|
|
|
Tommy
Cook |
Brighton & Hove Albion
FC
1 appearance, 0 goals
P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 1:
A 0
100% successful
1925
captain: none
minutes played: 90 |
|
 |
|
Timeline |
| |
Corporal Thomas Edwin Reed Cook |
|
Birth |
Saturday, 5 January 1901 in
30 South Street, Cuckfield, Sussex |
|
|
registered in Cuckfield
January-March 1901 |
|
|
According to the 1901 census,
the two month old Thomas is the youngest of two children, both sons, to
John William Alfred and Eliza (née Reed). They live at 30 South Street, Cuckfield. His father is a
naturalist. |
|
|
According to the 1911 census,
Thomas Edwin is now a scholar, and he and his brother still live with
their parents at 30 South Street. His father is a confectioner. His mother
is not on this census return but they are still married. |
"CASES AT PETTY SESSIONS
"At the Haywards Heath Petty Sessions on Monday,... Thomas Cook,
Cuckfield, was called upon for 5s. for riding a bicycle without lights."
- Friday, 26 January 1917, Sussex Express, Surrey Standard,
and Kent Mail. |
|
|
According to the 1921 census, Thomas Edwin Reed, an engine
fitter, is the youngest of the two sons living with their parents still at
30 South Street. |
|
First marriage |
to Ivy Ethel Pratt, on 1 June 1925 at the
Parish church in Hayward's Heath, Sussex. |
|
|
registered in Cuckfield
April-June 1925 |
|
Children |
Tommy and Ivy Cook had one son together,
Roger T. J. (b.1927) |
"FOOTBALLER THREATENED
"A Brighton message states that Tommy Cook, the International football
player and centre-forward for Brighton and Hove Albion, has been
threatened with death by men who drove up to his house in Cuckfield a few
days ago in a motor-car. The Albion directors have communicated with the
Football Association and the East Sussex police." - Saturday,
18 December 1926, The Echo
"COMPLAINT BY A FAMOUS
FOOTBALLER
"The police are investigating complaints by Tommy Cook that
mysterious visitors have endeavoured to intimidate him, apparently in
regard to his play in the Brighton team. He has also reported the matter
to the Albion directorate, who have decided to place the facts before the
Football Association and to make them public.
"During the past week, it
is said, several attempts have been made by men, whose identity is not
known, to interview Cook at his residence at Haywards Heath, and
elsewhere. Calls were made upon Mrs. Cook and upon relatives. Last Monday
the men found Cook at home. They drove up in a motor car, and two of them
called at the house and tried to persuade Cook to go out to the car, on
the pretext that a certain well-known footballer desired to be introduced
to him. As none of the three men remaining in the car resembled the
footballer whose name they used, Cook refused to leave his house.
"Further conversation gave Cook the impression that the real purpose of
the visit was either to intimidate him or to bribe him. He refused to
listen to any further overtures; and when the men left him, it is said,
their language was violent and their attitude threatening.
"Mr. C.F.
Brown, the chairman of the Brighton and Hove Football Club directorate,
told a Press representative on Saturday night that one of Cook's visitors
promised him they 'would do him a bit of good.' Cook interpreted this as
meaning that they wished to influence his play, and refused to have
anything to do with them. He said he would telephone the police, and the
men left, stating, in a menacing way, that would not be their last visit.
A man standing near heard one of them say, as they drove away, that they
'would do Cook in.'
"" - Monday, 20 December
1926, The Yorkshire Post
"NOT OVER BRIGHTON'S TIE WITH THE
WEDNESDAY
"There was a suggestion that the intimidation of Tommy Cook
was in connection with the visit of the Southern club to Hillsborough, in
the English Cup-tie. Cook, yesterday, told the representative of a London
paper that this was not so. The gang wanted him to let down his club over
the match with Aberdare. Cook's practical reply was to to score two
goals." - Tuesday, 21 December 1926, The Sheffield Daily
Independent. |
|
Divorced |
30
April 1931 |
"ALLEGED MISCONDUCT OF CRICKETER
"In the Divorce Court, to-day,
Mrs Ivy Ethel Cook, of Ockley, was granted a decree nisi on the ground of
the misconduct of her husband, Thomas Edwin Reed Cook, a professional
cricketer and footballer, while he was engaged as a cricket coach in South
Africa. The case was not defended, and Mrs Cook was granted the custody of
the child of the marriage. Mrs Cook's case was that her husband went to
South Africa in September, 1929, and on returning in the following April
he confessed that he had lived with another woman during almost the whole
time he had been there."
- Monday, 20 April 1931, The Daily
Mail |
|
Second marriage |
to Gwendoline
Ivy Smith |
|
|
registered in
Bristol October-December 1931 |
|
|
According to Passenger Lists Thomas Edwin and Gwendoline Ivy were on
board the UCM Balmoral Castle returning to Southampton from Capetown on 13
April 1936, address stated as The Frechettles, Freshfield Road in Brighton.
A year later, he travelled alone, from Capetown to Southampton, on
board the UCM Carnarvon Castle, and stated as living at Oakwood, in Broad
Street, Cuckfield. |
|
|
Not on the 1939 register, presumed to be in South Africa.
(His father died early 1941) |
|
|
"Tommy Cook, the former England Soccer centre-forward and
Sussex County cricketer is now a corporal in the South African Air
Force. He served in the Royal Navy during the last war."
- Monday, 25 January 1943, Portsmouth Evening News |
|
Death |
Thursday, 12 January 1950 at
Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton,
Sussex. Living at
Oakroyd, Broad Street in Cuckfield. |
|
aged
49 years 9 days |
registered in
Brighton January-March 1950 |
"SUICIDE VERDICT ON FOOTBALLER
"The Brighton Coroner today
recorded a verdict that Thomas Edwin Reed Cook (49), of Cuckfield,
Sussex, former international and Brighton and Hove Albion footballer,
Sussex county cricketer and cricket coach in England and South Africa,
took his life while the balance of his mind was disturbed. In a statement
read at the inquest, Dr. Irene F. Callender said that Cook suffered from
heart trouble and chronic bronchitis, and had complained of
sleeplessness." - Friday, 20 January 1950, Leicester Mercury
"DIED FROM OVERDOSE OF SLEEPING TABLETS
"Former international footballer and County Cricket Club player, Thomas
Edwin Reed Cook, who died in the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton,
committed suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed by taking an
overdose of sleeping tablets. This was recorded by the Brighton Coroner
(Mr. Charles Webb) at an inquest on Friday. Cook was aged 49 and died on
Thursday, January 12. He lived at Oakroyd, Broad-street, Cuckfield.
"The Coroner said: 'It is a sad end to a fine career as an athlete. He was
not only well known as a cricketer, but as a footballer also.'
"Eliza
Cook, of Oakroyd, Broad-street, Cuckfield, said that on January 12 she
went into her son's room at about 8 a.m. and found him lying on the bed
fully clothed. She thought she had sat on the bed and fallen back and had
not undressed the previous evening.
"She thought her son was asleep and
later, finding he did not awaken, she sent for a doctor who arranged for
him to be admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, where he died the
same day.
"Witness said her son returned in 1947 from South Africa,
where he had been in hospital. In April, 1948, he was a cricket coach at
Radley College, and he was taken ill again. In February 1949, he was at
Harwell and he was in hospital there for about three weeks. He returned to
Cuckfield in November, 1949. In December, 1949, he went to Haywards Heath
Hospital, and when he returned home at about Christmas he appeared to be
better.
"Arrangements were made for him to go to Netley Hospital, the
suggested date being about January 9. When that date arrived, he had heard
nothing of the arrangements and he collapsed and went to pieces. He went
to see Dr. Irene Callender in the evening and she prescribed some
capsules. He seemed upset and depressed.
"P.C. E.J. Grose said he had
taken a statement from Dr. Callender. The doctor said she first attended
Cook in November, 1949, when he had been sent from Harwell with a record
that he had heart disease. Arrangements were made for him to be put in
Haywards Heath Hospital, where he was X-rayed and examined, and chronic
bronchitis and emphysema was found. Arrangements were made for him to go
to a convalescent home and, in the meantime, efforts were started to get
him employment under the Disabled Persons' Act.
"He complained of
sleeplessness and Dr. Callender prescribed the capsules, one of which was
to be taken every night, and they proved satisfactory.
"Dr. Callender's
statement continued that she gave Cook 30 of the capsules on January 9 to
take him over until he went into the convalescent home. He was to go into
the home on January 16.
"When she called on January 12, Dr. Callender's
statement said, she found the box contained only 11 capsules. She was
suspicious that an overdose had been taken. Cook was unconscious and the
doctor thought it essential that he should be removed to hospital.
"P.C. Grose produced the box of capsules. On it was written, 'Take one at
night.' The box contained 11 capsules.
"Dr. L.R. Janes, pathologist at
the Royal Sussex County Hospital, said the cause of death was poisoning by
barbitone acid derivatives. The evidence was consistent with a large
overdose of the tablets having been taken some hours before Cook was found
unconscious. Cook was admitted unconscious at 3.30 p.m. He was treated for
barbituric acid poisoning, but he died soon after.
"Cook must have
taken 19 tablets between Monday and Thursday. The Coroner said there was a
long history of ill-health, starting in 1947." -
Friday, 27 January 1950, Sussex Express & County Herald |
|
Source |
 Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & |
|
Playing Career |
Club(s)
|
Played junior
football in Sussex and also during the First World War, where he served
with the Royal Navy. Joined Cuckfield
FC before signing amateur forms with Brighton & Hove Albion FC in
August 1921,
turning professional in 1923 until 1929. He was placed on Albion's
transfer list in May 1930, with the asking price reduced in August. Cook joined Southern League
side Northfleet FC on 30 September 1930 and then
Bristol Rovers FC on 6 October 1931, initially on a months trial, retiring
in June 1933 to concentrate on his cricket. |
League honours
232 appearances 135 goals |
Brighton & Hove Albion FC 1922-1929 190 appearances, 114
goals
debut (div 3S): 23 Sept 1922 Queen's Park Rangers FC 0 Brighton &
Hove Albion FC 0.
Bristol Rovers FC 1931-33
42 appearances, eleven goals
debut (division three south): 10 October
1931 Swindon Town FC 2 Bristol Rovers FC 1.
last (division three south):
28 January 1933 Bristol Rovers FC 0 Cardiff City FC 0. |
|
Club honours |
Football League Division Three South
fourth place 1922-23 (18ᵃ 6ᵍ), 1926-27 (36ᵃ 21ᵍ), 1928-29 (24ᵃ 11ᵍ); |
,%20Tommy.jpg) |
Individual honours: One Brighton & Hove buses
(623 [YN04 GJK] Scania Omnidekka carried his name March
2004-October 2015 (left)) was named in his
honour; |
|
Also played for
first-class cricket for Sussex CCC 1922-37 |
|
Height/Weight:
5'
8½", 11st.
4lbs [1927]. |
|
Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990]. |
|
Management
Career |
Club(s)
League History
P 15 - W 3 - D
3 - L 9 |
Spent one season
managing Brighton & Hove Albion FC from 4 June 1947. Despite winning
his first match, against Watford FC, he resigned on 1 November following a
run of just two more wins in the next fourteen matches, leaving Albion in a last placing in Division Three South. |
|
England Career |
|
Player number |
One of four who became the 485th
players (488)
to appear for England. |
|
Position(s) |
Centre-forward |
|
Only match |
No. 144, 28 February 1925, Wales 1 England 2,
a British Championship match at Vetch Field, Glamorgan Street, Swansea, aged
24 years
54 days. |
|
Major tournaments |
British Championship 1924-25; |
|
Team honours |
None |
|
Individual honours |
None |
|
Distinctions |
The
first player from Brighton & Hove Albion FC to represent England, and he
remained the only player only Peter Ward made his eight minute appearance
in 1980. |
|
Beyond England |
|
He was appointed as a cricketing
coach in Capetown on 4 September 1937. Fought during the Second World War
with South African Air Force, making corporal in January 1943. He was
seriously injured in an accident at a South African air school which
hospitalised him for six months. -
An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.
Douglas Lamming (1990). Hatton Press, p.72/73. |
|
The Numbers |
|
parties |
Appearances |
comp. apps |
minutes |
 |
captain |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
90 |
0 |
none |
|
The minutes here given
can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only an
approximation. |
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS
|
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
100 |
+1 |
|
His only match was a British Championship match and at an away venue |
Tournament Record
|
British Championship Competition |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
BC 1924-25 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
2.00 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
BC
All |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
2.00 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
All Competition |
|
Type |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
FTS |
CS |
FAv |
AAv |
Pts% |
W/L |
|
BC |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
2.00 |
1.00 |
100.0 |
+1 |
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
100 |
+1 |
Match History
|
apps |
match |
match details |
comp |
res. |
rundown |
pos |
|
|
