John Cooper is a mystery man but, notwithstanding the fact that we know very little about him, it took a brave man to fetch and carry the dead and wounded from the battlefields of Colenso and Spioenkop. He was one of that stamp.
John Cooper
Leader, Natal Voluntary Ambulance Corps
Section Leader, Imperial Bearer Corps – Anglo Boer War
- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Tugela Heights & Relief of Ladysmith to LR. J. Cooper, Natal Vol. Amb. C.
John Cooper is a bit of a mystery man, despite his medal having come from his family very little is known about him.
He first entered into the picture on 17 June 1874 on which date he married Mary Anne Jones in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Dordrecht, Cape Province. His occupation was described as that of a merchant’s clerk and we know that he was of full age when he tied the marital knot.
The Coopers, at some point thereafter, arrived in Berkley East, Cape Province where Mary Anne Cooper, in 1882, purchased and ran the Masonic Hotel there. They had a daughter, Maud Matilda Cooper, who married Daniel Brick on 10 April 1893 in Berkley East.
Soon after purchasing the hotel the couple ran into a spot of marital bother. According to a Power of Attorney to pass Deed of Hypothecation signed on Mary Anne’s behalf in Cape Town on 20 August 1886; she had incurred a debt of £600 whilst trying to maintain the hotel. She petitioned the court on 26 September 1890 in what was a very revealing submission wherein she stated that she was married to John Cooper without community of property on the abovementioned date but she was now unable to find him in order for him to co-sign the documents needed to dispose of the hotel.
The problem was that John Cooper had not supported her for “six years past” and that he had left her “some three years ago” for the Transvaal and “is now believed to be residing in Johannesburg in that state”. In consequence of this Mrs Cooper had suffered a loss of business and was desirous of selling the property.
So there we have it. Having married and started both a family and a business Cooper had fled the scene and gone to Johannesburg to seek his fortune without so much as a word to his wife on the subject.
With war clouds having gathered between the Boer Republics of the Transvaal (where he was living) and the Orange Free State and Great Britain Cooper had deemed it prudent to move into Natal which is where he was to be found in late 1899 where, on 10 December of that year, he enlisted with the Natal Voluntary Ambulance Corps and was immediately, no doubt as a result of his age, appointed as a Leader.
The NVAC did sterling work throughout the Natal campaign and were especially active during the early battle at Colenso on 15 December 1899 and the epic struggle on Spioenkop on 22 January 1900. There’s was the unenviable task of having to scurry out onto the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to recover the wounded and dead in order to bring them some succour and relief. In tandem with the Indian bearers under Ghandi the NVAC would run miles with heavily laden stretchers to bring troops back to safety where they could receive medical care in one of the Field Ambulances close by.
As a Leader Cooper was charged with the responsibility of looking after a number of stretcher bearer crews and the task must have been an onerous one. Earning for himself the Queens Medal with the Tugela Heights and Relief of Ladysmith clasps he took his discharge from the NVAC on their disbandment on 12 March 1900 – two weeks after the Siege of Ladysmith had been lifted.
Almost without delay, in fact two weeks later on 27 March 1900 he enlisted with the Imperial Bearer Corps for further service. This Corps took up where the NVAC had left off with the same duties and responsibilities. Appointed as a Section Leader Cooper was attached to both the 4th and 6th Brigade seeing further service in Natal until he took his discharge 30 September 1901. He was more than likely part of the IBC contingent that came under fire from the Boers at Lancaster Hill in Vryheid in December 1900.
What became of Cooper in later life is unknown. According to family sources there was to be no reconciliation with his wife and perhaps he led a nomadic existence until his eventual death.
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John Cooper
Leader, Natal Voluntary Ambulance Corps
Section Leader, Imperial Bearer Corps – Anglo Boer War
- Queens South Africa Medal with clasps Tugela Heights & Relief of Ladysmith to LR. J. Cooper, Natal Vol. Amb. C.
John Cooper is a bit of a mystery man, despite his medal having come from his family very little is known about him.
He first entered into the picture on 17 June 1874 on which date he married Mary Anne Jones in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Dordrecht, Cape Province. His occupation was described as that of a merchant’s clerk and we know that he was of full age when he tied the marital knot.
The Coopers, at some point thereafter, arrived in Berkley East, Cape Province where Mary Anne Cooper, in 1882, purchased and ran the Masonic Hotel there. They had a daughter, Maud Matilda Cooper, who married Daniel Brick on 10 April 1893 in Berkley East.
Soon after purchasing the hotel the couple ran into a spot of marital bother. According to a Power of Attorney to pass Deed of Hypothecation signed on Mary Anne’s behalf in Cape Town on 20 August 1886; she had incurred a debt of £600 whilst trying to maintain the hotel. She petitioned the court on 26 September 1890 in what was a very revealing submission wherein she stated that she was married to John Cooper without community of property on the abovementioned date but she was now unable to find him in order for him to co-sign the documents needed to dispose of the hotel.
The problem was that John Cooper had not supported her for “six years past” and that he had left her “some three years ago” for the Transvaal and “is now believed to be residing in Johannesburg in that state”. In consequence of this Mrs Cooper had suffered a loss of business and was desirous of selling the property.
So there we have it. Having married and started both a family and a business Cooper had fled the scene and gone to Johannesburg to seek his fortune without so much as a word to his wife on the subject.
With war clouds having gathered between the Boer Republics of the Transvaal (where he was living) and the Orange Free State and Great Britain Cooper had deemed it prudent to move into Natal which is where he was to be found in late 1899 where, on 10 December of that year, he enlisted with the Natal Voluntary Ambulance Corps and was immediately, no doubt as a result of his age, appointed as a Leader.
The NVAC did sterling work throughout the Natal campaign and were especially active during the early battle at Colenso on 15 December 1899 and the epic struggle on Spioenkop on 22 January 1900. There’s was the unenviable task of having to scurry out onto the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to recover the wounded and dead in order to bring them some succour and relief. In tandem with the Indian bearers under Ghandi the NVAC would run miles with heavily laden stretchers to bring troops back to safety where they could receive medical care in one of the Field Ambulances close by.
As a Leader Cooper was charged with the responsibility of looking after a number of stretcher bearer crews and the task must have been an onerous one. Earning for himself the Queens Medal with the Tugela Heights and Relief of Ladysmith clasps he took his discharge from the NVAC on their disbandment on 12 March 1900 – two weeks after the Siege of Ladysmith had been lifted.
Almost without delay, in fact two weeks later on 27 March 1900 he enlisted with the Imperial Bearer Corps for further service. This Corps took up where the NVAC had left off with the same duties and responsibilities. Appointed as a Section Leader Cooper was attached to both the 4th and 6th Brigade seeing further service in Natal until he took his discharge 30 September 1901. He was more than likely part of the IBC contingent that came under fire from the Boers at Lancaster Hill in Vryheid in December 1900.
What became of Cooper in later life is unknown. According to family sources there was to be no reconciliation with his wife and perhaps he led a nomadic existence until his eventual death.
