Joseph Cook
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The Right Honourable Sir Joseph Cook GCMG |
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6th Prime Minister of Australia Elections: 1913, 1914 |
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In office 24 June 1913 – 17 September 1914 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| Governor-General |
Lord Denman Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson |
| Deputy | John Forrest |
| Preceded by | Andrew Fisher |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Fisher |
| Leader of the Commonwealth Liberal Party | |
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In office 20 January 1913 – 17 February 1917 |
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| Deputy | John Forrest |
| Preceded by | Alfred Deakin |
| Succeeded by | Position Abolished |
| Leader of the Anti-Socialist Party | |
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In office 17 November 1908 – 26 May 1909 |
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| Preceded by | George Reid |
| Succeeded by | Position Abolished |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
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In office 8 October 1914 – 17 February 1917 |
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| Prime Minister |
Andrew Fisher Billy Hughes |
| Preceded by | Andrew Fisher |
| Succeeded by | Frank Tudor |
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In office 20 January 1913 – 24 June 1913 |
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| Prime Minister | Andrew Fisher |
| Preceded by | Alfred Deakin |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Fisher |
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In office 17 November 1908 – 26 May 1909 |
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| Prime Minister | Andrew Fisher |
| Preceded by | George Reid |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Deakin |
| Member of the Australian Parliament for Parramatta | |
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In office 30 March 1901 – 10 December 1921 |
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| Preceded by | Seat Created |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Pratten |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
7 December 1860 Silverdale, Staffordshire, UK |
| Died | 30 July 1947 (aged 86) Sydney, Australia |
| Resting place | Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens |
| Nationality | British, Australian |
| Political party | Labor, Free Trade/Anti-Socialist, Fusion |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Turner |
| Relations | Richard Cecil Cook (son) |
| Children | 8 |
Sir Joseph Cook, GCMG (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician who was the sixth Prime Minister of Australia. A founding member of the Australian Labor Party, during his early life he worked in the coal mines of his birthplace of Silverdale, in Staffordshire, England, before emigrating to Lithgow, New South Wales, during the late 1880s.
Cook was born Joseph Cooke, to William and Margaret Cooke (née Fletcher), in Silverdale, a small mining town near Newcastle-under-Lyme. He had no formal education and worked in the coal mines from the age of nine. As a result of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, Cook was compelled to return to his desk at the village school, St Luke's Church of England School. His short experience in the local coal mine taught him to appreciate what he had been missing in school, and aided by his headmaster Edwin Smitheman, and the staff, the young man's intellectual activity was quickly stimulated.
At the age of twelve Joseph left school a second time and returned to his former employment at the local colliery. However, as a result of Smitheman's attention, together with that of his parents, an exceptionally strong ambition to improve his position became implanted in him. This ambition was to become one of his most prominent characteristics, revealed first in a drive for self-improvement and, later on in life, his determination to succeed in politics. During his teens he embraced Primitive Methodism, and marked his conversion by dropping the "e" from his surname. On 8 August 1885, he married Mary Turner at Wolstanton, Staffordshire, and the couple eventually had five sons and three daughters.
Shortly after their marriage the couple emigrated to New South Wales and settled in Lithgow, joining Cook's brother-in-law and a number of other former Silverdale miners. Cook worked in the coal mines, becoming General-Secretary of the Western Miners Association in 1887. In 1888, he participated in demonstrations against Chinese immigration. He was also active in the Land Nationalisation League, which was influenced by the ideas of Henry George and strongly supported free trade, and was a founding member of the Australian Labor Party in 1891.
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