Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

"The Battle of Loos (25 September to 18 October 1915) was the major battle on the Western Front in 1915, surpassing in every respect all that had gone before in terms of numbers of men and materiel committed to battle. The preliminary bombardment was the most violent to date and the battle was charaterised by the committment of Regular and Territorial battalions on a large scale, in which the Territorials performed just as well as the Regulars. As the battles on the Western Front in 1915 increased in size and violence, so the casualties increased in proportion: Neuve Chapelle 12,000, Aubers Ridge/Festubert 29,000 , Loos 60,000. 1916 was to take the casualty cost to another level. Loos was intended as a minor role in support of French efforts around Arras but circumstances reduced the French effort. It marked the first use of poison gas by the British. Once the initial assualt had failed the battle continued in a series of actions mostly focused on the northern sector around the tactically important Hohenzollern Redoubt."

Detail :

COOPER, William, 2/Lieutenant, 1/South Staffordshire Regiment The 1/South Staffordshire?s found themselves in the front line for the start of the Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915. They were north of the Hulloch Road and their first objective was a German redoubt called The Pope?s Nose and its associated front line. The assault was accompanied by the release of gas but this weapon proved ineffective as the wind direction and speed was not helpful. Its only positive effect was to screen the early advance up to a position about 50 yards from the German trenches at which point the South Staffords were in full view. Typically in this battle the artillery barrage had proved ineffective and the German wire remained uncut, causing the assault to stall as men desperately found their way through the wire under heavy machine gun and rifle fire. However they did break into the German front line trench and apart from one strongpoint that continued to resist, they pushed on towards the second line. Soon the strongpoint (Slit Redoubt) was overcome but its resistance had delayed the advance and had bought time for the German support troops. The South Staffords worked their way up a communication trench and actually got into the German second line (Cite Trench) on the outskirts of Cite St Elie a mining village on the Lens-La Bassee Road. However they were isolated and had to withdraw. A recent article described the attack and mentions 2/Lieutenant COOPER: ?The battalion officers had little chance to innovate or show their character a Loos. The Staffords were required to make a frontal assault against the Pope's Nose strongpoint which was barely touched by the preliminary bombardment and invisible through the gas cloud. Battalion War Diary: The order 'Get Ready to Charge' came down the line and Lt Cooper whose eyes had been on his watch, gave the order 'Scouts and Wire Cutters Advance', at 06.28hrs. Directly after at 06.30hrs the order was given to the Companies to advance. C Company climbed up the ladders and advanced through the smoke, which was very dense. This I may mention was chiefly caused by smoke bombs, smoke candles and gas. There was also a thick cold mist and drizzling rain. There is very little to account about the actual assault, but the facts stand out clearly. The gallant 1st South Staffords rose to their feet at 06.28 advanced in extended order - about 3 paces between each man - and moved steadily forward against this almost impregnable position. They stormed it, and took the second or support line. What remained of this magnificent old regiment moved on, and with other units mixed up with them, captured The Quarries. Some of them, with heir CO, went on up to about 50 yards of the German position in Cite St Elie. The battalion lost 400 of 700 men. 18 of 21 officers were casualties?. The Official History later corrected the casualties to 448 out of 750 who went into action ? a casualty rate of 60%. One of the officer casualties was 2/Lieutenant William COOPER. William Cooper, a former tin plate worker from Heath Town, was a regular soldier who at the start of the war was an NCO with 18 years service. He was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major on the 8th November 1914. Following the heavy casualties sustained by the battalion at the Battle of Festubert in May 1915 he was commissioned as a 2/Lieutenant in recognition of his efforts in helping to rebuild the battalion. Sources ?Stand to!? No 85, Pages 13-14 Official History Military Operations France & Belgium 1915 Vol II Most Unfavourable Ground-Cherry

Masonic :

Joined Inhabitants Lodge on 20th January 1912 from Lodge 397 in the Irish Constitution.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley