Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Three: Able Seaman W. Cooper, Royal Australian Navy, a member of the naval contingent of the 1st Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, which was hastily formed in 1914 to seize German territory in New Guinea, subsequently died of malaria contracted during this service, during which Australia sustained its first casualties of the war (six officers and men of the naval force killed, with four more wounded), and earned its first decorations
1914-15 Star (W. E. Cooper. A.B.); British War and Victory Medals (W. E. Cooper. Able Seaman. R.A.N.) in original named box of issue, extremely fine, the sparse naming detail on the 1914-15 Star typical of issues to the naval contingent of 1st AN&MEF

Three: Corporal T. Cooper, Army Service Corps
1914-15 Star (M2-031921. Pte. T. Cooper. A.S.C.) British War and Victory Medals (M2-031921 Cpl. T. Cooper. A.S.C), with original named card box of issue for the last two; together with the recipient’s identity bracelet, two identity discs, an A.S.C. badge and a Boy’s Brigade medal, bronze the reverse engraved ‘Pte. Cooper 1902-3’, nearly extremely fine (6) £500-£700

William Edward Cooper was born in Paddington, London in 1882. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman in 1897 (Official No. 196007) and served until 1906, when he purchased his discharge (though remaining on the Royal Fleet Reserve). He later made his way to Australia, where in February 1912 he joined the Sydney Fire Brigade. By the outbreak of war he had been promoted to Fireman Second Class and was based at No. 4 station, Darlinghurst.

At the outbreak of war the Australian government decided to raise a combined naval and military force with the particular task of occupying the German colonies in New Guinea; this was to be a separate enterprise from the much larger expeditionary force simultaneously being raised for service outside Australia (the Australian Imperial Force). The military element amounted to a battalion of infantry, while the naval contingent was to consist of six companies (according to the roll, 24 officers and around 260 men). Advertisements were placed in the press calling for volunteers from time-expired seamen of the Royal Navy and reservists; one such must have caught William Cooper’s eye, as he was granted indefinite leave from the Fire Brigade on 17 August 1914.

Within days the expedition set off northwards aboard the requisitioned transport Berrima, pausing on the way for a short period of training while a Naval escort was awaited. Landfall was made at Blanche Bay, New Guinea, on 11 September 1914. Here the military contingent was to take the colony’s seat of government at Rabaul, while the naval contingent landed at Herbertshöhe, to proceed inland and seize the enemy’s wireless stations. In the course of the day’s fighting that followed, Australia sustained its first casualties of the war (six officers and men of the naval force killed, with four more wounded), and earned its first decorations. Besides these milestones, the episode is also notable in Australian military history as the first operation to be entirely planned and implemented by Australians, under the command of Australian officers.

After a period with the occupying forces in New Guinea after the colony’s surrender, William Cooper returned to Australia and was discharged from the R.A.N. He returned to duty with the Sydney Fire Brigade on 5 March 1915, but his health was badly affected by the malaria he had contracted while on active service, and he died in his bed at Darlinghurst Fire Station on 12 August 1915.

Thomas Cooper, younger brother of the above, was born at Paddington in 1890. He served with the Army Service Corps during the Great War on the Western Front from January 1915 and was released in June 1919. He died in London in 1945.

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