Cook, Sir Albert Ruskin (1870-1951) and Cook, Lady (Katharine)

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 PP/COO
Held at: Wellcome Library
Domain: archival
Title: Cook, Sir Albert Ruskin (1870-1951) and Cook, Lady (Katharine)
Date(s) of contents: 1812-c.1960
Level of description: Collection
Extent and medium: 14 boxes
1 oversize folder, 2 oversize boxes
25 reels of microfilm

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s): Cook, Sir Albert Ruskin, KCMG, OBE (1870-1951) and Lady (Katharine) CMG, OBE (1863-1938), Medical missionaries in Uganda and founders of the Mengo Hospital and Lady Coryndon Maternity Training School

Administrative/Biographical history: Outline of Life and Career of R A Cook:
1870 Mar 22 Born in Hampstead, son of Dr W.H. Cook and Harriet Bickersteth Cook
1888 BSc
1893 Graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge. B.A
1895 Graduated from St Bartholomew's Hospital. M.B
1896 Went to Uganda with Church Missionary Society mission
1897 Established Mengo Hospital
1900 Married Katharine Timpson, a missionary nurse
1901 M.D.
1901 A.R. Cook and J.H. Cook were first to diagnose sleeping sickness in East Africa
1906 Birth of his daughter, Margaret Ellen Cook
1914-18 President of Uganda Branch, British Medical Association
1917 Founded school for African medical assistants
1918 O.B.E.
1921 Lady Coryndon Maternity Training School founded
1922 C.M.G.
1932 Received knighthood
1934 Retired
1936-37 President of Uganda Branch, B.M.A.
1937 Represented Uganda at coronation
1938 May 17 Katharine Cook died
1951 Apr 23 Died in Kampala, Uganda, aged 81
Lady Cook, CMG OBE MD (1863-1938), was matron of Mengo Hospital 1897-1911, was involved in the foundation of the Lady Coryndon Maternity Training School and founded the Nurses Training College in 1931.

Custodial history:

Immediate source of acquisition: This collection of Sir A R Cook's papers was given to the Contemporary Medical Archives Centre at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (now the Wellcome Library, Archives and Manuscripts department) by Sir Albert's grandson Richard Bax in 1984. In 1994, the Wellcome Trust funded a project to microfilm the Mengo Hospital records at Makerere Medical School Library and 25 reels of microfilm were produced before the project was suspended due to political difficulties. Copies of the films have been added to this collection and are listed as Section M.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, 1812-1951, giving many details of the Cooks' life and work in Uganda. There is also a large collection of diaries, 1855-1951, a number of photographs of Uganda and holidays abroad, c.1896-1930s, family and personal papers, 1882-1951, a small amount of printed material, c.1896-c.1947, and microfilms of records held at the Albert R Cook Library of Medicine at the Makerere University Medical School, Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, covering 1897-1959 and including patient case notes and registers 1897-1920.

System of arrangement: As far as possible the collection has been kept in a similar order to that in which it was found, although much of the correspondence had been re-arranged by W D Foster whilst researching his book 'Sir Albert Cook A Missionary Doctor in Uganda' (Newhaven Press 1978).
The correspondence falls into several groups: letters from A R Cook; letters sent to him by his family and friends; the journal letters of Albert and his wife; and family letters not concerning him. All of these are arranged chronologically within their divisions. The index at the end of the list refers to sections A and D of the correspondence only.
An outline list follows:
A: LETTERS FROM ALBERT RUSKIN COOK 1881-1951
B: JOURNAL LETTERS FROM A.R. COOK (SOME IN A) 1896-1921
C: JOURNAL LETTERS FROM KATHARINE COOK 1897-1910
D: CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED BY A R COOK
1-525 family 1881-1942
525-648 friends 1889-1950
649-658 business 1916-1943
E: FAMILY LETTERS NOT CONCERNING A R COOK 1812-1910
F: MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE 1897-1943
G: DIARIES OF A R COOK 1884-1951
H: DIARIES OF HARRIET BICKERSTETH COOK 1864-1888
I: DIARIES OF CHARLOTTE BICKERSTETH 1855-1863
J: FAMILY AND PERSONAL PAPERS 1882-1951
K: PHOTOGRAPHS c.1896-1930s
L: MISCELLANEOUS PRINTED MATERIAL RELATING TO UGANDA c.1896-c.1947
M: MICROFILMS OF HOLDINGS AT MAKERERE MEDICAL SCHOOL LIBRARY 1897-1959

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English

Conditions governing access:

Conditions governing reproduction: Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material: There is correspondence between Cook and Henry Wellcome in the Wellcome Archives, including a file on Wellcome's support for Mengo Hospital, with a history and progress report, 1931-1936 (WA/HMM/CO/Alp/153).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note: Material of A R Cook is also held by the Henry Martyn Centre, Cambridge, amongst the papers of a) Bertha and Ralph Leech who worked in Church Missionary Society Hospitals in Mego, Uganda, and in Kenya between 1938 and 1964, and b) Dr Roy Billington, medical missionary in Uganda 1937-1972.
Catalogued by AJ/LAH/ JGAS Jul-Oct 1985, with additions by SMD Sep 1998

Date(s) of descriptions: 30/09/1998

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Personal names

Corporate names

Places

Africa

Uganda