This chart goes back 5 generations to 1877. It tells the story of Thomas Cooker, his wife Alice and their six children.

Thomas shortly after coming back from India

Thomas COOKER (born 1 November 1877 at 25 Hart Street, Maidstone)

Thomas (pictured above) enlisted in the Royal West Kent Regiment at the age of seventeen and saw service on the Punjab Frontier, and in South Africa during the Boer War. Whilst serving in India he took part in a battle in which an Officer was killed and they made strenuous efforts to recover the body before the natives got it and mutilated it He told our grandmother about it and when later in life someone lent her "The Malakand Field Force" by Winston Churchill she opened it at random and found herself reading about that very action. Whilst serving in South Africa his unit had been cut off for a while. They ran short of provisions and water and couldn't shave. When his beard had grown he was known as Jesus by his comrades because they said he looked just like the pictures of Christ they had seen in their Sunday School books.

Upon returning from South Africa he married Alice, the daughter of William Peter Mannerings and they had six children:

1. Ivy COOKER, md to Wally BURR and had three children:
   • Robert Thomas BURR
   • Jean BURR
   • Joan BURR
2. Thomas Leslie COOKER (1906-1972) - We are descended from Thomas Leslie and you can read about him on the next chart.
3. Hilda Elizabeth COOKER, md to Cyril BROOKS and had a daughter Edna BROOKS
4. Robert Bernard COOKER Md to Mabel Florence BATCHELOR and had a daughter Janet COOKER
5. Fanny (Cis) COOKER Md to Leonard PAYNE and had two children:
   • David PAYNE
   • Brenda PAYNE
6. Alice Freda Violet COOKER Md 'Buddie' CRONK and had two Children:
   • Maureen CRONK
   • Lindsay CRONK

A legacy of his Army service was that Thomas was a good shot. My father told me how they went rabbit shooting at Marden. A rabbit broke from cover closely pursued by the family dog. Thomas came up into the aim but his father shouted not to shoot, he might hit the dog. Thomas fired, however, and over went the rabbit.

Thomas worked on the Wharves by the Medway, but in 1911 he decided to rejoin the Army. He was posted to France at the start of the Great War and Alice took the children down to the station to see him off. She went racing across the platform with the children strung out behind her like a mother duck and her ducklings ! A policeman attempted to bar her way and put a hand on her arm. "Take your hand off that woman" said Thomas, and the policeman thought that was the best course of action.

Thomas was eventually posted home to hospital in Leicester which involved Alice going on long trips to see him. He was discharged from the army on the 14th March 1916 and he became a tram driver. He then took over the "Royal Albert" at Burham but trade was bad due to the recession in the paper trade, as most of his customers worked in the paper mills. He had also been offered a pub at West Malling and it might have been a better decision to have accepted that one. However in the end he had to retire from the trade due to bad health.

During the Boer War he had been trapped between two waggons and this affected his spine in later years. Aunt Hilda recalls him playing football when as a goalkeeper he let in five goals through his legs as he could not get down to the ball. He was confined to bed for the last five years of his life and could not even move his head - he had to call somebody to move it for him He died on the 23rd December 1930 and was buried in Maidstone Cemetry. Alice continued to live at 98 Kingsley Road in Maidstone and she died on 21st March 1960 and is buried with Thomas.

Aunt Hilda	Aunt Cis

The report of Thomas's funeral in The Kent messenger

Photo of Thomas used in the newspaper report taken from the regimental group shown below:-

Thomas's Medals

His Collection

Individual Details

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