▶Date of birth:   15 November 1829       Place of birth: Cheltenham

▶Father: Charles Turner Cooke      Mother: Catharine Bennet Rashleigh

▶Spouse(s):  (1) Frances Sarah Bowen; (2) Marian Cottell    Date(s) of marriage:  (1) 21 April 1858; (2) 25 July 1882     Place(s) of marriage: (1) St Luke’s, Gloucester; (2) Lamorbey, Kent

▶Occupation: Solicitor; Clergyman (Anglican)

▶Lifestory: Charles John Rashleigh Cooke was born in Cheltenham in 1829, lived briefly in Pittville in 1870, whilst continuing to serve as the Rector of Chesterton near Peterborough; he also returned to live in Cheltenham late in his life. Cooke was the third son of Gloucestershire surgeon Charles Turner Cooke, and his wife Catharine Bennet (née Rashleigh). Cooke was educated at Cheltenham College, where he won the first scholarship (Senior Classical Scholar) in 1844, and  matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford in 1848, Rutland and Robinson Exhibitioner 1849, BA (third class in Classics and Mathematics) 1852, MA 1856.

Cooke was listed in the 1851 census as articled to a solicitor in Newent, Gloucestershire, but determined to take holy orders and was ordained Deacon in 1854, and then Priest (both Winchester) in 1855. In 1854 he was licensed Curate of Headley near Epsom, before transferring as Curate to Orton-Longueville, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in 1856, where he was promoted to Rector in 1857, remaining there until 1863. In 1858 he married Frances Sarah, daughter of Thomas Bowen Esq., of Gloucester; they had four sons and one daughter.

He was presented with the rectory of Chesterton with Haddon near Peterborough in 1863, and remained there until 1877. In 1870 he was listed as living at 7 Segrave Place (now 15 Pittville Lawn), Pittville, presumably visiting Cheltenham on a short lease, as by the time of the 1871 census he was back in Chesterton.

He moved on from Cambridgeshire in 1877, when he was appointed Vicar of St John, Angel Town, Brixton, by exchange of livings with the incumbent, the Revd. J. H. Gandy. After the death of his wife in 1879 he married again in 1882, to Marian, daughter of Mr J. R.  Cottell, of Atherstone, Sidcup, and had five further children. In 1889 he moved to become Rector of Cranham, Upminster, East London, and in 1897 was appointed Chaplain to the High Sheriff of Essex.

The Cooke family had long owned 26 Cambray, in Cheltenham, and Charles and his wife returned to live there in the early years of the twentieth century. In 1909 Cooke moved in retirement to 33 Wilberry Avenue, Hove, in Sussex. He died in Hove in 1913, at the age of eighty-four, and was buried at Norwood Cemetery. His wealth at death was sworn at just over £6,650.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  Chesterton, Cambridgeshire      Moved from Pittville to: Chesterton, Cambridgeshire 

▶Date of death:  24 February 1913      Place of death: Hove, Sussex

▶Date of burial:  28 February 1913       Place of burial: Hove, Sussex

▶Notes:        ID: 761

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden