Bramwell Cook (Salvation Army officer)

For his son, Herbert Bramwell Cook, see Bramwell Cook (gastroenterologist).

Alfred Bramwell Cook CBE (7 March 1903 – 1 June 1994) was a New Zealand Salvation Army leader and doctor.

Early life and education

Cook was born in Gisborne, New Zealand, on 7 March 1903.[1] His parents were Salvation Army officers who moved around the country to different postings during his childhood.[1][2] As a child he lived in Taranaki and attended Stratford District High School and later Waitaki Boys' High School in Otago.[2] He studied at the University of Auckland and graduated with a BA from the University of New Zealand in 1924 and MBChB from the University of Otago in 1928.[1][3][4]

Career

In 1929 he travelled to Britain where he studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine winning the Duncan Medal;[1] in particular he studied tropical diseases and ophthalmology.[2] He was also a house surgeon at the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases[2] and trained at the Salvation Army’s International Training College in 1931.[1] In 1932 he went to Anand in Gujarat, India as chief medical officer at the Salvation Army's Emery Hospital. He worked there for 22 years.[1] He was awarded an MD in 1948.[5]

Returning to New Zealand he was chief secretary of the Salvation Army from 1954 to 1963.[6] During that time he revitalised the Army's work with alcoholics and established the Bridge treatment programme.[1] He later wrote a booklet entitled Drug taking and drug addiction.[1][7] He continued the establishment of the Bridge Programme in Australia when he was appointed to command the Australia Eastern Territory of the Salvation Army in 1963.[1]

He retired from the Army in 1968 and became a general practitioner in Christchurch until the late 1980s.[1] He died in Christchurch on 1 June 1994.[1]

Personal life

Cook married Dorothy Frances Money in 1935 in Anand. They had five children.[1] One son Herbert Bramwell Cook became a doctor.[6]

Honours and awards

Cook received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in 1935 for service in India.[1][6] In the 1982 New Year Honours, Cook was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the Salvation Army and the community.[8][9] The Salvation Army awarded him the Order of the Founder in 1983.[1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bradwell, C. R. "Alfred Bramwell Cook". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Former Stratford professional man to go to India as missionary". Stratford Evening Post. 18 December 1931. Retrieved 20 August 2025 – via Papers Past.
  3. ^ "Capping ceremony". Otago Daily Times. 19 July 1924. p. 7. Retrieved 20 August 2025 – via Papers Past.
  4. ^ "Degrees conferred". Press. 23 February 1928. p. 14. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  5. ^ "Degrees conferred at university ceremony". Otago Daily Times. 12 May 1948. p. 6. Retrieved 20 August 2025 – via Papers Past.
  6. ^ a b c d Wright-St Clair, Rex (2013). Historia nunc vivat : medical practitioners in New Zealand, 1840 to 1930 (PDF). Christchurch: Cotter Medical History Trust. p. 76. ISBN 9780473240738.
  7. ^ Cook, A. B. (1970). Drug taking and drug addiction. Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters. OCLC 154043981.
  8. ^ "No. 48839". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1981. p. 39.
  9. ^ "Wide range of services rewarded". Press. 31 December 1981. p. 2. Retrieved 20 August 2025 – via Papers Past.

Further reading

  • Obituary. New Zealand Medical Journal 107, No 983 (Aug. 1994): 321
  • Dr Alfred Bramwell Cook. (1994). Press (Christchurch, N.Z.), 9 Jun 1994, 34.
  • Waite, J. C. (1973). The white Gujerati : the story of A. Bramwell Cook. Salvationist Publishing and Supplies.
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