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Thomas James HOOPER

HOOPER

Thomas Hooper was born on 6 April 1895 in Williamstown, Victoria. His parents were Edward Thomas and Annie Maria (née Taylor) Hooper. He attended Scotch from 1908 to 1912.

Thomas was a draper when he enlisted on 15 July 1915 in Melbourne, Victoria. He served in the 22nd Battalion and 7th Battalion with the final rank of Sergeant. His Regimental Number was 2851.

Thomas died on 27 November 1916 at Rouen, France (5th General Hospital). He was 21 years of age.

Service record

Thomas Hooper had done some pre-war militia service and was a Corporal in the 66th Infantry when he left to join the AIF in July 1915. That month his parents gave him permission to enlist in the AIF at age 20. After three months in a training depot, he was transferred to the 6th Reinforcements to the 22nd Battalion in October 1915. He became an Acting Corporal. He did not reach Gallipoli, but on 20 December 1915 he was admitted to hospital in Egypt with mumps. While he was in Egypt in 1916, the content of one of his letters was mentioned in the Collegian: topics were meeting two Old Collegians (Bruce Frame and Jack Laing) and a visit to a beautiful mosque.

In February 1916 he was transferred to the 7th Battalion, and the following month, a few days after the unit landed in France, was made a Temporary Corporal. He was part of the battalion’s Lewis gun section. In June 1916 his rank was confirmed and he was promoted to Sergeant. He participated in the fighting at Pozieres in July and August, and extracts from letters he wrote in that period were published in The Scotch Collegian (see below). He described the line there in July as ‘a pretty hot shop’, featuring three successive nights of heavy German bombardment and the ‘awful’ sound of enemy and friendly artillery constantly at work. He spoke with pride of the Australians’ success at Pozieres, which constituted ‘a fine feather in our cap’. The August operations at Pozieres he also characterised as ‘solid going, and heavy fighting the whole time’. He discussed Percy Young’s grave having the Scotch motto on its cross. Survivors of Pozieres, he observed, had ‘much to be thankful for’. He noted that they ‘felt just about done, as we had had no sleep for four days and nights, and had been under constant shell-fire.’ Perhaps this strain contributed to the fact that Thomas fell ill in November.

His The Scotch Collegian obituary attributed this to ‘exposure to the cold in the trenches’, which is entirely plausible. On 4 November he was diagnosed sick, with a fever (‘Pyrexia of Unknown Origin’). He was sent to hospital at Rouen but died on 27 November. The official cause of death was pleurisy. Four days later a message was sent to his father that Thomas’ ‘condition is stationary’. (see below).

Thomas Hooper is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension (Block O, Plot II, Row T, Grave No. 5), Rouen, France.