Editing Joseph Cook (section)

==Early years==
[[File:Joseph Cook's early residence in Silverdale.jpg|thumb|left|Cook lived in a small terraced house at 86 Newcastle Street for most of his childhood. The building now has a [[blue plaque]] commemorating his life.]]
Cook was born on 7 December 1860 in a small cottage in [[Silverdale, Staffordshire]], England. He was the second of seven children born to Margaret (née Fletcher) and William Cooke. His older sister Sarah died in 1865, but his three younger sisters and two younger brothers lived to adulthood. Cook's parents moved to a [[wikt:one-up-one-down|one-up-one-down]] a few months after his birth, before eventually settling in a terraced house on Newcastle Street. The children shared a single room and two beds, and the family could rarely afford meat.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=14}} Cook's father was a coal miner under the [[wikt:butty|butty]] system at the nearby Hollywood pit.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=13}} He was killed in a mining accident in April 1873, forcing his oldest son to become the family's primary source of income.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=15}}

Cook's only formal education was at the school attached to St Luke's, the local Anglican church. He left school and began working in the coal mines at the age of nine, earning one [[shilling]] per day for ten to twelve hours of work. Beginning at four o'clock in the morning, his tasks were to attend to the horses and clean and oil the mining equipment. After the passage of the ''[[Elementary Education Act 1870]]'', Cook was allowed to return to school until he reached the legal leaving age.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=15}} He left school a second time after his father's death and returned to his former employment at the local colliery.  However, as a result of his teacher's attention, together with that of his parents, an exceptionally strong ambition to improve his position became implanted in him. This ambition was to become one of his most prominent characteristics, revealed first in a drive for self-improvement and, later on in life, his determination to succeed in politics. During his teenage years, he embraced [[Primitive Methodism]], and marked his conversion by dropping the "e" from his surname.<ref name="adb">{{cite AuDB |last1=Crowley |first1=F K |title=Cook, Sir Joseph (1860–1947) |id2=cook-sir-joseph-5763 |access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref> On 8 August 1885, he married [[Dame Mary Cook|Mary Turner]] at [[Wolstanton]], Staffordshire, and the couple eventually had five sons and three daughters.

Shortly after their marriage, the couple emigrated to [[New South Wales]] and settled in [[Lithgow, New South Wales|Lithgow]], joining Cook's brother-in-law and a number of other former miners from Silverdale.<ref name="adb"/> Cook worked in the coal mines, becoming General-Secretary of the Western Miners Association in 1887. In 1888, he participated in demonstrations against Chinese immigration. He was also active in the Land Nationalisation League, which was influenced by the ideas of [[Henry George]] and strongly supported [[free trade]],<ref name="adb"/> and was a founding member of the [[Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)|Labor Party]] in 1891.<ref name="pms">{{cite web|title=Joseph Cook|url=http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/cook/#|website=Australia's Prime Ministers|publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=24 April 2016}}</ref>