RMS Teuton August 1881

[Koops]

I know from passenger lists there were 7 Coopers on board this ship when it sank. After leaving Table Bay on the evening of August 30th she struck an object off Quoin Point, between Danger Point and Cape Agulhas, on the south coast of South Africa only John Cooper survived (out of the Coopers on board). Family myth says he was on his way to be a church missionary or minister. I know he was given a bible that says it was presented to him as a survivor by John Elburg, Chapel Keeper Cape Town.

I am clutching at straws here and hope someone maybe able to help any ideas?

Thank you

[Kerrywood]

Hi, can you tell us how John COOPER relates to your research, and what you're trying to find out? Then it might be easier to make suggestions about where to look for further information.

[Koops]

Listed on the passenger list for the Teutonic are John Cooper travelling 3rd class the others are Mr Cooper, Mrs Cooper, Mast J Cooper, Miss E Cooper, Miss A Cooper and one other Child Cooper all drowned all were travelling 2nd class.

I want to know their names to see if they are my Birmingham family, are they listed on a memorial somewhere is there a more detailed list of the "drowned" were any bodies recovered and burried?

I believe John Cooper to be my Great Grand Father John Henry Cooper b 1858 from Aston Birmingham. Family myth says he lost his wife and children in the disaster, but who then are the other Mr & Mrs I need first names to work it out.

Thanks

[Kerrywood]

Thanks for the clarification.

As you'd expect, there was extensive reporting in the newspapers. If you haven't seen these, I would advise you to take a look, because there are a few different versions of the passenger list, though I haven't yet seen one with full first names.

You can get free access at home to the British Library's 19th Century Newspapers database with your Kent county library membership number/barcode.
www.
kent.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/libraries/online_library_services/online_reference_library/newspapers_and_periodicals.aspx

Here's one report, indicating that the COOPER family were from Wolverhampton.

Birmingham Daily Post (Friday, September 2, 1881
WRECK OF THE TEUTON
Wolverhampton Passengers
Nine passengers were from Wolverhampton. They were: John Cooper (34), of Dunstall Road, his wife, and five children (three girls and two boys), aged from eleven downwards; Edward Launchbury alias Hill (21), a lodger with the Cooper family; and John Parry .... All three men were in the service of the Great Western Railway Company, at their Stafford Road engine works, Wolverhampton. Cooper was a brassfinisher, and Launchbury and Parry were cleaners working in the running shed. Cooper had taken his passage to East London. This is the nearest port to Utinage, where, through the foreman of the shop, Mr. A. Hughes, who had also gone out from the Stafford Road Works, he had obtained a situation under the Cape Government, at their railway works. The other two men had shipped at Algoa Bay, hoping to find employment likewise on the Government railways, and hoping to lodge with Cooper. All were very steady men. Cooper had worked at Stafford Road for nine years ... Cooper's passage had been paid by the Cape Government and, to enable his family to go with him without the usual three years' delay, a fund was raised by his shopmates and by friends connected with the Darlington Street Wesleyan Chapel, where he was a Sunday school teacher. He belonged also to the Good Templars. ... When the Teuton was reaching Madeira, Cooper, on the 9th August, wrote to Mr. Charles Crump, one of the managers at the Great Western Works in Wolverhampton, in which he said: "There are about 310 passengers ... The voyage up to the present has been a very pleasant one -- better than we could have expected." The name "Cooper" appears on the list of saved. It is inferred that the family are lost, but there is some hope that more than one member of a family may be indicated by the single surname ... "

I don't know if that helps. Does any of it fit with your Birmingham family?

[Koops]

Listed on the passenger list for the Teutonic are John Cooper travelling 3rd class the others are Mr Cooper, Mrs Cooper, Mast J Cooper, Miss E Cooper, Miss A Cooper and one other Child Cooper all drowned all were travelling 2nd class.

I want to know their names to see if they are my Birmingham family, are they listed on a memorial somewhere is there a more detailed list of the "drowned" were any bodies recovered and burried?

I believe John Cooper to be my Great Grand Father John Henry Cooper b 1858 from Aston Birmingham. Family myth says he lost his wife and children in the disaster, but who then are the other Mr & Mrs I need first names to work it out.

Thanks

Thanks for the clarification.

As you'd expect, there was extensive reporting in the newspapers. If you haven't seen these, I would advise you to take a look, because there are a few different versions of the passenger list, though I haven't yet seen one with full first names.

You can get free access at home to the British Library's 19th Century Newspapers database with your Kent county library membership number/barcode.
www.
kent.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/libraries/online_library_services/online_reference_library/newspapers_and_periodicals.aspx

Here's one report, indicating that the COOPER family were from Wolverhampton.

Birmingham Daily Post (Friday, September 2, 1881
WRECK OF THE TEUTON
Wolverhampton Passengers
Nine passengers were from Wolverhampton. They were: John Cooper (34), of Dunstall Road, his wife, and five children (three girls and two boys), aged from eleven downwards; Edward Launchbury alias Hill (21), a lodger with the Cooper family; and John Parry .... All three men were in the service of the Great Western Railway Company, at their Stafford Road engine works, Wolverhampton. Cooper was a brassfinisher, and Launchbury and Parry were cleaners working in the running shed. Cooper had taken his passage to East London. This is the nearest port to Utinage, where, through the foreman of the shop, Mr. A. Hughes, who had also gone out from the Stafford Road Works, he had obtained a situation under the Cape Government, at their railway works. The other two men had shipped at Algoa Bay, hoping to find employment likewise on the Government railways, and hoping to lodge with Cooper. All were very steady men. Cooper had worked at Stafford Road for nine years ... Cooper's passage had been paid by the Cape Government and, to enable his family to go with him without the usual three years' delay, a fund was raised by his shopmates and by friends connected with the Darlington Street Wesleyan Chapel, where he was a Sunday school teacher. He belonged also to the Good Templars. ... When the Teuton was reaching Madeira, Cooper, on the 9th August, wrote to Mr. Charles Crump, one of the managers at the Great Western Works in Wolverhampton, in which he said: "There are about 310 passengers ... The voyage up to the present has been a very pleasant one -- better than we could have expected." The name "Cooper" appears on the list of saved. It is inferred that the family are lost, but there is some hope that more than one member of a family may be indicated by the single surname ... "

I don't know if that helps. Does any of it fit with your Birmingham family?

Oh my goodness THANK YOU this is amazing and gives food for thought, the family story says he returned to "Low Pen near Wolverhampton he was also on previous census records a s a "Brassfounder, Gas Fitter" so this sounds like you are demolishing my brickwall Thanks again!

[Kerrywood]

Further ...

Birmingham Daily Post (Wednesday, September 7, 1881)
Yesterday it was rumoured in Wolverhampton that a cablegram had been received from John Cooper, the head of the family of seven, who left that town for East London as passengers in the Teuton, and whose name appears in the list of saved. Upon enquiry, our correspondent learns that no telegram has arrived, but Cooper's mother, a widow, in Baker Street, has just received a letter from the steamship company, stating that it is doubtful whether the name given refers to the father or to one of the boys. They promise further information directly any arrives.

On 30 Sep 1881 the Birmingham Daily Post (along with several other papers) quotes a letter written by John COOPER to a friend in Wolverhampton, describing the disaster. The letter refers to John COOPER's daughter as Alice. Any help?

I can send you a copy of this letter if you PM me an email address (it's rather too long to transcribe).

[Coromandel]

At 56 Lowe Street, Wolverhampton on the 1881 census were John Cooper (32 year old brass finisher), wife
Ann A., and five children (Mary A., 12; John, 10; Annie, 7; Arthur, 3; and Elizabeth, 1). They had a boarder Edward Launchbury, railway engine fireman.

RG 11/2799, f.82 (from FamilySearch transcript). Census returns Crown copyright, in care of TNA.

[Kerrywood]

At 13 Baker Street, Wolverhampton, in 1881 are Elizabeth COOPER, widow, 60, Laundress, and Alonzo COOPER, son, unmarried, 20, Brass Dresser, both born Wolverhampton.

RG11/2795 folio 110 page 20 (record held by TNA, Crown copyright)

[Coromandel]

The GRO index of deaths at sea (on Findmypast) has the following Coopers listed as dying on the Teuton in 1881:

Alice, Ann, Arthur, Elizabeth, another listed just as 'J.', and John.

So Alice may be the Mary A. on the 1881 census?

[Kerrywood]

So Alice may be the Mary A. on the 1881 census?

Possibly ...

Births
Sep Qtr 1868
COOPER Mary Alice
Wolverhampton 6b 487