Graphical version

Geological Society of London

COOKE, John Henry (1862-1933)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 378 LDGSL/936

Held at: Geological Society of London

Title: COOKE, John Henry (1862-1933)

Date(s): 1893-[1894]

Level of description: Series

Extent: 25 photographs

Name of creator(s): Cooke | John Henry | 1862-1933 | editor and geologist in Malta

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

John Henry Cooke was born in Weymouth on 29 November 1862, and received his education at St Vincent de Paule Roman Catholic School, Liverpool, and St Mary's Training College of Catholic Teachers, Hammersmith, London. In 1887 he travelled to Malta to take up a post of teacher of English at the Valletta Lyceum. Cooke lived in Malta for seven years, founding an editing the journal 'The Mediterranean Naturalist' after becoming interested in the natural history of the island. He also made significant contributions to the understanding of the geology of Malta, publishing papers on the Tertiary Rocks and Pleistocene deposits of the island, and collecting fossils (which he donated or sold to various European museums).

Cooke was forced to leave Malta in 1894 due to his wife's poor health, but he still produced papers on the geology of Malta on his return to England for the next few years. He became an Inspector in the Science and Art Department of the South Kensington Museum, but when that department closed he was appointed Inspector of Schools in Shropshire and Wolverhampton.

Cooke was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment in July 1901, transferring to the 1st (Volunteer) Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry (later 4th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry) in October the same year. He rose to the rank of Captain.

After his retirement from military service and until his death on 7 December 1933, Cooke continued to investigate and write about the prehistory of his local area.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Black and white albumen photographs of the Pleistocene geology of Malta, 1893-[1894], which accompanied a paper by John Henry Cooke.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The photographs do not appear to have any order, as only one is numbered.

Conditions governing access:

Access is by appointment only, daily readership fee is applicable unless you are a member of the Society. Please contact the Archivist for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to copyright and the condition of the original, may be supplied. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Finding aids:

An online, detailed catalogue will be available shortly.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by John Cooke in 1894.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Publication note:

Accompanied paper read before the Society, 21 November 1894 and published as: Cooke, J H. "The Pleistocene Beds of the Maltese Islands", 'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society', vol 51 (1895), pp49-50. Photographs not published. Also cited in: Cooke, J H. "Notes on the Pleistocene Beds of the Maltese Islands", 'Geological Magazine' (Decade IV) Vol 3 (1896) pp201-210 (referenced on p202).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Source: Zammit-Maempel, G. 'Pioneers of Maltese geology', B'Kara, Malta (1989). Initial description by John Thackray; revised by Caroline Lam.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Dec 1985; Dec 2013


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Geological surveys | Surveys | Field work | Research work

Personal names
Spratt | Thomas Abel Brimage | 1811-1888 | Vice-Admiral

Corporate names
Geological Society

Places
Sliema | Malta | Western Europe | Europe