Second Lieutenant Paul Cooke (18 December 1916 – 28 May 1940) was an English international rugby union player.[1]
| Date of birth | 18 December 1916 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Marylebone, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 28 May 1940 (aged 23) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Flanders, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Oxford | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Born in Marylebone, Cooke attained an honours degree in law at the University of Oxford, where he was a rugby blue. He represented Buckinghamshire in county fixtures and had just starting playing with London club Richmond when he gained an England call up for the 1939 Home Nations.[2] For his two caps, Cooke formed a halfback partnership with Gus Walker, playing matches against Wales and Ireland, both at Twickenham.[3]
Cooke volunteered for Army service in November, 1939. He served as a Second Lieutenant with the 1st Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. On 28 May 1940, with Belgium on the brink of falling, Cooke was killed while directing fire for a Bren gun section in Flanders, as they were retreating to the coast.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Rugby International Killed In Action". The Citizen. 10 June 1940.
- ^ "Oxford "Blues" Awarded". Western Mail. 27 November 1936.
- ^ "Wales Beaten at Twickenham by Faster English Side". South Wales Weekly Argus. 23 January 1939.
- ^ "Played, Fought, And Died For England". Daily Mirror. 9 August 1940.
External links
edit- Paul Cooke at ESPNscrum