Captain Cook’s widow, Elizabeth Batts Cook, lived for 56 years after his death
WHEN Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779 the nation mourned, particularly his wife, who lived for another 56 years after his death.
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WHEN Captain James Cook was killed by natives in Hawaii in February 1779, it took nearly a year for the news to reach London. The nation went into mourning, but one person hit particularly hard by the news was Elizabeth Batts Cook, his widow.
Since Cook’s remains were retrieved for a burial at sea there would be no funeral for Elizabeth to attend in England and no grave for her to visit to pay her respects.
Of their 17-year marriage, Elizabeth spent only four years with her husband, so she was used to living without him. But she mourned him for the rest of her long life.
Cook was born 190 years ago today, on October 27, 1728, in Marton-on-Cleveland in Yorkshire, the son of a Scottish agricultural labourer James and his wife Grace. The family later moved to a farm in Great Ayton, where Cook attended school.
At 17 he was apprenticed to a shopkeeper in Staithes, but after 18 months realised that retail was not for him. Instead in 1749 he found an apprenticeship in the merchant navy, learning his trade primarily aboard Whitby colliers. He spent much of the rest of his life at sea.
Working his way up to the rank of mate in 1755 he volunteered for the navy during the Seven Years War. While it meant starting again from the bottom he worked his way up to the rank of master in 1757.
Now an up-and-coming young navy man, Cook was in his 30s when he decided to settle down and marry. There are no details of how and where it happened, but in 1762 he met Elizabeth Batts.
Born in 1742, Elizabeth was the daughter of Mary and Samuel Batts. Samuel had died in the year of Elizabeth’s birth, leaving Mary a fortune including nine properties across London.
Mary later married John Blackburn and together they ran the Bell Alehouse at Execution Dock in Wapping.
Being a seaman Cook was probably a frequent visitor to the alehouse.
Mary most likely introduced Cook to her daughter Elizabeth, who was living in Barking in Essex, 10km away. Or Cook may have met Elizabeth through Mary’s brother Charles Smith, who was a shipping agent.
After they met there was a very short courtship and they married at St Margaret’s Church in Barking on December 21, 1762. Elizabeth later remembered that the couple walked over the meadows to the church for their wedding.
They spent a few months together before, in April 1763, Cook went back to sea. However, this time he was sent to conduct surveys of territory won from the French in Newfoundland.
While he was away his first child James was born.
Setting up in a home at Mile End in London, their life together settled into a rhythm for a time. He would sail away in the spring and return in autumn, spending the winter months with his wife and his growing family. While at home he busied himself drawing up charts and making preparations for the next voyage.
Their second child Nathaniel was born in 1764, first daughter Elizabeth in 1767 (who died in 1771) and another son Joseph in 1768 (who died in infancy). By then Cook had been commissioned a lieutenant and was sent on his first voyage of exploration aboard the Endeavour.
Elizabeth patiently awaited his return, aware that it could be a very long time, or that he may never come back. Cook returned in 1771 and their next child, George, was born in 1772, but died within the year.
Promoted to commander Cook left on his second voyage in 1772 aboard the Resolution and was gone until 1775. Their last child, Hugh, was born in 1776 when he went to sea on his final voyage.
While he was away Elizabeth began embroidering a waistcoat for him using Tahitian cloth that he had brought back on a previous voyage. In 1780, when news came through of his death, she stopped working on the waistcoat.
Crewmen from Cook’s last voyage carved a small coffin-shaped box and presented it to Elizabeth as a keepsake. She used it to keep a lock of his hair and a painting of his death. She also kept other mementos, including a medal struck for James and a mourning ring.
Elizabeth burnt all the letters between them and never remarried.
She would outlive her remaining children. Nathaniel died in 1780 when the ship on which he was serving, HMS Thunderer, sank in a storm off the West Indies. Hugh died of scarlet fever in 1793 while studying at Cambridge. James Jr rose to the rank of commander in the navy, but died in 1794, drowning after falling from an open boat going between ships.
Elizabeth lived comfortably on a pension, provided by King George III from the sale of books about Cook’s voyages, until her death at age 93 in 1835.