A NEW name could be soon added to Petersfield’s war memorial, thanks to some detective work by a volunteer at the town’s museum.
The name of Private James Cooper will be read out for the first time during the Remembrance Sunday ceremony in town centre.
James, son of a servant called Kate Cooper, was born in Petersfield on December 2, 1891, and attended the town’s Elementary Boy’s School until late 1901.
He enlisted in the Hampshire Regiment in 1905/06 and served from the start of the First World War with the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment.
He fought at the Battle of Le Cateau and the Retreat from Mons before dying, aged 24, while holding the line near Zonnebeke, north of Ypres, on April 26, 1915.
Judith Jones “discovered” Private Cooper while compiling a map of all the last known addresses of Petersfield’s fallen.
She said: “In the last few months I discovered a man who was born and raised in the town and has every reason to be included on the memorial, but it appears to have been missed because he was a workhouse boy.
“There is plenty of evidence to connect him with the town and Ryan Watts at the museum has contacted the Royal British Legion to try to get him commemorated with the other men on Remembrance Sunday.”
The Rev Will Hughes has confirmed that Private Cooper’s name will be read out this Sunday while the vicar also told the soldier’s story in St Peter’s on Monday as part of the church’s Remembrance commemorations.
The vicar said: “His name will be on the service sheet and it’s an amazing story.
“From the workhouse here in Petersfield James joined the army when was around 16 as a boy soldier and was in France when the war started, as he was one of the original ‘Old Contemptibles’.
“We’re also reading the stories of all the names on the memorial every evening at the moment and we read his out on Monday night.”