The edition of the Norwich Mercury dated Saturday October 6 1917 included this picture along with the caption Pte. Alfred Cooper, of Ten Mile Bank, Hilgay, died in hospital in France.
It appears from his capbadge to have been taken when he was still serving with the Norfolk Regiment.
Private COOPER, ALFRED
Service Number:……… 34939
Died:…………………… 03/09/1917
Aged:…………………... 29
Unit:……………………..9th Bn.,The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Buried……………………St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen.
Grave……………………P.III.C.4A
Son of Samuel and Rebecca Cooper, of Ten Mile Bank, Hilgay, Norfolk; husband of Bertha Delina Cooper, of Fodder Fen, Manea. March, Cambs.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/516739/cooper,-alfred/
Soldiers Died in the Great War records that 34939 Private Alfred Cooper Died of Wounds on the 3rd September 1917 whilst serving in France & Flanders with the 9th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was formerly 6554,Norfolk Regiment. Alfred was born “Hilgary”, Norfolk, resident Manea, Cambridgeshire, and enlisted Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
The Medal Index Card for Private 34939 Alfred Cooper, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/5/5004
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D1932588
It shows him only serving overseas with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was entitled to receive the Victory Medal and British War Medal for his service – a combination that means he did not serve in a theatre of war until some point on or after the 1st January 1916.
The associated Medal Roll shows he’d first served overseas with the 1st Battalion, and then the 9th.
His Service Records don’t appear to have survived the the Blitz - the London Warehouse where all the Other Rank Army Service Records were stored was burnt out in the bombing.
I looked at nearby Loyal North Lancashire Regiment service numbers and found surviving records for 34922 Arthur Burrows, 34926 Albert John Brown, 34932 Peter Brien, 34938 Arthur Ernest Bird, 34950 Fred Copeman and 34956 Alfred William Cooper. Those men were transferred in from a variety of units, (although many with a Territorial Force flavour), to the 13th Battalion, Loyal North Lancs in the period 14th to 18th December 1916. Because the numbers were issued in a roughly alphabetical order rather than by group of transferees, it’s difficult to know how many might have come from a Norfolk Regiment home service Territorial Force Battalion. 34950 Copeman came from the 3/4th Battalion where his service number was 6110. He had originally been conscripted on the 17th April 1916. No-one from that group was posted to the 1st Battalion on first being sent out to France, so no clues there as to when Alfred went overseas.
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
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The birth of an Alfred Cooper, mothers’ maiden name Newby, was registered with the civil authorities in the Downham District in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1888. The area covered by the Downham Civil Registration District for Births, Marriages and Deaths included the civil parish of Hilgay.
1891 Census of England and Wales
The 2 year old Alfred Cooper, born Hilgay, was recorded living at 9, Ten Mile Bank, Hilgay, Norfolk. This was the household of his parents Samuel, (48, Agricultural Labourer, born Hilgay), and Rebecca, (44, born Hilgay). The couples other children living with them, all born Hilgay, are Samuel, (21, Agricultural Labourer), William, (14, Agricultural Labourer), Eleanor, (12), Walter, (10), Arthur, (6) and Elizabeth A., (4).
1901 Census of England and Wales
The Cooper family were still recorded in the Ten Mile Bank part of Hilgay. Father Samuel, (58), was now working as a Yardman on farm. Mother Rebecca, (54), and two of their children, Arthur, (16) and Alfred, (12), both Agricultural Labourers, were also recorded along with a visitor and a boarder.
1911 Census of England and Wales
The 22 year old unmarried Farm Labourer Alfred Cooper, born Hilgay, was recorded as a boarder at School Lane, Manea, Cambridgeshire. That address fell within the North Witchford civil registration district.
Some time prior to the 1911 Census mother Rebecca had passed away – on that census father Samuel Cooper, now giving his age as 66 but still a Farm Labourer born Hilgay, was recorded living with his wife of 1 year at Ten Mile Bank. She was the 32 year old Florence Edith Cooper. Living with the couple was her 8 year old son Victor Charles Houghton.
The marriage of an Alfred Cooper to a Bertha D. Pope was recorded in the North Witchford District in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1913. May be a co-incidence but on the 1911 Census there is a 19 year old Bertha Delena Pope, an unmarried dressmaker, born Wemby, Cambridgeshire, who was recorded at Fodder Fen, Manea. This was the household of here parents Henry and Susan.
No obvious children of the marriage of Alfred and Bertha registered in England & Wales.
A Medical Update report has survived in another man’s records – this was a progress report telegraphed through on the 10th August 1917 concerning a number of inmates at the 1st Australian General Hospital , Rouen, along with three other medical institutions. The entry for 34939 Pte. A. Cooper, 9th L.N.Lancs shows him as seriously ill, with shot wounds to left thigh and left arm. He was not however regarded as dangerously ill, a category used elsewhere on the form as the next step up.
The edition of the Norwich Mercury dated Saturday, September 22nd, 1917 reported :-
DEATH OF PRIVATE ALFRED COOPER.
Private Alfred Cooper, of Ten Mile Bank, Hilgay, died in Hospital in France on September 3rd. Deceased belonged to the Loyal Lancashire Regiment, and had been in France seven weeks when he was fatally wounded. Mrs. Cooper got word of her husband’s serious condition on September 1st. She went to France, and was permitted to see him, and to attend his funeral, military honours being accorded.
The Army Register of Soldier Effects, a financial inventory rather than a list of a belongings, shows him as having died at 1 Australian General Hospital, France. In January 1918 the balance of his pay was his widow and sole legatee, Bertha D. In November 1919 his £5 War Gratuity was also sent to Bertha.
The Ministry of Pension records cars shows Bertha Delena Cooper initially living at Field Road, Manea. She received a War Widows Pension just for herself – no dependant children are listed.
Mildly photoshopped to minimise impact of damage present on the original image.
