Name
Frederick Charles Cooper
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/03/1918
26 years.
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
266623
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
POZIERES MEMORIAL
Panel 89 and 90.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Welwyn Garden City Memorial, Hatfield Hyde Village Memorial, St. Mary Magdalene, Church Memorial, Hatfield Hyde, Hatfield Town Memorial, Hatfield In Memoriam Book, Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
Frederick Charles Cooper was born in Hatfield, Herts, in 1892, the son of George Cooper, a Publican (b 1855 in Hatfield) and Elizabeth Ann Cooper (nee Waller) (b 1853 in Hatfield). He was baptised on 4th September 1892, in Hatfield. He was one of seven children but one had died by 1911.
The 1901 Census records Frederick aged 8, at school, living with his parents, sisters Kate, Bertha and brother Harry, at The Woodman Public House, in Hatfield Hyde where his father was the Publican.
His mother died in 1907 and by the time of the 1911 Census, Frederick had left school and was working as an Apprentice Carpenter, living at home with his widowed father, sisters Alice, Bertha and brother Harry, at The Woodman Public House in Hatfield Hyde.
Officially recorded living in Hatfield Hyde when he enlisted in Hertford.
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted in the County Town of Hertford, in May 1915 and was recorded as aged 22yrs 10 mths. posted Pte. on 27/05/1915. He was living at “The Woodman”, Hatfield Hyde with his parents. Frederick was 5ft 9ins tall and considered fit for service with normal vision. He was posted to the Hertfordshire Regiment with the Service No. 5007 - issued with a new number, 266623 when Service numbers were standardised.
On 13/03/1916 Frederick embarked from Southampton and disembarked at Rouen on 14/03/16, joining his battalion in the field west of Merville on 27/03/1916 along with 2 Officers and 100 Other Ranks.
He was granted leave to England from 18th to 28th August 1917 and then again from 17th February to 3rd March 1918, going to England via Boulogne.
He returned the the Front in time for the Greman Spring Offensive and was killed in action, sometime between 21 and 30 March 1918 – officially recorded as the 30th - during the First Battles of the Somme 1918.
Frederick has no known grave and his name is commemorated
Killed in action between 21/03/1918 & 30/03/1918.
Awarded Victory medal & British War Medal.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £13 10s and pay owing of £13 10s.
His elder brother George Ernest Cooper was killed in action on 29th September 1918. He also has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Hatfield Parish Council Souvenir Committee Ledger: , Mr Cooper (Father) of the Woodman
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne, Brenda Palmer
Brenda Palmer, Stuart Osborne, Jonty Wild, Christine & Derek Martindale, Hatfield Local History Society (www.hatfieldhistory.uk)
