for finding this source.

[47] West Somerset Free Press, 1 October 1881; The Daily Chronicle, 28 December 1881

[48] Western Gazette 15 December 1882

[49] Western Daily Press, 21 July 1882; Somerset County Gazette 24 March 1883

[50] Western Gazette, 23 March 1883

[51] Somerset County Gazette, 9 June 1883

[52] Western Gazette, 11 May 1883

[53] Shepton Mallet Journal, 28 March 1884; Central Somerset Gazette, 3 May 1884; Wells Journal, 12 June 1884

[54] Central Somerset Gazette, 14 May 1898

[55] Western Gazette, 29 June 1883; 24 August 1883; 31 August 1883; Somerset County Gazette, 27 October 1883

[56] Western Gazette. 26 October 1883

[57] Western Gazette, 2 November 1883

[58] Somerset County Gazette 4 August 1883

[59] Taunton Courier, 13 February 1884

[60] Western Daily Press, 5 September 1884

[61] Western Daily Press, 20 September 1884

[62] Western Gazette, 24 July 1885

[63] Western Gazette, 10 July 1885

[64] Bristol Times and Mirror, 24 October 1885

[65] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 13 January 1886

[66] West Somerset Free Press, 20 February 1886; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 28 April 1886

[67] Western Gazette, 26 March 1886

[68] With hearty thanks to Jill Trethewey for her thoughts in Cook’s condition.

[69] West Somerset Free Press, 3 April 1886

[70] West Somerset Free Press, 21 and 29 May 1886

[71] West Somerset Free Press, 21 August 1886

[72] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 21 July 1886; Bristol Mercury, 13 September 1886

[73] Bridgwater Mercury, 4 August 1886

[74] West Somerset Free Press, 27 November 1886

[75] Western Gazette, 4 March 1887

[76] West Somerset Free Press, 14 May 1887

[77] West Somerset Free Press, 25 June 1887

[78] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 14 September 1887

[79] Somerset County Gazette, 19 May 1888

[80] County Gazette, 9 February 1889

[81] Bridgwater Mercury, 20 March 1889

[82] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 11 May 1889, 8 June 1889, 2 November 1889; Weston Mercury, 21 September 1889

[83] Bristol Times and Mirror, 1 February 1890

[84] Western Daily Press, 27 June 1890

[85] Chard and Ilminster News, 6 September 1890

[86] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 6 September 1890

[87] Western Gazette 19 September 1890; Western Gazette 17 October 1890

[88] Western Daily Press, 16 January 1891

[89] Pers Comm Jill Trethewey.

[90] Western Morning News, 30 September 1892

[91] Langport & Somerton Herald 30 June 1894

[92] Western Daily Press, 3 December 1892

[93] Weston-super-Mare Gazette 14 January 1893; Weston Mercury, 21 January 1893

[94] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 28 January 1893

[95] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 25 January 1893

[96] Central Somerset Gazette, 11 February 1893; Langport & Somerton Herald, 22 July 1893; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 2 August 1894

[97] West Somerset Free Press, 15 April 1893

[98] Western Morning News, 2 November 1893

[99] West Somerset Free Press, 11 November 1893

[100] Wells Journal, 28 December 1893

[101] Langport & Somerton Herald 30 June 1894

[102] Western Gazette, 8 December 1893

[103] Wells Journal, 24 May 1894

[104] West Somerset Free Press, 16 December 1893

[105] Bristol Mercury, 20 April 1894

[106] Langport & Somerton Herald, 9 June 1894

[107] Wells Journal, 29 October 1896

[108] Chard and Ilminster News, 14 May 1898

[109] On 18 May 1899 Cook provided a testimonial for Professor Lewis chiropodist of Leicester, for successfully treating a soft corn on the sole of his foot without the need for bleeding it. Chichester Observer, 21 June 1899.

[110] Weston Mercury 19 July 1902.

[111] Western Daily Press, 22 November 1898.

[112] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 25 October 1890; 17 October 1891; Weston Mercury, 21 October 1899; 13 October 1900; 25 October 1902

[113] Weston Mercury, 6 July 1901; 5 July 1902; Western Daily Press 11 July 1902; 9 July 1903; 11 July 1906; 11 July 1907; 23 July 1908; Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 18 July 1908; 29 October 1910.

[114] West Somerset Free Press, 8 February 1896; Western Times, 14 May 1896; Pulman's Weekly News and Advertiser, 2 February 1897; West Somerset Free Press, 10 July 1897; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 3 December 1897.

[115] West Somerset Free Press, 5 March 1898; Langport & Somerton Herald, 2 April 1898; Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 7 May 1898; West Somerset Free Press, Chard and Ilminster News, 9 July 1898; 10 December 1898.

[116] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 7 May 1898; Chard and Ilminster News 14 May 1898.

[117] Western Times, 2 February 1899; Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette; 13 July 1899; 6 December 1900; Bristol Times and Mirror 2 February 1901; West Somerset Free Press 9 March 1901; Weymouth Telegram 14 May 1901; Langport & Somerton Herald 06 April 1901; Shepton Mallet Journal 26 July 1901.

[118] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 12 August 1899; Weston Mercury, 21 January 1899; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 17 May 1899.

[119] Bristol Times and Mirror 2 March 1903.

[120] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 29 September 1894; Western Daily Press, 18 October 1894

[121] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 30 October 1897.

[122] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 2 April 1898; Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 13 May 1898.

[123] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 1 February 1899; Weston Mercury, 4 February 1899; Weston Mercury, 25 February 1899.

[124] Weston Mercury, 15 April 1899; Western Daily Press 13 and 26 April 1899.

[125] Wells Journal, 8 April 1897.

[126] Weston Mercury, 27 January 1900.

[127] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 20 January 1906.

[128] Weston super Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, September 1896.

[129] Weston Mercury, 22 December 1900; 4 July 1903.

[130] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 25 July 1908

[131] Weston Mercury 07 March 1903; Western Daily Press 28 November 1903

[132] Western Daily Press 22 September 1905; 5 July 1907; Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 7 March 1908

[133] Western Daily Press 5 June 1908; Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 7 November 1908

[134] Bridgwater Mercury, 11 August 1897; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 11 March 1903.

[135] Wells Journal, 17 September 1896

[136] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 13 November 1897.

[137] Wells Journal, 1 November 1900; Shepton Mallet Journal, 26 October 1900; Western Daily Press, 16 November 1900; Bristol Times and Mirror 17 August 1901.

[138] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 25 August 1906; 29 September 1906

[139] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, 28 November 1896.

[140] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 25 September 1897.

[141] Weston Mercury 07 February 1903.

[142] Western Daily Press, 24 November 1904.; Western Daily Press, 18 May 1905.

[143] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 1 December 1906.

[144] Weston Mercury 24 August 1907; Weston Mercury 10 October 1908.

[145] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 1 March 1899.

[146] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 11 January 1902.

[147] Bristol Times and Mirror 29 January 1903.

[148] Chard and Ilminster News 18 April 1903.

[149] Bristol Times and Mirror, 11 January 1913.

[150] Law Notes, Volume 57, 1938, p.378

[151] In January 1908 Cook had attended the opening of a new ward of the Weston Hospital. Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 25 January 1908.

[152] West Somerset Free Press, 23 March 1912, Evening Mail; 9 February 1912.

[153] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 16 December 1911.

[154] Chard and Ilminster News, 3 February 1912.

[155] Chard and Ilminster News, 9 March 1912.