Samuel Nathaniel Cooke [also known as S. N. Cooke] was born in Kings Norton Worcestershire England on 26 June 1882 and was articled to Newron & Cheadle in 1899, He also attended Birmingham School of Art. He worked as an assistant to Joseph Lancaster Ball (c.1851-1833), to Murphy Baily Scott (1876-?), and to Jethro Anstice Cossins (1830-1917), Frank Barry Peacock (1859-1937), and Ernest Chawner Bewlay (1872-1942) of Cossins, Peacock & Bewlay. Cooke commenced independent as an architect in Birmingham in 1906. By 1916 he was in partnership with Peacock and Bewlay as Peacock, Bewlay & Cooke. The firm designed St. Augustine's Priory in Ealing, Middlesex. From 1921 he was in partnership with Walter Norman Twist (1879-1970) in Birmingham as S. N. Cooke & W. N. Twist. Cooke subsequently established the architectural firm S. N. Cooke & Partners in Birmingham. In the 1920s Cooke was also in partnership with Edward Cecil Davies (1892-1965) as as S. N. Cooke and E. C. Davies.
Cooke was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1912 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1915.
His address was given as Sun Buildings, Bennett's Hill, Birmingham in 1939; and Fiery Hill Road The Gables, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire in 1939. He died on 11 April 1964. His death was registered in Bromsgrove.
Architectural projects by Cooke and his practice included St. Dunstan's Mission Church, Marlborough Road, Smethwick (1911); The Old Repertory Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham (1913); Hall of Memory, Birmingham [with Walter Norman Twist (1879-1970)] (1925); North British and Mercantile Assurance 126, Waterloo Street, Birmingham (1926); Ferens Art Gallery, Hull [with Edward Cecil Davies (1892-1965)] (1927); Sun Alliance Insurance Offices, 10 Bennets Hill, Birmingham (1928); 126, Colmore Row, Birmingham (1929); Smart Bros. furnishing store, Temple Street, Birmingham (1931); Legal and General Assurance Society Limited building, 7-8 Waterloo Street, Birmingham [with E. Holman] (1932); Lombard House, Great Charles Street, Birmingham (1933); New Oxford House, Waterloo Street, Birmingham (1935); 138–139 Digbeth, Birmingham (1936); The Foxlydiate Arms, Birchfield Road, Webheath, Redditch (1938); St Bartholomew's Church, Allen's Cross (1938); Police Station and Magistrates Court, Shady Lane, Watford [with Walter Norman Twist] (1939); The Duddeston Four, Duddeston, Birmingham (1955); St. Paul's Church of England School, Upper Holly Walk, Leamington Spa (1955).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 206, 1964 p. 877