Elizabeth Batts Cook

Elizabeth Batts Cook (1742–1835) was the wife and widow of Captain James Cook.

She was the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn, Wapping and one of her husband's mentors.

She married James Cook at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex on 21 December 1762. The couple had six children: James (1763–94), Nathaniel (1764–80, lost aboard HMS Thunderer which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–71), Joseph (1768–68), George (1772–72) and Hugh (1776–93), the last of whom died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge. When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. The family attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where their son James was baptised. Her husband died at Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii in 1779. Outliving her husband and children, she died on 13 May 1835 at the age of 93.

Cook has no known direct descendants — all her recorded children either pre-deceased her or died without issue.

A small memorial garden fountain was dedicated to Elizabeth Batts Cook on February 27, 1971 within the grounds of the E. G. Waterhouse National Camellia Garden at Caringbah South, NSW Australia. This garden is located within the Sutherland Shire, which also contains the place of Captain James Cook's first landing on continental Australia at Botany Bay on April 29, 1770.

Elizabeth Cook Memorial

The fountain is accompanied by a dedication plaque and a separate "storyboard" plaque which provides details of the life of Elizabeth Batts Cook. The text on the storyboard plaque reads as follows:

This fountain commemorates the life of Elizabeth Cook, wife of the famous navigator Captain James Cook. It is believed to be the only monument in the world to this woman of formidable courage and character.

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