COPE, WILLIAM MOSELEY ("Billie")

 

Photograph with kind permission from the Uttoxeter Advertiser

 

 

 

Source

CWGC

SDGW

Uttoxeter Advertiser

Other

Parents

William and Jane Cope

Yes

 

 

1e, 1f, 1g, 6

Where born

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

 

 

 

1e, 1f, 1g, 6

When born

About 1891

 

 

 

1g, 5

Jan – Mar 1891

 

 

 

1f

Address

Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire

 

Yes

 

 

41, New Street, Uttoxeter

 

 

7a, 7b, 7c, 7d

6

Spouse

 

 

 

 

 

Children

 

 

 

 

 

Employment Before Joining up

Worked for the North Staffordshire Railway

 

 

 

6

Where enlisted

Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire

 

Yes

 

 

Regiment

Formerly, 37527 South Staffordshire Regiment

 

Yes

 

 

Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)

Yes

Yes

7a, 7b

6, 8

Unit

26th Bn.

Yes

Yes

 

 

26th (S) Bn

 

 

 

6

Rank

Private

Yes

Yes

7a, 7b, 7c, 7d

6, 8

Service Number

66604

Yes

Yes

 

6

Date of Death

Went missing on 20 September 1917

Yes

Yes

7d

6

Age at time of death

26

Yes

 

 

 

Where Killed or died

Ypres salient - 3rd Ypres (Passchendaele - Passchendaele Ridge)

 

 

7d

 

France / Flanders

 

Yes

 

 

How he died

Not known, but assumed killed in action

 

 

 

 

Killed in Action

 

Yes

7d

 

Location of Grave or Memorial

Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Panel 28.

Yes

 

 

4

Uttoxeter Town War Memorial

 

 

 

6

North Staffordshire Railway War Museum, Stoke Station

 

 

 

4, 6

Awards

 

 

 

 

 

 

His parents were William and Jane Cope, of 41, New St., Uttoxeter, Staffs, and William was their eldest son7d. Four of their sons served on the Western Front and the other three sons survived the war.

In 1881 the family was living in Balance Street1e. In 1891 they were living in Balance Hill1f, and they were still there when the 1901 census1g was taken.

The 1901 Census Return1g enables us to determine that the family comprised the following members:

Relationship with William

Name

When born

Where born

Father

William Cope

About 1857

Leigh, Staffordshire

Mother

Jane Cope

About 1865

Doveridge, Derbyshire

Sister

Annie Cope

About 1888

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Brother

Edward Cope

About 1899

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Sister

Nellie Cope

About 1889

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

SELF

WILLIAM COPE

About 1891

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Brother

Reginald Cope

About 1894

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Brother

Ernest Cope

About 1899

Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

 

By the time of the Great War they were living at 41 New Street, Uttoxeter. Their house still exists.

New Street, Uttoxeter

41 New Street is the house between the street lamp and the car in this picture.

This is the house from which William and his brothers went to war.

 

His father, William Sr., worked for the North Staffordshire Railway and was a signalman in the Bridge-Street box in Uttoxeter for 39 yearstb.

William Jr. followed his father into working for the same railway. Initially he worked for five years in the Uttoxeter Parcels Office and then another four at Burton-on-Trent6, 7b.

William joined-up on 16th March 19176, 7b.

He originally served as 37527 in the South Staffordshire Regiment. The CWGC Roll of Honour lists him as 66604 serving with the Royal Fusiliers at the time of his death.

On 20th September 19177b, during the battle of Passchendaele, William was reported wounded7a. Two months later, in November 1917, the Uttoxeter Advertiser reported that he was now classed as wounded and missing6, 7a. It was not until September 1918 that he was officially classed as killed6.

 

William Cope was killed on the Passchendaele Ridge. This photograph is looking down the slope from the top of the ridge towards the position of the British lines. Our troops fought their way up this slope towards us. The whole area was a sea of mud, which is why so many, including William, disappeared without trace.

 

William has no known grave and his name is recorded on a panel in the Tyne Cot Memorial. The Memorial Panels run along the walls which surround the back of Tyne Cot Cemetery.
The Tyne Cot Cemetery and the other cemeteries in the Ypres area contain many graves of unidentified soldiers. William may be one of them, or he may still lie where he fell, somewhere beneath the surrounding fields  

 

He is also commemorated on the lovely North Staffordshire Railway War Memorial in Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station

 

 

This memorial notice was posted in the Uttoxeter Advertiser in September 19197d to commemorate the second anniversary of his death: