LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Second Lieutenant Arthur Cooper
14th Bn. Manchester Regiment
Town Memorial P2.R1.C3.
2nd Lt
Arthur Cooper
18th Manchester Regt
Somme
July 10 1916
[The discrepancy in which Battalion of the Manchesters he was in (14 Bn v 18 Bn) is covered in Further research below]
The Parish magazine issue of May 1915 lists an A. Cooper as serving with the Queens Westminster Rifles under the heading 'In the Territorial Battalions or New Army' (1). However this is not a positive clue as to his antecedents.
The volume Officers Who Died in the Great War (2) states that he died of wounds on 10th July, and his battalion War Diary indicates that they were sustained in the terrible 'first day of the Somme' (3).
This War Diary was not written contemporaneously, probably because there was no time. This is apparent by reason of Arthur Cooper being listed among the wounded officers, and his death being recorded, whereas he actually lived for another nine days.
The War Diary states that on 1st. July the battalion took part in operations which led to the capture of Montauban, and acted as “carrying Bn.“ for 90th Infantry Brigade. It also notes that six Officers were wounded "including 2nd. Lt. A. Cooper (died of wounds)." The Other Rank losses were a total of 170 killed, wounded, or missing.
Next day, 2nd. July, the Manchesters were in reserve for 90 Brigade in the former German front line named TRAIN ALLEY.
An appendix to the War Diary gives information about the duties and they were hard, and the distribution of the battalion on 1 July 1916:
2 platoons carrying R.E. stores
2 platoons carrying S.A.A [small arms ammunition] and bombs
1 platoon carrying S.A.A between dumps “within our own lines“
1 platoon carrying ammunition for Stokes mortar battery
2 platoons carrying S.A.A [small arms ammunition] and bombs
1 platoon carrying S.A.A between dumps “within our own lines“
1 platoon carrying ammunition for Stokes mortar battery
Two companies were in Brigade Reserve, one
of which carried equipment for the Brigade Machine Gun Company.
The appendix states that the men were in an exhausted condition because of the heavy loads and the heat. Going “backwards and forwards", casualties were sustained from the shellfire.
Notes on sources
1. Parish magazine of St Mary and St Nicholas, Leatherhead, May 1915 (courtesy of Mr L Anstee of the parish)
2. Officers Died in the Great War, published by the War Office in 1919 - copy in the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth.
3. File W095–2339 War Diary 18th. Bn. Manchester Regiment, Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond.
Further research
Second LieutenantCOOPER, ARTHUR
Died 10/07/1916
Aged 38
14th Bn.*
Manchester Regiment
Son of John and Eleanor Mary Cooper, of 29, Linden Rd., Bexhill-on-Sea.
INSCRIPTION: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD
Buried at DAOURS COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
Location: Somme, France
Cemetery/memorial reference: I. A. 27.
*The CWGC record states he was in the 14th Bn but the Leatherhead Memorials and a press report say he was in the 18th Bn and it is in the 18th Bn's War Diary that Liam Sumption found him. Here is the explanation:
The 18 Bn War Diary 13 February 1916
2nd Lts E Kavanagh, CAS Timms and A Cooper from the 14th BATT Manchester Regt & 20 other ranks from the 25th (Reserve) Battn Manchester Regt joined today. 2nd Lt Kavanagh is posted to "C" Coy and the other two officers to "D" Coy.
2nd Lts E Kavanagh, CAS Timms and A Cooper from the 14th BATT Manchester Regt & 20 other ranks from the 25th (Reserve) Battn Manchester Regt joined today. 2nd Lt Kavanagh is posted to "C" Coy and the other two officers to "D" Coy.
DAOURS COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
The preparations for the Somme offensive of July 1916 brought a group of casualty clearing stations (the 1st/1st South Midland, 21st, 34th, 45th and Lucknow, section "B") to Daours.
The extension to the communal cemetery was opened and the first burials made in Plots I, II, Row A of Plot III and the Indian plot, between June and November 1916. The Allied advance in the spring of 1917 took the hospitals with it, and no further burials were made in the cemetery until April 1918, when the Germans recovered the ground they had lost. From April to the middle of August 1918, the extension was almost a front line cemetery.
In August and September 1918, the casualty clearing stations came forward again (the 5th, 37th, 41st, 53rd, 55th and 61st) but in September, the cemetery was closed.
There are now 1,231 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in Daours Communal Cemetery Extension. The total includes special memorials to four men of the Chinese labour corps whose graves in White Chateau Cemetery, Cachy, could not be located. The adjoining communal cemetery contains two First World War burials made before the extension was opened. The extension was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 15 July 1916
LIEUT. A. COOPER, Lieut. Arthur Cooper,
Manchester Regt., who has succumbed to wounds, was the third son of Mr.
and Mrs. John Cooper, of Hackhurst, Highlands, Leatherhead. On the
outbreak of war he joined the Queen's Westminster Rifles, went out to
the Front as a rifleman, and was wounded in Flanders in July last year.
He returned to England, and in the
following November he took his commission in the 18th Manchester
Regiment**, and returned to France in February last.
He was wounded in the great advance on
July 1st. He was taken to the 45th Casualty Clearing Station. The C.O.
of that hospital wrote to say that he was in a grave condition, and two
successive days better news was received, but in spite of that succumbed
to his wounds on July 10th.
In the course of a letter which Mrs.
Cooper has received from an officer in the same regiment, the writer
says: "I cannot tell you how much we all miss him. His men were all
deyoted to him, and it was fine to see how they all clustered near him
as he sat smoking his pipe in the assembly trenches before the
attack—just like a father with his children. The Colonel addressed the
company on parade to-day, and spoke of him as one of the finest officers
in the battalion.”
** As noted below he was commissioned on 5
November 1915. He did not join (or was attached to) 18 Bn from 14 Bn
until February 1916.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser
Saturday 30 December 1916
ROLL OF HONOUR.
BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT
JULY.
COOPER, Lieut. Arthur, Manchester Regt., died from wounds, July 10th, third-son of Mr. and Mrs. John Cooper, Hackhurst, Highlands, Leatherhead.
BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT
JULY.
COOPER, Lieut. Arthur, Manchester Regt., died from wounds, July 10th, third-son of Mr. and Mrs. John Cooper, Hackhurst, Highlands, Leatherhead.
His Medal Card states he began as a Private in the 16th London Regiment [the Queens Westminster Rifles] with the number 3042.
He went to France on 4th July 1915. At some point he was transferred to the Manchester Regiment and was commissioned 2nd Lt on 15 November 1915.
The address for correspondence about his medals was his father J Cooper, 29 Linden Road, Bexhill-on-Sea.
His life
He was born about 1878 in Kensington, Middlesex.His siblings were John William b1875, Ernest Alfred b1877, Harold b1879, Eleanor b1882, Edith Emily b1884, and Frances Peverill b1888 (Peverill was the paternal grandmother's family name).
His father was John Cooper, born 14 January 1849, St John's Wood, Middlesex and died on 15 July 1929 in Lancing, West Sussex.
His mother was Eleanor Mary Cowderoy born 2 December 1849 in Kensington, then in Middlesex. She died on 29 March 1929 in Worthing, Sussex.
Their marriage was in Kensington, London on 18 March 1873
In the 1881 Census the 3 year old Arthur was living at 7 Lawn Place, Hammersmith. His father was described as Oilman (Employing 6 men & 8 boys) and was prosperous enough to employ a Governess, Cook and a Nurse Maid.
In the 1891 Census the family was living at 2 Balmoral Villas, [Northdown Road?], Cliftonville, Margate. His father was now described as Storekeeper (Food) and they had a Cook and a Housekeeper.
In the 1901 Census they were now at 9 Midhurst Avenue in the Muswell Hill area of London. His father was now described as 'living on his own means' and it looks as if his sons could have been part of the family business - John William Cooper (26) General Stores shopkeeper, Ernest Alfred Cooper (24) Secretary of Limited Company and Arthur Cooper (23) General Manager Limited Company.
Although it is not known when the Coopers moved to Leatherhead after 1901, they were here at the time of the 1911 Census, at Hackhurst, Reigate Road:
John Cooper (62) Retired Store Keeper
Eleanor Mary Cooper (61)
Ernest Alfred Cooper (34) Store Keeper
Arthur Cooper (33) Store Keeper
Eleanor Mary Cooper (61)
Ernest Alfred Cooper (34) Store Keeper
Arthur Cooper (33) Store Keeper
His Probate Record shows his address as 178 High Road, Streatham, Surrey and Hackhurst, Highlands, Leatherhead, Surrey. His Will was in favour of his brother Ernest Alfred Cooper, then a Rifleman with the Queens Westminster Rifles. It appears that Ernest survived WW1.
An Arthur Cooper was the only elector listed in the Electoral Registers for 1909, 1910 and 1912 at 178 High Road, Streatham.
In the 1911 Census Summary Book for that part of Streatham there is this record:
178 High Road - Shop - Occupier Mr Cooper - inhabited - 2 females
Arthur Cooper is remembered on these memorials:
Leatherhead Church Lads Brigade Tryptich, All Saints' Leatherhead
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Ladies' War Shrine, Leatherhead Parish Church
He is not listed in the Streatham Roll of Honour Book
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, his headstone, and of any recollections of him
last updated 12 Jul 20