2nd Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)
Reginald (Reg) Ashwin Cooper was born at Badgeworth in the third quarter of 1890, the second child of the seven children born to Albert and Annie Cooper, who lived at Horseferry Bridge Farm, Great Witcombe. In the 1911 census his occupation is stated to be a gardener.
On 6 September 1915 he married Elizabeth Ann Day at Shurdington Parish Church and the couple had one son, Albert Charles, born on 24 August 1916. The family lived at Poplar Cottage Farm, Shurdington.
Reg Cooper attested for military service at Cheltenham on 17 February 1916, stating his occupation to be a baker. Oddly, he stated his age to be 29 years and five months, which would have placed his birth year as 1886, yet his entry in the Births, Marriages and Deaths Register states this to be 1890 and he is shown in the CWGC Register to be 30 years of age at the time of death.
Initially he was placed on the Reserve list for the Gloucestershire Regiment, pending mobilisation. This did not occur until 10 November 1916 and on 4 April 1917 he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). No doubt he was sent on training with the Corps at its base at Grantham, Lincolnshire, prior to being posted to France on 3 August 1917 and joining the 218 Company, MGC. The company saw action in the various battles of Third Ypres, in the autumn of 1917. In early 1918 the MGC was re-organised into battalions and the 218 Company was merged, with other companies, into the 8th Battalion, MGC. This battalion was active in the attempts to slow and repulse the German attacks of the Spring Offensive of that year. On 27 June Private Cooper was transferred to 2nd Battalion, MGC and remained with them until 7 October 1919. The battalion was involved in the ‘Advance to Victory’ in the summer and autumn of 1918, the crossing of the German frontier and the temporary occupation of the Rhineland area, before it was disbanded on 30 October 1919.
On 7 October 1918 Private Cooper had returned home and was discharged from the Army on 4 November 1919. His service record has survived in part and mainly comprises correspondence relating to a pension granted to his widow: it would appear that he had contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, whilst on active service. He spent a period of time in Cranham Sanatorium to no avail and died at home on 30 July 1920, aged 30.
Pension Record Card records, released via the Ancestry website in late 2018, indicate that a conditional pension was awarded for 100% disability to run (initially) from 15 April to 21 December 1920: amount payable 40 shillings (£2) per week, wife to receive 17 shillings and six pence (87.5 pence).
He was buried in Shurdington (St Paul) Churchyard, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Researched by Graham Adams 24 March 2018
(Acknowledgement to ‘The Suicide Club – Machine Gun Corps Companies and Battalions, their Formation Records & Operations’ by Graham Sacker)