Frederick Riley Cooke
5th President of the Labour Party
In office 15 July 1921 – 7 July 1922
Vice President	Tim Armstrong
Leader	Harry Holland
Preceded by	Peter Fraser
Succeeded by	Tom Brindle
3rd President of the Social Democratic Party
In office 1915–1916
Preceded by	Hiram Hunter
Succeeded by	Peter Fraser
Personal details
Born	28 April 1867 Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Died	26 June 1930 Christchurch, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour (1916–1930)
Other political affiliations	Socialist Party (1901–13) Social Democratic Party (1913–16)
Spouse	Ida Clough
Occupation	Trade unionist

Frederick Riley Cooke (28 April 1867 – 26 June 1930) was a New Zealand tailor, socialist and trade unionist.

Cooke was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 28 April 1867. He started his working life aged seven and was almost entirely self-educated. He married Ida Clough on 1 August 1891 in Bradford, where he was living at the time.^[1]

He came to New Zealand in 1900 and was a founding member of Socialist Party. He stood as a parliamentary candidate in the Christchurch East electorate in 1905, 1908, and 1911 and received few votes, but he regarded his candidacies as a good propaganda tool.^[1]

At the unity conference in 1913, Cooke was a forceful opponent of compulsory military training. The Socialist Party merged with United Labour Party at that conference to form the Social Democratic Party, and Cooke was elected vice president in 1914, and president in 1915. In 1916, the Social Democratic Party merged to become the Labour Party. Cooke was Labour's vice president (1920/1921) and president (1921/22).^[2] He was a member of Christchurch City Council from a by-election in 1920 onwards.^[3]

Cooke unsuccessfully contested further parliamentary elections for the Labour Party: Ashburton in 1922, Christchurch North in 1925, and Waitaki in 1928.^[1]

Cooke died in Christchurch on 26 June 1930; he had suffered from diabetes for the last decade and had developed prostate cancer. He was buried at Sydenham Cemetery. Addresses were given at the funeral by Ted Howard (MP), Peter Fraser (MP), John Archer (Mayor of Christchurch), and Jack McCullough (trade unionist).^[3]

• Gustafson, Barry (1980). Labour's path to political independence: the origins and establishment of the NZ Labour Party 1900–1919. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press. ISBN 0-19-647986-X.