Ella Cooke

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Ella Kate Cooke (c. 1887 – 8 September 1917) was a New Zealand nurse who died during World War I in Egypt. She was born in Auckland to Henry and Sarah Cooke and had a twin sister named Lily. She trained at Auckland Hospital, finishing in 1907, then nursed at Cook Hospital in Gisborne, Hawera Hospital (1910–1913), and later served as Native Health Nurse for Waikato, based in Ngāruawāhia.

In July 1914, Ella and Lily traveled to North America and England. When they reached London, World War I began. In November 1914, she joined the French Flag Nursing Corps and worked at a French Red Cross hospital in Bernay near Rouen for about six months. She then returned to England and joined Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, trained at Connaught Hospital in Aldershot, and was posted to Alexandria, Egypt, in September 1915.

Ella Cooke was killed in 1917 when she was hit by a train while crossing a railway near the hospital. She is buried at Hadra War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria, and her name is also inscribed on the Five Sisters window screens in York Minster, England.