(18)  Brendan Coppinger


BRENDAN COPPINGER

Brendan was born on 15thMay 1886 in Sydney, New South Wales. He was Richard and Matilda's second son. Their first son, Richard Vernon, born in Southsea, Hampshire, on 3rdNovember 1884, died in New South Wales on 11thOctober 1888.

A copy of his service record is included as a pull-out at the back of this book. Unfortunately it is far from easy to read. I regret not having found a photograph of him or any details with which to embellish his biography.

The following obituary was published in the Catholic Herald on 3rdJanuary 1941.

The death is announced on Active Service (as a result of an accident) of Commander Brendan Coppinger, R.N., who was eldest son of the late Inspector-General Richard W. Coppinger, RN., the author, explorer and naturalist, who died 30 years ago, and brother of Captain Cuthbert Coppinger, D.S.C., R.N., Captain of Portsmouth Dockyard, Deputy Superintendent, and King's Harbour Master.

The late Commander Coppinger entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1901 and from 1914 to 1919 served in the Thunderer in the Second Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet as lieutenant and lieutenant-commander. From 1919 to 1921 he was senior lieutenant-commander in the battle-cruiser Tiger, and for the following two years was on the staff of the Youths' Training Establishment at Devonport and later Instructor-Officer to the Bristol Division of the R.N.V.R. From 1925 until his retirement in 1927 he was on the staff of Chatham Dockyard. He was recalled on the outbreak of the war.”

The Royal Navy casualty lists record his death as being due to a road accident.



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