Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joseph Cooper was born in Islington, England on the 13th of June, 1892. He was raised by his mother, Susan Shelley.

He lived on the land with his family before he was sent to Australia by his parents and he was paid to stay here. This information comes from his great granddaughter but it is unknown why he was sent here. He was a labourer, however he had an apprenticeship at the Islington Sugar Mill as indicated in his record of his enlistment.

At the time of enlistment Joseph was twenty five years and three months old. He enlisted in the army on the 2nd of October, 1916.  He embarked in Brisbane on the 17th of November, 1916, and he travelled on the Kyarra arriving in Plymouth on the 30th of January, 1917.

He served in the 15th Battalion near Amiens on the Western Front. This battalion fought in the Great Allied Offensive and was the greatest success in an advance in a single day by the allied troops (Kearney, R). Joseph was a Private in the war.

On the 26th of August, 1918, Joseph was admitted to hospital after being gassed by mustard gas. His unit were victims of three separate gassing attacks over three days in a row. He was then discharged from hospital and rejoined his unit on the 12th of August, 1918, this gassing attack would lead to his eventual death after the war had finished at only thirty-nine years of age.

On the 8th of April, 1919, Joseph was discharged due to sickness from the gassing he was a victim of. He embarked from Exeter, England before arriving in Brisbane Australia on unknown dates.

Joseph Cooper was given some land in the area of Nanango in south east Queensland, known as a soldier settlement, and he became a dairy farmer and he married and started a family. Joseph died on the 30th of April, 1932, at the age of thirty-nine due to the gassing of which he suffered whilst in the war. 

information supplied by: Silvia Kaye Fels

Errata correction and additional information to his biography:

He lived in Lambeth with his family. His father John, being a hansom cab driver. His mother had remarried after his father had died in 1898.

(The original and this additional information is provided by his grandson).

Further detail surrounding the gas incident is incorporated into the extract from book by Lieut. T.P. Chataway CHAPTER XV1 P.225 on the official history of the 15th Infantry Battalion, 1st AIF.

"News that the Battalion would be relieved somewhere about the 27th August was brought in person by General Brand on a routine visit to the frontline system. It took place slightly earlier on the night of 24/25th August.

Nothing approaching this relief had ever been experienced by the majority of the men in the unit. The few old hands of the Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, Messines and Polygon Woods sectors looked upon it as one of those queer misfortunes that-for no apparent reason whatsoever-just happen to a Battalion on active service.

The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 59th French Infantry Regiment were the relieving force. The 1st Battalion relieving the two 15th Battalion front-line companies, “D” and “C," and the 2nd French Battalion relieving the 15th Batta1lon’s “A” and “B” Companies,

It is doubtful whether the enemy had any knowledge that a relief was imminent, though for five hours Fritz laid down a heavy barrage of gas and H.E. shells, covering all saps into the front line, and support and reserve lines, besides lashing the roadway from Battalion H.Q. to the disused German hospital on the road to Allonville.

At the meeting place of the 15th Battalion guides and the French relieving columns, the’ trouble started when a German H.E. shell landed directly ln the roadway just as the parties met.

A number of casualties occurred among both parties. From then onwards the French force was led through an ever-increasing hail of shell to their various positions in the trenches, our men marching out in good formation when relieved.

The gas used is stated to have been Yellow and Blue Cross, the former being better known as “Mustard Gas." It was stated by many who experienced it that much was dispensed from a shell which burst in the air and sprayed the gas in liquid form over everything and everybody within range.

Many of the men began to feel itchy skin beneath their clothing, and about the neck and wrists. All exposed parts were quickly covered and everything possible was done to prevent any gas touching the skin. One of the first causalities was Lieutenant W. Ryan, who was hit by the nose cap of a gas shell near the hip. Of the other officers in the line those gassed included Lieutenant Wes. Goninon. When leading “C” Company out, his men came under heavy shell fire and a piece of shell destroyed his runner’s helmet.

Goninon changed helmets and finished the journey without any protection. Captain W. Domeney was also gassed along with his two subalterns, Lieutenants Eric Simon and Jim Greenwood.

Buses were waiting in the neighbourhood of Battalion H.Q. to take the unit direct to billets in Allonville. This much appreciated by the men, but it proved only a doubtful blessing.

Within the crowded buses the gas put in the major part of its deadly work. The heat of the men’s bodies seemed to generate the vapour until over fifty per cent of those travelling were affected in some form or other. It is realised now that had the unit marched, as was so often the case in  the early days, much heavy loss of men might have been averted, for the gas on boots and clothing would have been distributed into the air and blown away by the breeze.

The 46th Australian Battalion relieved the same night also suffered heavily from gas, while the relieving French units lost nearly 70 per cent of their personnel. It was a very subdued unit for several days following its return to Allonville. The next day men twisted in agony or completely blind-for the time being-lay all over the village many dropped in their tracks on the footpath or in the gutter, and others lay on the roadway.

A willing crowd of helpers brought these men into the First Aid Post, and Dr. Hunter, after doing what he could in the emergency, despatched them as rapidly as he could to the hospitals.

Reinforcements and details arrived with the unit at this juncture and, by August 27 it had rebuilt its strength to 17 officers and 480 other ranks. From this number eight Officers and 94 other ranks were detached for other duties of a routine nature. In the interim a Court of Inquiry was held into the reason for the large number of casualties in the 15th and 46th Battalions. The result of this inquiry completely exonerated anyone from blame.

He like other Returned Soldiers, obtained a small block and farm on a soldier settlement on Greenwood Rd, Nanango. There he married Lucy Mary Toomer, whom he had met convalescing from his injuries on Salisbury Plain. She became engaged to Joseph and then travelled from the UK on a 'bride' ship, arriving in Australia (Fremantle) via Cape of Good Hope and Hong Kong in 1920.