Private 15479 Joseph Cooper

Killed in Action Gallipoli on Monday, 9th August 1915, age 25.
Commemorated on Panel 134 to 136 of Helles Memorial, Turkey.

7th Bn., South Staffordshire Regiment. 33rd Brigade of 11th Division.

Husband of Mrs Fanny Elizabeth Cooper, of 4 Sedgley Road, Dudley Port, Tipton, Staffs.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: Wolverhampton, Resident: Tipton.

First landed Balkans, 21st July 1915.
Medal entitlement: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Commemorated on the Tipton Library, St. Matthew's, and Park Chapel memorials.
Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/697531/

Genealogical Data

Birth of Joseph Cooper registered June quarter 1890 in Dudley (mother formerly Cresswell).

1901 Census
336 Dudley Port, Tipton, Staffs.
Abraham Cooper (44, Coal Miner – Hewer, born Tipton), his wife Matilda (40, born Tipton), and their 6 children: William (19, Labourer, born Tipton), Thomas (14, born Tipton), May (12, born Tipton), Joseph (10, born Tipton), Edward (7, born Tipton), and Abraham (4, born Tipton).

Marriage of Joseph Cooper and Fanny Elizabeth Attwell registered June quarter 1909 in Dudley.

1911 Census
3 Hall Street, Tipton, Staffs.
Joseph Cooper (21, Labourer, born Tipton), his wife Fanny E. (21, born Tipton), and their 1 surviving child of 2: May Matilda (1, born Tipton). Joseph and Fanny subsequently had 2 sons: Joseph born 21 February 1912, and Abraham born 31 December 1914.

Joseph's widow, Fanny, married Edward Cooper in March quarter 1918. Edward was Joseph's younger brother, so her brother-in-law.

Personal Data

Joseph Cooper's Army Number is next in sequence to G. Perkes - it is possible they enlisted together as pals, or were perhaps just next to each other in line.

After Joseph's death his outstanding Army pay and allowances amounted to £4/0/3d (4 pounds and 3 pence); this was paid to his widow, Fanny Elizabeth, in November 1916. His War Gratuity amounted to £3/0/0d (3 pounds exactly), this was also paid to his widow in August 1919. The value of the War Gratuity suggests that Joseph enlisted in the 12 months prior to his death.

Joseph's widow, Fanny, was granted a Widow's Pension of £1/0/6d (1 pound and 6 pence) per week, effective from 10th April 1916. Her address was initially 4 Sedgley Road, Dudley Port, but later changed to 11 Boat Row, Tipton. In March quarter 1918, Fanny married Edward Cooper, her brother-in-law. Normally, when a widow re-married, her Widow's Pension would stop and she would be compensated by a Re-Marriage Gratuity. In this case the Gratuity was withheld; the Pension Card has the following statement: "This marriage, not being legal, she is not eligible for Gratuity. Widow informed 22/7/1918". As the Pension authority (and the law) considered the marriage illegal, it is not known if they continued paying the Widow's Pension. Regardless of this, her children's pension payments would continue until their 16th birthdays.

The legal position was that it had been legal for a man to marry his sister-in-law since the 'Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act' of 1907, but not for a woman to marry her brother-in-law. It was 1921 before the 'Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act' 1921 removed this restriction, partly as a response to the many war widows created by WWI.

Action resulting in his death

On August 6th the 7th South Staffs took part in the landings at 'B' beach Suvla Bay, two days later the 7th South Staffs took part in an attack on Chocolate and Scimitar Hill which went disastrously wrong. The 'History of the 7th South Staffs' reports 400 casualties, this is highly likely as 118 Other Ranks and 3 Officers were killed, amongst them 9 Tipton men. Joseph Cooper, like all 9 of the Tipton men, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

A short extract from the 7th South Staffs War Diary of the events of the 8/9th August written by the Second in command of the 7th South Staffs Lt-Colonel A. Tool:
"Most of that night, the 8/9th, we spent in very slowly working our way back to the 33rd Brigade rendezvous. It was not really a very long way, but the dense scrub necessitated "snake" formation, and every time there was a check, which was very often, men dropped down asleep, and had to be kicked up by the officers.

As far as I can remember we were quite punctual at our rendezvous with the 6/Lincolns on our left, but the Borderers, who should have been on our right, were not in sight, and we were sent off and told that they would join in, which they did later on.

The right of the S.Staffs was to direct the 33rd Brigade on the line "Summit of Scimitar Hill - "W" Hill, and Col. Daukes ordered me to go forward with the leading troops and see that direction was accurately kept. To my horror I saw the companies starting to advance in the column of route, but I quickly ran up and shook them out into artillery formation, We had almost reached Scimitar Hill, the Borderers having come into place, when a Subaltern I was walking beside lit a cigarette and promptly dropped with a bullet in his forehead.

A moment later a Lincoln officer ran up to me and reported that Captain Martin, commanding the company I was with at the moment, was killed and that the Turks were just the other side of Chocolate Hill."

Following information taken from History of the Seventh South Staffordshire Regiment (Ashcroft):
9th August 1915
"At 06.00 we reached Hill 70 and at once came under murderous shrapnel and rifle fire. Every single officer in A & D companies (firing line) and in 'B' company (supporting line) were either killed or wounded in the first 10 minutes. At about 08.00 support arrived from the 10th Division, but even with their assistance no headway could be made. About 10.00 our line began to give way owing to the fact the scrub had caught fire, the Turks aided by this were working around our left. This flanking movement was checked by reinforcements of Dublins and Queens.

The battalion behaved magnificently but were overwhelmed by an enemy who had every position of advantage. On the 10th August, the losses in killed and wounded were computed to be well over 400. For three days, the Staffords and Borderers held an old Turkish communication trench running on to Chocolate Hill, and were then relieved by the 32nd Brigade."

Newspaper Cuttings

None.