210236 Pte. Thomas Cooper British Army 2nd Btn. B Coy. Yorks and Lancs Regiment from:Snowden Terrace, High Spen, County Durham My grandfather, Thomas Cooper, was a butcher (part of a family of butchers) in High Spen, County Durham. He joined the army on 11th December 1915 leaving my grandmother, Jane Ann, to care for their six children including my father. Grandfather is recorded as being mobilized to France in January 1917 and transferred to the 2nd Battalion Yorks and Lancs in May 1917 part of the Y and L North Command. His service record says he was wounded in September 1917 but the exact date is unclear from the record. There is then a gap until the regimental record says he was posted on 6th November (presumably to UK) after treatment in field hospital and admitted the same day to Bangour War Hospital, Edinburgh. His wound was the result of a gun shot to the left thigh. On discharge from Bangour he returned to the Yorks and Lancs depot. He was in Bangour for more than 2 and a half months. He was demobilized from North Camp, Ripon on 30th January, 1919 and awarded an army pension from 13th March 1919. His wound resulted in a 20% disability. He died in 1926, by then father to eight children.
|