Cooper, Bertie Frederick
No.3435 – Private Bertie Frederick Cooper – 16th Battalion AIF
Bertie Frederick Cooper was born in Fremantle WA in 1892 to George & Emma Cooper. The family lived in South Street Fremantle, and he had two brothers, George & Harry and of his sisters; Olive was born in 1890, Daisy in 1895 and Muriel in 1898. Bertie was educated at Fremantle Boys School and after leaving school took up work as a Wool Classer.
Bertie was a great Sportsman and excelled in Australian Rules Football, in 1912 he coached the Wentworth Football Club to the premiership, and he then went on to Captain the South Fremantle Football Club in the Western Australian Football League. During his playing days he was given the nickname of “Dido”.
Bertie enlisted into the AIF on the 29th July 1915 and the medical officer found him to be 5 feet 8 inches in height; weight of 154 lbs; chest measurement of 35-37 inches; fair complexion; brown eyes and brown hair. His religious denomination was Church of England. Bertie was sent to No.21 Depot Company where he stayed until the 23rd August 1915 and was then transferred to the 1st Depot Battalion. On the 27th September 1915 Bertie was allotted to the 11th Reinforcements to the 16th Battalion AIF.
This group trained in WA through October 1915 and on the 1st November 1915 boarded the transport ship HMAT Benalla in Fremantle Harbour for the journey overseas. They disembarked at Suez on the 24th November 1915 and were marched into the reinforcement training camp. Bertie and his group no doubt expected to be sent on to Gallipoli, but due to the evacuation of that battlefield by the Allies, his reinforcement group was kept in Egypt. It wasn’t until the 7th March 1916 that Bertie finally joined the 16th Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir camp.
The 16th Battalion spent the next few months training in the Egyptian desert and it wasn’t until the 1st of June 1916 that they embarked from Alexandria for France. Arriving at Marseilles on the 9th June 1916, the Battalion were sent north to the region of Armentieres where they would gain their first experience of trench life on the Western Front.
They would only stay here a few weeks before they were sent south in July 1916 to join in the Battle of the Somme. The 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions had captured Pozieres and had advanced the line towards Mouquet Farm. The 4th Division came in and relieved the 2nd Division and continued to push the line forward. Bertie suffered severe shell shock at Pozieres and was evacuated to hospital though had returned to the battalion by the 15th August. After a week in the line the 16th Battalion were relieved.
In late August the 16th Battalion returned to the front line and attempted to capture the German strongpoint Mouquet Farm. The assault initially gained ground but the Germans swarmed at the Australians through their system of underground tunnels and ultimately the assault failed. Bertie was listed as missing though this was soon changed to Killed in Action.
In March 1917 it appears that Bertie’s body was found as reports came from the British 25th Division that their Grave registration unit had buried Bertie near Mouquet Farm which was witnessed by a Reverend L Dickenson. However, after the war was over his grave was not located and Bertie is therefore commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
The Western Mail had a section in their sports pages where it was stated that;
“The casually lists of the past week convey the sad news that Bert Kneale*, the young West Perth forward, had been killed in action, and that “Dido” Cooper, the South Fremantle back man and Captain is missing. Cooper was a grand type of footballer and it is to be hoped that it may turn out that he is a prisoner of war.”
Unfortunately it was not to be and Cooper was one of many WAFL footballers to pay the ultimate price.
*No.3381 – Corporal Bertram Hugh Kneale – 4th Pioneer Battalion KIA 1st September 1916 – Villers-Bretonneux Memorial
(Photo Below)
South Fremantle Footballers who enlisted in the AIF
Bertie “Dido” Cooper holding football front row
Others in the photo include in the back row from left to right; No.3424 Pte William Carter 16th Battalion; No.3569 Pte Charles “Tich” Wetherall 4th Pioneer Battalion & 9th FCE; No.3437 Pte Maurice Corkhill 16th Battalion; No.3521 William McGillvray MM 16th Battalion & No.3795 Pte Nathaniel Giles MM 11th Battalion
Front row from left to right No.3449 Private William Cleave Doig 16th Battalion & POW; Bertie Cooper; No.3539 L/Cpl Arthur O’Donnell 16th Battalion & No.4553 Pte Sam Metherell 11th Battalion
All the men pictured apart from Bertie Cooper survived the war.