TOPIC:

I'm looking for any information that anyone might have about my grandfather, William Cooper, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps (No. 4745) during the Boer War as a Staff Sergeant, promoted to Sergeant Major in May 1901. He was born on December 31, 1861, in London (Shoreditch), enlisted in the Army Hospital Corps in January 1881, was posted to Mauritius in 1890-1893, and to South Africa in 1896, where he served until March 1906. During that time, he received a KSA medal with 2 clasps, and a QSA medal with 3 clasps. Apparently he was present at the defense of Kimberley, and received a "Defense of Kimberley" clasp. He left the R.A.M.C. in 1906 (and remained in South Africa, in Bloemfontein and later Potchefstroom, with his wife and five children), but rejoined during the First World War (serving in England, as a Quartermaster, until December 1919, at the Northamptonshire War Hospital, initially as a Lieutenant, promoted to Captain in December 1918.

I know very little more about my grandfather's career in the R.A.M.C., or about what happened to him after 1919, except that he lived in Cape Town, and died in 1936. I've learned very recently that his QSA and KSA medals (and his First World War British War Medal, and a Long Service and Good Conduct medal) were sold at auction on March 30th, 2011, through auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb (DNW), but I have no idea who the seller or the purchaser were (and would very much like to find out). The medals were apparently sold with various accompanying documents (service papers and other research) which may contain information that would be of great interest to me and my family -- for example, they apparently referenced my grandfather's service at the defense of Kimberley, which I was not aware of previously.

I'd much appreciate any help or suggestions anyone might be able to provide.

Attached, a photograph of William Cooper, with one of his sons, Henry (my father) and daughter Nellie, in about 1912.

Ardmore47,

Your post brought back happy memories as my brother and I were the proud safe-keepers of your grandfather's medals for many years until their sale in March 2011.


When the medals were sold, all the information we had on William Cooper went with them. I now have no documentation or copies of what I used to have. Some of the documents came from the National Archives so it should be possible to regenerate this. A better option would be to ask DNW to forward your contact details to the buyer and ask if they would copy the information for you.

Here is a picture of his medals:



I am sorry not to be of more help.
David

Ardmore47,

Here is a picture of the RAMC men in Kimberley during the siege. There were so few RAMC in the siege that we felt sure William was in this picture.



Perhaps with your later photo, you can identify him?

Best wishes
David

Hello, David,

Thank you so much for the photograph of the medals, and for that fabulous photograph of the R.A.M.C. group at Kimberley in 1900. I'm so pleased to have discovered that you were the owner of the medals for so long. I am taking your advice about contacting DNW, to see if they'll pass on my contact information to the current owner. It would be great to exchange information about my grandfather with whoever owns the medals now (I'd be able to provide a lot of additional history, and would hope to learn more myself from whatever documents the owner might have).

The photograph is intriguing. Do you -- or does anyone else reading these posts -- know how many R.A.M.C. men were present in Kimberley at the time of the siege? There are 17 men in the photograph -- were there approximately this number altogether, or just a few more? Any information would help to give me a better idea of the likelihood of my grandfather being in the photograph.

Looking closely at the men in the photograph, I think that if my grandfather is in it, he's most likely the man in the shed, without the jacket -- there's a fairly strong resemblance to the two photographs I have of him from around 1912 and 1917-1920, and a fairly strong family resemblance (particularly to my father). Also, as a Sergeant, he may have been, for one reason or another, set apart slightly from the rest of the group on this occasion. It would be great to find out whether there's a list, anywhere, of the names of the R.A.M.C. people in Kimberley at the time of the siege, and also, whether anyone can positively identify any of the men in this photograph.

I'd be very interested to know whether anyone knows when this R.A.M.C. group arrived at Kimberley -- whether they'd been stationed there for some time before the start of the war, or whether they arrived hurriedly from elsewhere in October 1899. I know my grandfather had been in South Africa since 1896, and that his wife, Mary, and their children came with him from England (I believe that immediately before that, he'd been stationed at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley), and I think they lived in Cape Town for a while; but I don't know when he arrived at Kimberley, or from where, or whether his wife and children were with him then.

I'd also be very interested to know whether anyone knows more about what happened to these R.A.M.C. men after the siege of Kimberley. My father was born at Bloemfontein in May 1904, so my grandmother, anyway, was there at the time! Perhaps this whole group was transferred from Kimberley to Bloemfontein sometime after the siege ended. Does anyone know anything more about that?

Many thanks again for all your help.

A follow-up to my previous posts. On re-reading the March 30th, 2011, DNW auction description of my grandfather's medals, I find that it says that my grandfather was "one of only five members of the [R.A.M.C.] entitled to the 'Defense of Kimberley' clasp." Yet, there are 17 men in the R.A.M.C. Kimberley 1900 photograph. Does this mean that the DNW description is incorrect, or that not all of the men in the photograph were actually R.A.M.C. men, or that they were not all entitled to the Kimberley clasp for some reason, or that perhaps the photograph was taken after the siege (when there may have been more R.A.M.C. men at Kimberley), rather than actually during it? I'd love to know more about the history of the photograph -- who took it, and more exactly when and where, and for what reason!

Is there any significance to the different headgear worn by the men in the photograph (berets/caps vs. bush hats), or to any other differences in their uniforms (for example, some men have what appear to be red cross patches on their right arms, while at least one or two don't)? And is there any significance to what appear to be "pips" on the front of the berets of some of the men? Perhaps these differences are all quite random, but perhaps not.

Any further help with this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!