The battling Cooper boys

They were the sons of Ambrose and Rebecca Cooper, who were married at Startforth in March 1787.

John was born the following year and George the year after that. The couple later had three more children.

John had an early taste of Army life because when he was 15 he joined the Teesdale Legion, a volunteer force set up by JBS Morritt, of Rokeby Hall.

Its aim was to fend off a rumoured French invasion, but that did not happen, so the force was disbanded.

John joined the North Yorkshire Militia in 1806 and later that year enlisted in the 7th Royal Fusiliers.

The following year he landed with the regiment near Lisbon, in Portugal, then marched into Spain as part of Wellington’s army.

He soon faced perils in a series of grim encounters, while his brother was doing the same in other sections of the war zone.

However, at one point they got together. John was a sergeant at the seige of Ciudad Rodrigo when he heard that George, a corporal in the 43rd Foot Regiment, was in trenches nearby.

He found him with his platoon under enemy fire, and they exchanged details of skirmishes they had been in.

There were many bloody encounters before and after that meeting, with 40,000 British and allied troops killed during the wars, which lasted 12 years and ended with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.

The brothers were disappointed that they were not at Waterloo.

John’s unit was sent to America before that and suffered its only setback at New Orleans, while his brother was involved in fierce actions elsewhere in Europe.

A major clash was at Leipzig in 1813, where 600,000 soldiers were engaged in the biggest battle in Europe before the First World War, and the French were defeated.

Wellington described his troops as the scum of the earth to start with, but said it was wonderful to see how fine they became after training.

Field Marshal William Beresford

It was tough even when bullets were not flying because they usually slept in the open, with only a blanket or coat for shelter.

Pay was low, but they received a daily beer allowance.

John left the army in late 1815 and was furious when he was not awarded a pension.

However, he heard that Field Marshal William Beresford, one of the war leaders he served under, was staying with JBS Morritt at Rokeby.

The craggy ex-sergeant marched there at the double from his Startforth home and told the officer that he wanted the cash due to him.

The great man, who was later made Viscount Beresford, replied that he was sympathetic, but could do nothing about it.

HoweveR, he may have had a quiet word somewhere, as a pension of a shilling a day was eventually granted.

The two old soldiers loved talking about their wartime exploits in latter years, with many colourful tales about the dangers they faced and several narrow escapes from death.

George died in April 1867 aged 77. John went on recalling his experiences vividly before he died in 1875 aged 87.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2013 northernecho.co.uk MEMORIES 63 The battling Cooper boys With Jim McTaggart mctagg@uwclub.net DAVID NEDWILL must have loved trees, for within a few months of taking over as vicar of Lynesack, he planted 95 of them in the grounds of St John’s Church.

He paid for them personally and took charge of the planting in November 1899.

He apparently chose them carefully to create a pleasing wooded area.

His mixture included silver birch, lombardy poplar, horse chestnut, Spanish chestnut and mountain ash.

He was in charge of the parish for 14 years, so he must have taken pleasure in seeing them growing.

Many people will have admired them over the past 114 years, and they are still a notable feature of the landscape.

The churchyard also contains the grave of Edward Smith, who became a wellknown character in later life and was reputed to be the tragic Dotheboys schoolboy on whom Dickens based Smike, in Nicholas Nickleby.

The Reverend Nedwill and his wife were generous to the church in other ways. In 1905, he gave a finely carved oak reredos screen, altar cross, four brass vases and two brass alms plates.

Mrs Nedwill and a friend, Miss A Davies, embroidered and donated an outstanding white altar and pulpit fall. In January 1910, Mr Nedwill was the only person in the church for a Sunday morning service, because all roads in the area were blocked by snow.

It was during his tenure that a licence was granted, in January 1905, for services to be held at St Mary’s Mission Church at Woodland.

WHEN police raided a public house at midnight one night in 1882, they caught a group of men drinking and playing cards.

They took all their names and charged the landlord with serving alcohol out of hours.

He duly appeared before Bishop Auckland magistrates and was fined.

Solicitor George Maw read out the names and occupations of the customers involved and they were included in a report in The Northern Echo next day.

Unfortunately, Mr Maw got one name wrong. He said one of the men was D Frankland, farm bailiff to Viscount Boyne, whereas the drinker was a man with a slightly different name. Frankland was not in the premises at all, and he issued a writ for libel against the newspaper, even though it published a correction the next day and later explained that it was the solicitor’s mistake.

When the libel hearing came up at the assizes, Frankland’s lawyer, Digby Seymour QC, declared that the report appeared under a sensational heading in the Echo “in order no doubt to attract attention and to increase the sale of the paper”.

He felt it was calculated to give pain to any person whose name was associated with it.

So how sensational was the heading? It said: “Gentlemen Card Players.”

It is difficult to see how anyone could deem that to be sensational, and even harder to imagine it causing a single extra copy to be sold.

The Echo’s lawyers stressed that there was no intention to inflict pain on the farm bailiff or Lord Boyne, who lived at Brancepeth Castle.

After some discussion, the case was withdrawn. It must have cost a lot of money, probably much more than a bailiff could afford.

Perhaps it was brought at the request and expense of his lordship, who would not like his name associated with such a prosecution.

George Maw died in 1887 aged 37 after he was injured when his horsedrawn carriage was in a crash with a wagon, as recalled in this column on August 10.

His father, also George Maw, was flogged in Durham Prison while serving a 14-day sentence for assault. The incident, which caused great controversy in the area, was recorded in the column on August 3.

CAN there be anyone in the dales with more descendants living locally than Jane Bowron had?

She was a remarkable woman who showed amazing strength when she worked on a farm and was able to complete all heavy manual tasks as well as any man.

She was still busy working around her home at High Dyke, Middleton, until the day before she died aged 91 in July 1902.

Lynesack churchyard

That was despite the fact she suffered a serious attack of smallpox as a young woman. She recovered quickly, though a doctor declared that it would have finished off most folk.

She was also cheerful, helpful and friendly, so she had a large number of friends.

She seems to have passed on her strong constitution to her family, because she left 91 of them, who were all hale and hearty — five children, 25 grandchildren, 54 greatgrandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

What a lady!