Born 6 September 1864 at 8 Clifford Street, London, W, the fourth child and eldest surviving son of Thomas W Cook, head of the tailoring firm of T W Cook and Sons, and Adelaide Walton, daughter of William Walton of Richmond, Surrey. He was educated at Charterhouse, Godalming (Bodeites and Hodsonites) where he entered in Oration term 1876 and left in long term 1879, the Rev William Haig Brown being the headmaster. He then went to University College, London. Entering St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School with the Jeafferson scholarship for classics, he became house physician and was president of the Abernethian Society. At the University of London he gained the gold medal at the BSc examination and the gold medal in medicine when he graduated MD. He then served as house physician at the Royal Free Hospital, and was house surgeon at the Victoria Hospital for Children in Tite Street, Chelsea. Deciding to undertake general practice and with a leaning towards surgery, he settled in Cardiff, where he was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Infirmary in 1896, becoming surgeon in 1919 and consulting surgeon on his retirement from the staff in 1926. During the European war he received a commission as lieutenant-colonel, RAMC(T) on 26 April 1916, was in command of the Welsh hospital at Netley 1916-19, and for his services was decorated CBE on demobilization. In 1912-13 he was president of the Cardiff Medical Society, was a vice-president of the section of surgery at the Cardiff meeting of the British Medical Association in 1928, and was chairman of its Cardiff division in 1932-33. He married on 12 July 1894 Mabel Mary Norton, third daughter of Selby Norton, MD of Wateringbury, Kent. She died before him, leaving a son, Commander R W W Cook, RN, and a daughter, Mrs Frances Hackett. He died on 22 July 1939 at 22 Newport Road, Cardiff, and was buried at Llandaff. As a man Cook was precise and accurate in his speech, sympathetic in his outlook, and possessed of a ready sense of humour. He was scrupulous in his actions, his dress, and his attitude to his colleagues. He read widely and kept abreast of modern methods in diagnosis and treatment, though he made no contributions to medical literature. He had been a provincial assistant grand director of ceremonies in freemasonry.