THE VICTORIA CROSS AWARDED TO CAPTAIN JOHN COOK, BENGAL STAFF CORPS & 5TH GURKHA REGIMENT HAS BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION BY THE LONDON AUCTIONEERS DIX NOONAN WEBB. |
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18 September 2004 |
The Victoria Cross and campaign medals awarded to Captain John Cook, 5th Gurkha Regiment, were sold at auction on the 17th September 2004, by the London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb for the sum of £82,000. The VC group was part of the Brian Ritchie Collection of HEIC and British India Medals. The VC group was purchased on behalf of the Michael Ashcroft Trust, the holding institution for Lord Ashcroft's VC Collection. |
On the 24th September 1878 the 5th Gurkhas were warned for active service, and in October proceeded from Abbottabad to Thal, where it joined Sir Frederick Robert's Kurram Valley Field Force. Cook crossed the frontier with his regiment as part of Brigadier-General Thelwall's 2nd Brigade and following the reconnaisance of Peiwar Kotal, earned his Victoria Cross on the slopes of the Spingawai Kotal, or White Cow Pass.
For the award of the Victoria Cross [ London Gazette, 18 March 1879 ], Peiwar Kotal, Afghanistan, 2nd December 1878, Captain John Cook, Bengal Staff Corps & 5th Gurkha Regiment.
"For a signal act of valour at the action of the Peiwar Kotal on the 2nd December 1878 in having, during a very heavy fire, charged out of the entrenchments with such impetuosity that the enemy broke and fled.
On the 11th December 1879 Cook was attached to Macpherson's brigade which attempted to attack the Afghans in the rear at Argundeh, but was forced to retire towards Sherpur in the face of overwhelming numbers. Late in the day Cook distinguished himself in the rear guard action which saved the brigade's baggage and found himself fighting shoulder to shoulder with his brother. So persistent and bold were the Afghans that it was found needful to resort to a bayonet charge, which, gallantly led by Major John Cook, 5th Gurkha Regiment, and Lieutenant Walter Cook, 3rd Sikhs, taught them to keep their distance. Unfortunately, Walter was shot in the chest and was carried to the Sherpur Cantonment, and John was brought to his knees by a blow to the head.
However, John Cook was able to take part in the attack next day on the Taht-i-Shah peak, the highest and most inaccessible point of the range of hills dominating Kabul. It was during this action that Major Cook received his death wound, being struck by a bullet that passed through the bone of the left leg, just below the knee. After spending the night on the hill in the open, Cook was eventually taken to the hospital at the besieged Sherpur Cantonment, where he died later from his wounds.
On the 21st December 1879 Major John Cook was buried in the Sherpur Cantonment British Cemetery, locally known as the 'Gora Kabar' which literally means 'White Graveyard'. |
In June 2004 Fr Mark O'Keeffe CF ( RC ), serving with the HQ ( UK ) division in Afghanistan, visited the British Cemetery at 'Gora Kabar', lying at the northwestern corner of the Bimaru Heights, Kabul. By the standard of cemeteries in the sub-continent, the Kabul Cemetery is in reasonable condition considering it contains British military gravestones dating back to the 1839-42 British occupation of Kabul. ( This cemetery is also be known as the Sherpur Cantonment Cemetery ). Some gravestones have been damaged, but there is little evidence of the vandalism that has been reported elsewhere in Howshera and Simla. The British military headstones suffered damage during an exceptionally cold winter in 1978 and have subsequently been moved from their original position and cemented vertically along the south wall of the cemetery. The headstone of Major John Cook, VC, 5th Gurkha Rifles, is still in very good condition, as are the headstones of five other British officers buried in the cemetery. Of the two remaining stones, one is simply initialled 'AJR', an officer killed during the first Afghan War in September 1842. The other stone lists 29 names killed in December 1879, probably from the 67th Regiment of Foot ( The Hampshire Regiment ). The names of the six officers buried in the Sherpur Cantonment Cemetery, Kabul, are:
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Iain Stewart, 17 September 2004