Norman Cook

Norman Cook (1903 – May 11, 1933) was a British physician, medical missionary, and evangelist in Northern Nigeria from 1930 to 1933. As a member of the Hausa Band from Cambridge University, Cook was influential in the development of the hospitals and out-patient dispensaries in Zaria and Wusasa and was the leader in the building of the dispensary in Maska. His transfer of the leper colony in Zaria resulted the establishment of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre in Zaria, Nigeria in 1991. Cook’s missionary service was brief due to his unexpected death caused by septicaemia in the operating theater.

Early life and education Cook was born in Uganda in 1903 into a family of British missionaries. His father, John Howard Cook, was a medical missionary, and his mother, Ethel Maddox Cook, and uncle, Sir Albert Cook, were both missionaries in Uganda. The Cook family completed the mission work in Uganda and returned to England when Norman was seven years old.

For secondary school, Cook attended London University and decided to pursue medical school and training at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Boys Brigade Hospital at Maska Cook led and established the Church Missionary Society dispensary also known as the Boys’ Brigade Hospital at Maska in 1932 through the support from the funds of the Boys’ Brigade, international aid, and the Nigerian government. The dispensary was in Maska, Northern Nigeria, which was a walled town with a predominantly Muslim population composed of approximately 2000 individuals, 600 of whom being children. Prior to Cook’s death in 1933 and despite the poor facilities, the dispensary provided 78 out-patient and 665 in-person treatments.

Community involvement Cook also played for the Nigerian team in intercontinental cricket, becoming fluent in Hausa, and taught the boys in the Church Missionary Society School how to play football. and outreach measures for the local youth (ages 16–30). Cook also initiated the training of women within the mission society in midwifery and assistance in procedures, such as ulcer treatments.

Death At thirty years old, in 1933, Cook passed away. His death was caused by sepsis contracted in the operating theater. He was buried in the Saint Bartholomew Church in Northern Nigeria. This church was located near the mission site and hospital in Wusasa. He was buried in line with the main west door of the church. In response to Dr. Cook’s death, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Northern provinces stated, “I am well aware of the high personal esteem in which Dr. Cook was held by Africans and Europeans alike, and also of the ability and enthusiasm which so marked his medical work”. From a medical standpoint, his treatment and creation of dispensaries and hospitals set the standard for higher quality care in Northern Nigeria.

Cook's transfer of the leper colony in Zaria to a more hygienic environment outside the city center later resulted the establishment of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre in Zaria, Nigeria in 1991.

A school in Chafe was built in remembrance of Norman Cook and his emphasis of the power of education.