Bramwell Cook (Salvation Army officer)
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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]