Charles Cook

Place-kicking fullback

By Malc King

Charles Cook was born in Gloucester in 1887, and by the age of 14 in 1901 he was living at 66, Sherborne Street and employed as a shamrock dipper. He played a single game for the Gloucester A team in 1906-07, and 15 appearances at this level in 1907-08. He played in 10 more games for the A team in 1908-09, but also made it into the Gloucester 1st XV, and made an immediate impact as a place-kicking fullback, scoring 56 points from 20 conversions, 4 penalties and one dropped goal. From then on he was a 1st XV player, although he played only three matches in the 1909-10 season.

However, he established a regular place in the side from the first match of the 1910-11 season, kicking 3 conversions in a 30-5 defeat of Bream, and following up with 8 conversions in a 61-0 trouncing of Stroud a week later. In January he kicked 6 conversions in the 39-0 win over Lydney. He played in 37 of the Club’s 40 fixtures that season, and had his most productive season for the Club, scoring 115 points from 46 conversions, 5 penalties and 2 dropped goals.

One match he missed because he made his first appearance for Gloucestershire against Devon at Exeter on 5 November 1910. And another he missed was the defeat at Abertillery on 25 February 1911, when a much weakened team was fielded, because Charles Cook and most of Gloucester’s leading players had already set off that Saturday afternoon to start their journey to break new ground with a fixture in Toulouse. With overnight stops in London and Paris, they finally reached Toulouse on the Monday evening. They played Stade Toulousain on the Tuesday, winning 18-13, with Cook contributing a penalty and a conversion. Setting off for the return journey at lunchtime on Wednesday, they were back in Gloucester on Thursday evening, and playing a hard game against Swansea at Kingsholm on Saturday, which was won 13-8, with Cook kicking 2 conversions.

He remained first choice fullback for the 1911-12 season, appearing in 29 of the 40 matches played, but Hamblin took over as the regular place kicker, so Cook registered only 6 points from 3 conversions. However, he also made 3 appearances for the County, always on the road – at Cardiff against Glamorgan, at Redruth against Cornwall, and in an unusual fixture on 13 January 1912 in Dublin against County Dublin.

For the following two seasons he retained his position at fullback, but in 1912-13 he shared the kicking duties with Hamblin, scoring 34 points from 8 conversions and 6 penalties in his 28 appearances out of 40 matches played; and in 1913-14, he played in 32 of the 37 fixtures (only William Parham played more) and contributed 45 points from 18 conversions and 3 penalties, although these figures were boosted by his conversion of 8 of the 12 tries scored against 1st Gloucestershire Regiment at the start of the season, and kicking duties thereafter were shared with Hamblin and Sysum.

The First World War then intervened, and by September 1914 he had signed up with the Gloucestershire Regiment, and soon saw active service alongside William Parham. In 1917 Cook won the Military Medal at Beaumetz, and both men returned home to Gloucester on leave in September, but re-joined their regiment by 1October. Three days later they were fighting in the Battle of Broodseinde, when the 5th Gloucesters suffered 131 casualties struggling to make progress in the face of unmolested German machine guns – Corporal Cook was wounded in the face and consequently lost an eye, and Lance-Corporal Parham was killed.

Because of his war injuries, Cook was unable to resume his playing career in 1919-20, the first season in which rugby resumed at Kingsholm, and it was not until the Boxing Day match with the Old Merchant Taylors in 1920 that he was sufficiently fit and confident to take up his position at full-back again. Cook was described as “an extremely clever and resourceful custodian [fullback], and a splendid kick [with] either foot.” However, owing to his handicap (and perhaps his age) he never managed to regain his pre-war form, and after taking part in a dozen games, scoring no points, he finally retired, and Tom Burns and F Ashmead divided the fullback position for the remainder of the season.

Charles Cook’s career record for Gloucester was - 155 appearances, scoring 261 points (made up of no tries, 96 conversions, 19 penalties and 3 dropped goals).