Alexander Kok

Alexander "Bobby" Kok (14 February 1926 – 1 May 2015) was a South African-born British professional cellist.

Early life

Alexander Kok was born on Valentine's Day, 1926, in the mining town of Brakpan near Johannesburg in South Africa, to parents of humble Boer farming stock. Both parents were accomplished musically: his father, Schalk Willem Kok, had a fine baritone voice and his mother, Johanna Petronella Vorster, was adept on the violin and piano, accompanying silent films at the local cinema. Married in 1919, the couple had four sons: D'Almero [Darrell] (1920), Felix (1922), Alexander [Bobby] (1926) and Myron (1932). Schalck was a farmer-turned-miner, but lost his job during the 1922 miners' strike, resulting in his wife becoming the main provider. In the 1930s she secured loans to purchase three plots in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Saxonwold, after which her husband and family members constructed three houses for resale. Still working on mines in Northern Rhodesia, Schalk died in 1939 at the onset of the Second World War; while his wife and four sons emigrated to England in 1938.

After setting up a music school in Cheltenham, he eventually settled to retire in Normandy: but not without mishap – two of his valuable cellos were accidentally destroyed in a fire in Gloucestershire. He married three times (in 1954, 1964 and 1981), each time ending in divorce. During his latter years in Normandy, Kok was cared for by his friend Margaret Cook. After her death in 2013, he returned to England. He died in 2015 at the age of 89 at Brinsworth House, Twickenham; the funeral took place at Mortlake Crematorium, Kew.

Selected writings