On Chatham Naval Memorial is the name of 5685S Stoker John Cooper, serving on H.M.S. Vanguard with the Royal Naval  Reserve who died 09/07/1917.

The son of Thomas and Martha Jane Harriet Yeates Cooper, of Blyth and the husband of Helena Sanders Cooper, of 34, Croft Road, Blyth, Northumberland.

In St. Peter’s graveyard is a family headstone which reads:

Martha Jane Cooper
of Cambois
who died Jany. 25th 1919, aged 73 years

Thomas her husband died Feb.9th 1919 aged 74 years

John their son & beloved husband of
Helena S. Cooper, died on H.M.S. Vanguard
July 9th 1917 aged 38 years.

?? and daughter died Sep. 2nd 1919 aged ?

HMS Vanguard was a Dreadnought battleship (built 1909) on which Stoker John Cooper served. On 9th July 1917 she was at anchor in Scapa Flow when an explosion occurred and the ship sank in minutes. 804 sailors died, only two survived. John Cooper was the husband of Helena S Cooper of 34 Croft Road Blyth. He is commemorated on the Chatham Memorial.

Acknowledgement: Sydney Graham

John Cooper is remembered at Cambois on C6.02 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.