Next of kin Plaque: Private Charles William Cooper, 30th Battalion, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'CHARLES WILLIAM COOPER'. A checker's mark, '86', is impressed between the lion's rear left paw and tail. Plaque comes in original card envelope.

Charles William Cooper was born in London in 1894. He had been employed as a ship's steward when he arrived in Sydney in 1914. Cooper was working as a shop assistant when he enlisted in the AIF on 13 July 1915. After initial training he was posted a private, service number 141, to A Company of the newly raised 30th Battalion. The unit embarked for overseas service aboard and embarked for overseas service aboard HMAT Beltana on 9 November.

Disembarking at Suez on 11 December Cooper remained in Egypt until 16 June 1916 when the battalion moved to France for service on the Western Front. Cooper was wounded during the battle of Fromelles on 20 July, less than a month after reaching the front. He was about to rejoin the battalion at the end of November when he contracted influenza and was evacuated to England. He did not rejoin his unit in the field until July 1917. Cooper suffered a sprained ankle due to a shell explosion near Blaringhem on 16 September but was back in service the following month.

On 15 February 1918, near Messines, Belgium, Cooper accidentally received a gunshot wound to his left buttock and thigh. He and another soldier, 4984 Private Sydney Paul Bernasconi, had both been sitting in a dug out cleaning their rifles. A statement taken from Cooper said 'I was sitting in my dugout cleaning my rifle. Pte. Bernasconi was inside the dugout also cleaning his rifle. I had my back to him, all of a sudden I heard the report of a rifle and I felt I was hit in the buttock. Pte. Bernasconi said he thought he had shot me accidentally.' Cooper was taken to 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station but died there of his injuries the following day. He is buried in Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck.

On 24 February 1918, at a Field General Courts Martial Bernasconi was charged with 'conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he negligently handled his Rifle resulting in the wounding of a comrade.' Bernasconi was found guilty and sentenced to forty days Field Punishment No. 2. He suffered a compound fracture to his right thigh at Morlancourt on 23 June. He returned to Australia in January 1919 and was discharged in November 1920 after undergoing further medical treatment.

This memorial plaque was sent to Cooper's widow, now Kathleen Ann Washbrook, in November 1921. The couple had married in 1915. After Cooper's death she remarried later in 1918.