Person:Mary Cooke (76)

Mary Cooke's origins are unclear. She claimed in the 1881 census to have been born at Cheetham, a suburb of Manchester, Lancashire. The ages given for her in the 1881 census and at her death imply that she was born somewhere between 1859 and 1862. Her first confirmed sighting is in the 1881 census, when she was living at 122 Rochdale Road in Manchester, described as housekeeper to a physician and surgeon called Peter Vincent Timothy, who was about thirty years her senior. He was married, but living apart from his wife and children, who were living in Southport at that time. Mary and Peter were clearly in a relationship, as she must have been heavily pregnant at the time of the census; she gave birth the following month to a boy, whose birth was registered as Bernard Vincent Timothy Cooke (with Cooke being his surname), but who was generally known as Bernard Vincent Timothy and acknowledged in the 1891 census to be Peter's son.

By early 1883 Mary and Peter had left Manchester and moved to the neighbouring town of Salford, where they lived at 193 Regent Road. Peter is mentioned in newspaper articles from January 1883 to October 1884 as living at that address.

Mary died when she was only in her mid-twenties. She died at 193 Regent Road in Salford on 21st August 1884 of "syncope following epileptic convulsion induced by excessive drinking". Ironically, Peter had been involved in temperance campaigns as a younger man in the 1860s, trying to reduce excessive drinking. Peter survived Mary by nearly 35 years, and started another relationship a couple of years after her death.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 England. 1881 Census Schedules for England and Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: . (
   Kew, Richmond, Greater London TW9 4DU, United Kingdom:
   The National Archives (abbreviated TNA), formerly the UK General Register Office.)
   Class RG11; Piece 3999; Folio 4; Page 1, 3 Apr 1881.

   Address: 122 Rochdale Road, Manchester, Lancashire
   Peter V. Timothy, head, married, male, 49 [1831/2], Physician & Surgeon, b. London, Middlesex
   Mary Cook, servant, unmarried, female, 19 [1861/2], Housekeeper, b. Cheetham, Lancashire

2. ↑ Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   Superintendent Registrar's District Salford / Registrar's Sub-District Regent Road
   1884 DEATHS in the Sub-District of Regent Road, Salford in the County of Lancaster
   No.	When and where died	Name and surname	Sex	Age	Occupation	Cause of death	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
   445	August 21st 1884 193 Regent Road U.S.D.	Mary Cooke	Female	24 years [1859/60]	Domestic Servant Housekeeper	Syncope following Epileptic Convulsion induced by excessive drinking P.M.	Certificate received from Fred. Price Coroner of Lancashire Inquest held August 22nd 1884	Twenty second August 1884	Joseph Roberts, Deputy Registrar

   193 Regent Road was the address at which Mary's partner and employer Peter Vincent Timothy lived in 1884 according to newspaper articles.