In October 1914, Chailey Parish Magazine notes that Benjamin Cook is serving his King and Country.  In October 1915 it notes that he is Private B Cook serving with the 2/5th Royal Sussex Regiment in England.  In February 1917 his rank is reported as corporal and it is this information - Cook, Corporal B, 2/5th Royal Sussex – which is then repeated up to and including the final published roll in July 1919.

 

The 2/5th Royal Sussex Regiment was formed at Hastings in November 1914 and underwent a series of mergers and absorbtions but never actually went overseas.

 

There is no Benjamin Cook listed on the 1901 census for Chailey and it has not been possible to identify a medal information card for him at the National Archives in London.  (If he remained in England however, he would not have been entitled to receive the British War and Victory medals).  There is a 200344 Private B Cook of the Royal Sussex Regiment noted at the National Archives, this number indicating that he was a Territorial Force soldier who served overseas with the 4th Royal Sussex Regiment from February 1917 (when the Territorials were re-numbered).  It is possible that Benjamin Cook served with the 2/5th in England and then transferred to the 4th but this is not proven.

 

Chailey resident Reg Philpott remembers that Ben Cook married Richard Norman’s daughter and that his sister married Wallace Norman who owned Chailey Brickyard at South Common.

 

 

Sources and Acknowledgements

 

• Chailey Parish Magazine
• The National Archives: Medal Index Card