VICAR'S SAD END

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23269, 11 February 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

VICAR'S SAD END

FLYING OFFIOER IN WAR SURVIVOR OF TITANIC The Rev. Charles Richard Vallance Cook, aged 40, vicar of St. Just, Cornwall, who wag to have been married on February 4, and was found dead with throat wounds, was stated at the inquest to have suffered from alcoholism and obsessions. * According to a doctor, ho did not know which day of the week it 'was, and spoke of people with hatchets and hammers. • , ~ , Mr. Cook was found dead in his bathroom. There was a knife close by. A verdict of suicide while the balance of mind was disturbed was recorded. A sister of the deceased said lie had been in poor health for some time and had been extremely worried and nervous, making much of small matters. During the war he was in the R.F.C., receiving his Vwings' 1 at the age of \7. He had had two or three minor flying accidents, and once had to go into hospital with shell shock. He had crashed, and although not badly hurt, his head became affected. Dr. Stephen Campbell, of St. Just, said that during the three months Mr. Cook had been there he had attended him four times for alcoholism, and had given him an injection so that he could carry on his duties. Mr. Cook had been depressed. Dr. Campbell said he thought this was due to tho number of anonymous letters he received, presumably from parishioners. * Mr. Cook had been vicar of St. Just since October, and had previously held clerical appointments at Upton Cross, Essex, Liverpool, Leeds and Bedford. He had been seen by residents in St. Just recently walking about the village in his pyjamas. Ho is said to have been a survivor of tho Titanic disaster.