CFHS code : AG212
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Loving Memory of THOMAS H—– JANE [COOKE] who ——— [31] —— In Loving Memory of [GEORGE eldest son of THOMAS & JANE COOKE d 1871] ———— THOMAS & JANE COOKE (Jockey) who died at Maisons Laffitte France June 16 1891 age 22 In Memory of JANE the beloved wife of THOMAS COOKE d Nov 26 1899 aged [6]3 THOMAS COOKE beloved husband of the above d April 18 1911 aged 78
Monument : Column (fallen)/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202934, 0.13636002 – click here for location
Monument
This small plinth, with its top piece standing beside it, is located two rows east of the west wall directly opposite the path leading from the centre circle. This area is not easily accessible. The carved inscriptions are barely legible now and we have used the burial register to complete them.
Inscription
west face
Ernest Gladstone [son of ] Thomas & Jane Cooke
Jockey
who died at Maisons Laffitte France
June 16 1891 age 22 years
other faces
In Loving Memory of THOMAS The eldest son of Thomas and Jane Cooke who died Dec 1893 aged 31 years
In Memory of JANE the beloved wife of THOMAS COOKE died Nov 26 1899 aged 63
THOMAS COOKE beloved husband of the above died April 18 1911 aged 78
Relationship: Parents, Thomas and Jane and two sons, Thomas and Ernest.
Thomas Henry Cooke (c 1833 – 1911)
Thomas was born in Swindon. It is not known why he came to Cambridge but in 1861 he was working as a whitesmith and lodging with the Audley family in King Street. He married a young widow Jane Disbury in Holborn in 1861 she was originally from Cambridge and they moved into the home, at 8 Emmanuel Street, that she had shared with her previous husband.
Their first child was baptised in Cambridge in February 1863. At this time Thomas was still a whitesmith and the family were living in Emmanuel Street. The couple went on to have ten* more children which by 1881 were all living at home with Jane’s two daughters from her first marriage. Thomas was now a clothier, a trade that most of his children were involved in. In 1901 only the youngest son remained at home working as a tailor with his father.
When Thomas died he was living with Joseph, now married with three children, at 68 Alpha Road.
In the 1911 census Thomas states that he had *fourteen children (presumably he counted his two stepdaughters). He also said that by 1911, five children had died. We have not yet researched which other three children died.
Jane Cooke (née Thring) (1836 – 1899)
Jane was the daughter of Joseph and Annie Thring of Brazen George Yard (named after the inn that was once there) in the parish of Andrew the Great, Cambridge. Her father was a shoemaker.
She married Henry Disbury on 25 December 1856 in Camberwell. Henry was a fruiterer and clothier and had already been twice widowed. They had three daughters: Lucy (1857-1924), Emma Maria (1858-1859) and Henrietta Maria (1860-) who were baptised at the church of St Andrew the Great, while the family were living at 8 Emmanuel Street. He died in November 1860 aged 39 and is buried with baby Emma Maria and his second wife Emma Maria (née Whitehead) who had died in 1856 and possibly their baby son Henry who died in 1848. Their grave has no marker but is in the same parish, to the east of the west path.
The house at 8 Emmanuel Lane became 8 Emmanuel Street and was occupied by Henry and Emma in 1851. All the houses were owned by Emmanuel College.
Jane married Thomas Cooke on 25 December 1861 at Holy Trinity, Gray’s Inn Road in London. They had eleven children together: Thomas Henry(1862-1893), Mary Jane (1864-), Henry Penrose (1865-1933), Alice (1867-), John Bright (1869-), Ernest Gladstone (1869-1891), Leonard (1870-), Martha (1872), Jane Thring (1873-), Edith (1873-1934) and Joseph Thring (1877-1972).
Thomas Henry Cooke (1862 – 1893)
Thomas was born and brought up at 8 Emmanuel Street and was baptised at St. Andrew the Great on 15 February 1863. By the age of 18 he was working as a clothier’s assistant in the family business.
On April 26th 1886 he married Emily Pink (1864-1934) in the parish of Andrew the Less. He was an agent and a tailor and the family lived at 10 Nelson Street (1891) and then at 92 Fitzroy Street. They had four children: Tom (1886-1965), Alfred Percy (1889-), Ernest Penrose (1891-1954) and Dorothy Jane (1894-). He died at Fitzroy Street aged 31 years old.
Emily remarried in 1898 and had a further four children. She is buried with her second husband Robert Baker in the parish of All Saints.
Ernest Gladstone Cooke (1870 – 1891)
Ernest was a twin and the sixth child of Thomas and Jane Cooke. He was born and brought up at 8 Emmanuel Street. Unlike most of his siblings he did not become a tailor choosing instead a career as a jockey.
He may have been spotted by a trainer from Newmarket as explained here by Eglantyne Jebb in her book about Cambridge.
‘It is obvious to those who have any knowledge of a university town that the need of saving boys from the many temptations that surround them is especially urgent. The following fact need not surprise our listeners when they remember that this town is only 13 miles from Newmarket. A Cambridge man helping in the racing stables mission in Chantilly near Paris found to his astonishment that one half of the boys employed on the turf there were from Cambridge. A trainer explained the situation thus: ‘Agents are well placed in all the principal towns to find boys aged fourteen, whose previous life had given them a taste for betting and racing and who are backward in physical development. A larger percentage of this sort of boys is found in Cambridge than in any other town in England’
Ernest was one such boy and went to France with his twin brother John to train under Joe Marsh. He did well and in 1889 there was a report in the Cambridge Independent Press
“Ernest Cooke…. Who has just been described by the journal ’Le Jockey’ as the best light weight jockey in France, has recently met with extraordinary success. On Monday, 3rd June at Vincennes he had five mounts and was successful in riding 4 of them to victory.”
He lived at Lamorlaye just outside Chantilly. Sadly he died 2 years later at Maisons Laffitte, a famous racecourse near Paris. He fell from his horse and was knocked unconscious on June 12th and died 5 days later at the home of his friend M Bandon (Basden), the steeple chase Jockey, without regaining consciousness. A funeral was held in Chantilly on June 20th before his body was brought back to Cambridge and buried on June 26th.
In the funeral report much was made of the beautiful artificial flowers that accompanied the coffin, especially the ones in a glass case sent from the The Society for the Encouragement of Improving horse breeds (which is now known as France Galop). Several horse owners & trainers were at the graveside. He left a sizable estate valued at £1,811 10s.
Sources
CFHS Transcripts of Census, Parish and Land value registers.
Family Search
Find My Past
Ancestry
“Cambridge: A Brief Study in Social Questions” Eglantyne Jebb 1906, pg 161
British Newspaper Archives Report of death Cambridge independent press June 14th 1889 pg 8
Funeral report Saffron Walden Weekly news Friday July 3rd
France Galop website
by Mary Naylor and Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]