Charles was born on the 11 July 1899 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, the first born of Charles and Annie (née Hinde) Cooke, brothers Ernest (1901) and Leonard (1905) completing the family unit living at 66, Rookery Road, Handsworth, West Bromwich, Staffordshire. The untimely death of the father Charles in 1909 had the family moving back to the Hinde family home, as of the 1911 census, of 48, Willmore Road, Handsworth, with Annie’s father George and her brother George.

Charles Harold enrolled in the RNVR Division Bristol on 11 July 1917 as an Ordinary Seaman and a few weeks later, on 30 July 1917, was travelling to Portsmouth and walking through the gates of HMS VICTORY ll for basic training and seamanship.  He was drafted to HMS DOLPHIN on 10 December 1917 for  submarine  training  until  6 June 1918. A move to Harwich followed on 7 June 1918 for HMS MAIDSTONE the depot ship for HMS E34 that he joined on 30 June for patrols in the North Sea.

While on patrol off the Dutch coast E34 struck a mine around the 20 July 1918; no one survived from the 31 crew on board.

Charles Harold Cooke. Ord Sea (RNVR), Svc No Z/10637, had “Crossed The Bar” with his 30 shipmates. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial on Panel 30.