Frederick Riley Cooke (28 April 1867 – 26 June 1930) was a New Zealand tailor, socialist and trade unionist.
Early life
Cooke was born in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, England on 28 April 1867. He started his working life aged seven and was almost entirely self-educated. He married Ida Clough on 1 August 1891 in
Bradford, where he was living at the time.
Political career
He came to New Zealand in 1900 and was a founding member of
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
. He stood as a parliamentary candidate in the
Christchurch East
Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the and was abolished for two period, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for ...
electorate in , , and and received few votes, but he regarded his candidacies as a good propaganda tool.
At the
unity conference in 1913, Cooke was a forceful opponent of compulsory military training. The Socialist Party merged with
United Labour Party at that conference to form the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
, and Cooke was elected vice president in 1914, and president in 1915. In 1916, the Social Democratic Party merged to become the
Labour Party. Cooke was Labour's vice president (1920/1921) and president (1921/22).
He was a member of
Christchurch City Council
The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, wh ...
from a by-election in 1920 onwards.
Cooke unsuccessfully contested further parliamentary elections for the Labour Party: in , in , and in .
Cooke died in Christchurch on 26 June 1930; he had suffered from diabetes for the last decade and had developed prostate cancer. He was buried at
Sydenham Cemetery. Addresses were given at the funeral by
Ted Howard (MP),
Peter Fraser
Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...
(MP),
John Archer (
Mayor of Christchurch
The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system. The current mayor, Ph ...
), and
Jack McCullough (trade unionist).
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Frederick
1867 births
1930 deaths
New Zealand trade unionists
New Zealand socialists
English emigrants to New Zealand
People from Christchurch
Politicians from Leeds
New Zealand Labour Party politicians
Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians
New Zealand Socialist Party politicians
Burials at Sydenham Cemetery
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1905 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1911 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1922 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1925 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1928 New Zealand general election
Christchurch City Councillors