People on board

COOK, Horace Albert

Horace Albert Cook was born in Bradworthy, Devon in February 1899 to Charles Henry Cook and Lilian Elizabeth Collins. Charles was a Tailor and Horace was the couple’s only child. Charles was born in Devon but Lilian was born in Kilburn and the family moved to London shortly after Horace’s birth. They lived in Fulham where Charles continued his work as a Tailor, though in the 1911 census he was described as ‘Tailor Repairing’.

Military records do not show when Horace enlisted in the army but in 1918 he is recorded as being with the East Kent Yeomanry. The East Kents and West Kents merged in October 1916 and were converted to a Cyclist Unit. In April 1918 they were moved to Ireland, first to Dublin and then to Claremorris. This probably explains why Horace Cook was on board RMS Leinster on the 10th of October 1918.

He did not survive the sinking but his body was recovered on the Isle of Man. He was buried in Douglas cemetery, aged nineteen, and shares a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone with Private William Hutchinson. Also in the Douglas cemetery is fellow Leinster victim Private Thomas Cardiff.