Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/110

 cester Hall, and (by royal letters patent, dated 14 July 1714) the hall was converted into Worcester College. It appears that Cookes had originally intended that the 10,000l. should be devoted to building a workhouse in Worcestershire, and that he had abandoned this intention at the instance of Dr. Woodroffe of Gloucester Hall. The Rev. John Baron, fellow of Balliol, in 1699 preached a sermon before Cookes at Feckenham, in the hope of diverting the stream of bounty to Balliol, but the sermon failed to produce the desired effect. Cookes died 8 June 1701.



COOKESLEY, WILLIAM GIFFORD (1802–1880), classical scholar, was born at Brasted in Kent on 1 Dec. 1802, and was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1825, M.A. in 1827. He was for many years one of the assistant masters at Eton. In 1857 he was appointed vicar of Hayton, Yorkshire, and became incumbent of St. Peter's, Hammersmith, in 1860, and rector of Tempsford, Bedfordshire, in 1868. He died on 16 Aug. 1880. His publications on classical subjects are: 1. ‘Selections from Pindar. With English Notes,’ 1838, 8vo. 2. ‘Pindari Carmina. Notas quasdam Anglice scriptas adjecit G.G.C.,’ 1844, &c., 8vo (another edition, ‘pars prima,’ 1850, &c., and an edition in 2 vols., 1851). 3. ‘Selecta e Catullo’ (with notes), 1845, 12mo. 4. ‘Account and Map of the Ancient City of Rome,’ 1850; and a similar ‘Account and Map of Ancient Athens,’ 1851, 8vo (also 1852, 8vo). 5. ‘Selecta e Propertio’ (with notes), 1851, 12mo. 6. ‘Eton Selections from Ovid and Tibullus’ (with notes), 1859, 12mo (another edition, 1860,12mo). 7. ‘Cæsar's Gallic War’ (with English notes), 1861, 12mo. Cookesley also published: 8. ‘Sermons,’ London, 1843, 12mo; and ‘Old Windsor Sermons,’ London, 1844, 12mo. 9. ‘A revised translation of the New Testament,’ 1859, &c., 8vo. 10. ‘A few Remarks on some of the more prominent errors contained in Bishop Colenso's Book on the Pentateuch,’ London, 1863, 8vo. 11. ‘Memorial Sketch of F. J. Cookesley, edited by W. G. C.,’ 1867, 12mo. 12. Various pamphlets published between 1845 and 1867 (see Brit. Mus. Cat.)



COOKSON, GEORGE (1760–1835), general, sixth son of Captain Thomas Cookson, R.N., and grandson of William Cookson of Wellington, Shropshire, was born at Farnborough, Hampshire, on 29 April 1760. He entered the royal navy in 1773, but after his father's death in 1775 Lord North gave him a cadetship to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He entered the royal artillery as second lieutenant in 1778, and was promoted lieutenant in 1780. His early service was principally in the West Indies, and on one occasion, namely, in 1785, he commanded all the artillery on the Black River until its evacuation. In 1792 he was promoted captain-lieutenant, and in the following year accompanied the Duke of York's army to the Netherlands. He opened the first English battery against the city of Valenciennes, and commanded the English gunners in the trenches and at the storm of that city. On the conclusion of the campaign he was promoted captain and appointed to the command of No. 7 company, 5th battalion, and in 1800 was made major by brevet. In that year he commanded the royal artillery with General Maitland's expedition against Belleisle, which afterwards joined the force sent against Ferrol under Sir James Pulteney, and was eventually incorporated with the artillery under Sir Ralph Abercromby's command in the Mediterranean. Cookson was appointed to manage the landing of the field-pieces in Abercromby's disembarkation on the coast of Egypt, and he was so rapid that the guns were in action almost as soon as the infantry, and did great service in covering the landing of the rest of the army. During the whole Egyptian campaign Cookson greatly distinguished himself, especially at the siege of Alexandria, when for a time he commanded all the fifty-two guns employed at the siege, and in the attack on the castle of Marabout on 22 Aug., when he was publicly thanked by Sir Eyre Coote (1762–1824) [q. v.] On 29 Oct. 1801 he was made commandant of the ancient Pharos, and appointed to command all the artillery in Egypt, and he was afterwards presented with a gold medal by the grand vizier, an honour conferred on no other artillery officer (, History of the Royal Artillery, ii. 132). After his return to England he was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and in September 1804 was appointed to command the artillery in the Dublin district. He had made the acquaintance of Lord Cathcart in the Netherlands, and at that general's special request he was appointed to command all the artillery accompanying the expedition to