John Stephen Cooper

John Stephen Cooper, known as Jack, was born on 14th September 1891, the youngest of six children born to John William Cooper and his wife Alice. John William and his brother Thomas were the founders of Cooper Brothers, silversmiths and electroplaters; Alice was the daughter of Thomas Rodgers, a bookseller and printer of Brightside, Sheffield. At some time between 1895 and 1898, John William and his brother Thomas both moved from Brightside to Dore Road, where John built himself a large house called Thornsett: now demolished, it has been replaced by the houses on Thornsett Gardens.

From 1905 to 1908, Jack attended Mill Hill School, in London. By the time of the census on 2nd April 1911, he was an assistant silver electroplate and cutlery manufacturer, presumably in his father’s firm; his older brother Thomas was a manager in the business. Shortly after the census was taken, their father, John William, died; according to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph for 17th April, he died on 15th April 1911, and had been ill for less than a week. According to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph for 20th April, although he had been connected with the Society of Friends before his marriage, he had been a regular attender at Dore Church for many years.

In 1914, Jack entered the 4th York and Lancaster Regiment as a private (regimental number 2393). However, on 20th November 1914 he accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the 12th York and Lancaster Regiment (the Sheffield City Battalion), where he served with E Company, a Reserve Company which remained in the UK; he commanded 17 Platoon. He was then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in May 1915, and trained as a pilot. He was appointed a Flying Officer on 19th September 1916, and transferred to 70 Squadron on 4th October 1916. He was appointed temporary Lieutenant on 30th November 1916.

Jack and his Observer, 2nd Lt McQueen, were killed in action over Bapaume on 25th March 1917, while flying with 70 Squadron. Mill Hill School’s website states that “he was rapidly becoming a most valuable flier. He had a very long spell of flying, lasting several months, and culminating in his death. He did a great deal of valuable reconnaissance and his C.O. wrote:- ‘He was on very important work with about the strongest formation the squadron could send out. We know they had a bitter fight when a long way over the lines and attempted to fight their way back against very heavy odds.’”

Jack is buried in France in the H.A.C. (Honourable Artillery Company) Cemetery, at Ecoust-Saint-Mein, Pas-de-Calais. His headstone bears the inscription “LIFE IS ETERNAL LOVE IS IMMORTAL AND DEATH ONLY A HORIZON”. He was eligible for the Victory and British War Medals.