From the Archives: Elsie and George Cook: To War Together
Published on 8th November 2023 in From the Archives
In the prelude to Remembrance Day it is usual to highlight the experience of a Club member who served in the Great War. This year we recall not one, but two. The Great War produced many remarkable stories, amongst which is the that of Elsie (1890-1972) and George Sydney (‘Syd’) Cook (1887-1972).
Elsie was briefly introduced last month, as one of the women who made her mark as part of a new generation of leading members of PLGC in the 1930s. From the Archives: Five women of the 1930s) However, before Elsie and Syd arrived at RPGC, they had established a marriage that has become an enduring story from the 1914-18 War.
Syd and Elsie Cook married in September 1914. It was a notable union because at the time Syd’s father, Jospeh Cook, was the Australian Prime Minister. After a brief month of regular married life, Syd left for overseas service as a lieutenant with the 2nd Infantry Battalion. Elsie, a registered nurse, decided that she would follow her new husband. As a married women she was not permitted to serve overseas, a problem she sidestepped by enlisting under her maiden name, Sheppard. Elsie then embarked soon after Syd, to serve in Cairo, Egypt, with the No. 2 Australian General Hospital.
Syd was wounded twice on Gallipoli. Firstly, with a leg wound while taking part in the April 25th landing, as a result of which he was evacuated to Alexandria. Here he was found in hospital by Elsie, and as the wound was not severe the couple were able to spend time together at the city’s hotels and beaches before he was returned to Gallipoli. Syd’s second injury was a serious skull fracture received from a bullet wound at Lone Pine in August, and again he was evacuated to Alexandria. When Elsie learnt Syd was seriously wounded she received permission to travel from Cairo to Alexandria. Once there, and realising the gravity of her husband’s wound, she succeeded in being transferred to Alexandria’s No. 19 General Hospital. As Syd improved and could be moved to the UK, Elsie was given permission to travel with him. Their transfer took place on September 19th, their first wedding anniversary.
Elsie remained in London with Syd for some weeks until his condition was stabilised, at which point she returned to Cairo. Shortly after Syd was released to return to Australia to complete his convalescence. It was now clear, however, that not only was Elsie a married women but that the family connection to a (now former) PM made her ruse as a ‘single woman’ untenable. She too was therefore returned to Australia, where she arrived in Sydney in April 1916, a week before Syd. But their shared War still had some way to run!
Syd was determined to rejoin the war effort as soon as possible and embarked again in September 1916 to rejoin his unit in France. Elsie, now precluded from overseas service, nonetheless remained determined to follow Syd back to Europe. A way was found when the shortage of nurses to treat war wounded in France led to the Croix-Rouge (French Red Cross) looking to recruit from overseas. As a result a group of twenty experienced Australian nurses were recruited and departed for France. This group became known as the ‘bluebirds’ because they wore a blue uniform to distinguish them from the Army staff nurses they worked alongside. Posted initially to Cannes, Elsie began seeking a post closer to the frontline, and in January 1917 she was transferred to Amiens. Syd was stationed at nearby Fricourt, and soon a 24 hour leave pass allowed the couple to be reunited after some five months apart.
Thereafter Elsie and Syd continually found ways to spend time together for the duration of the War. Elsie occasionally made her way to the frontline—including a 24-hour dash by car with a cake for her husband’s birthday—and several times Syd obtained leave that allowed him to get to Amiens. When Syd returned to England for extended training, Elsie was able to join him for several weeks and they spent time holidaying away from the war in Cornwall. At the war’s end they both found their way to London where they were reunited and shared Armistice celebrations with Joseph Cook, who was now serving as the Australian High Commissioner. Elsie then made it back to Paris for a final New Year celebration with fellow bluebirds, before she and Syd (now a Major) returned separately to Sydney to resume their post-war lives.
The Cooks came to Perth from Sydney in 1925, after Syd (an architect) was appointed W.A.’s Director of Commonwealth Works. In 1930 they commenced playing at Perth GC, where Elsie made a substantial contribution on and off course, serving from 1935 on the PLGC Committee, and as Captain in 1939 and ’40. She didn’t complete her second term of Captaincy as Syd’s work took him back to N.S.W. Syd had been a less active member of RPGC than Elsie, mostly coming under notice when called upon for a mixed-foursome.
Ever ready for a challenge, in 1945 Elsie opened Grafton Galleries, an antique business in Rushcutters Bay. In the 1980s and ‘90s the couple’s son Peter became well known as a regular panelist on the ABC’s antiques show ‘For Love or Money’. Grafton Galleries continues to this day as a third-generation family business.
Both Elsie and Syd passed away in 1972, when the ‘fame’ attached to their early-wedded years was yet to come. This happened in 2008 when their story featured in the book by Peter Rees, The Other Anzacs: The Extraordinary Story of our World War I Nurses (copy in the Club Library). In 2014 this book was the basis of the ABC TV series Anzac Girls, which again brought Elsie and Syd Cook to national attention. The couple’s wartime saga also formed the basis of Thomas Keneally’s 2012 novel, Daughters of Mars (2012).