Arthur Richard Valentine COOPER [2421]

  General Notes:

Arthur had a passion for languages, about 1936 he joined the Government Codes and Cyphers School where his eldest brother Joshua Edward Synge Cooper worked. He studied Japanese before the war and this skill determined how the war was to go for him: he travelled to Hong Kong, was involved in decoding Japanese signals there, and was evacuated to Australia as the Japanese seized the colony, he finally returned to England about 1943.

Arthur continued to work in the highly secret area of signals intelligence, with his brother Joshua at Bletchley Park, and London.
In 1947 Arthur and his family went to Melbourne, Australia, for two 3-year tours of secondment to the Australian Govt. returning in 1953 they settled down to live in Gloucestershire - Bletchley Park had moved to Cheltenham to become GCHQ, Government Communications Headquarters, known in the press as the Spy Centre.

Mr Joshua Edward Synge "Josh" Cooper
Air Ministry Civilian
Summary of Service
Bletchley Park 1939 - 1945. Mansion (room 1), Hut 10, Block A (room 132) and Block F. Head of Air Section. Chief Cryptographer for Service Sections March 1942. Appointed Deputy Director (Air Section) (DD(AS)) 1 March 1944.
Commemorated On The Codebreakers Wall
Yes
University Oxford - Brasenose College; King's College London;
Other Information
Elder brother of Arthur Cooper, of Diplomatic and Air Sections. Appointed CMG in 1943 and CB in 1958.
Josh Cooper 1901 - 1981
A brief biography, based on that formerly displayed in the 'Hall of Fame' in Bletchley Park mansion. - Attached in PDF format below.
Josh Cooper
1901 - 1981
A brief biography, formerly displayed in the 'Hall of Fame' in Bletchley Park
mansion.
Josh Cooper 1901 - 1981
A brief biography, formerly displayed in the 'Hall of Fame' in Bletchley Park mansion. The Government Code and Cypher School was very lucky with the high intelligence and most likeable personality of Josh Cooper. He joined GCCS in October 1925. Less than a year later he was promoted and established on the Air Ministry staff, but in 1936 was seconded back to GCCS where he remained throughout the war. Joshua Edward Synge Cooper was born in April 1901, the eldest son of an ancient Anglo-Irish family. At Shrewsbury School he came under the influence of Ronnie Knox, the famous Catholic convert brother of Dilly Knox. He read Classics at Brasenose College, Oxford and then Russian and Serbian at King's College London. Josh Cooper had unusually high linguistic ability, knowing all major European languages and Arabic. At GCCS, he soon established a high reputation as a Cryptanalyst, with an immense store of knowledge which stemmed from his constant reading and excellent memory. He was sent to Sarafand in 1930 to study the Russian Black Sea Fleet communications, reading some of the lower grade systems. In 1933 he was made head of the Italian Section of GCCS, and in 1936 became head of the new Air Section where much of the pre-war work was concerned with Italian military systems. In September 1939 the Air Section consisted of nine men and nine women; by its peak in July 1944 it had grown to some 500, of which about 200 were women, many in the WAAF, dealing very successfully with German, Italian, Japanese and meteorological problems. The youngest of the senior staff at Bletchley Park, he was appointed a Deputy Director in March 1944. As well as being and outstanding Cryptanalyst, Cooper was an imposing figure and a very pleasant person, always much respected by his staff. Referring to Hugh Alexander and Josh Cooper, John Tiltman was heard to remark wistfully that he himself lacked the power of concentration of the "great codebreakers". Cooper had a number of endearing mannerisms and many at Bletchley Park had their own favourite story about him. Cooper was not a great administrator. The Air Section was organised very informally, but this proved to suit the circumstances. He supervised his German subsection directly for most of the war. He recognised early on the importance of close collaboration with the Y Stations. He realised that the German aircraft codes could only be broken quickly enough to be useful on site at the Y Stations. As early as 1939, he persuaded Denniston to allow him to recruit young linguists from the universities to work at Cheadle, the main RAF Y Station. They greatly improved the reporting capability of the station. The two stations with which he dealt, Cheadle and Kingsdown, provided vital intelligence to Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. He appreciated that, to achieve the greatest possible amount of intelligence from Sigint about the German Air Force, the whole Sigint source had to be studied as one, and he applied pressure to be allowed to do this. However, the necessary combined study of high grade (e.g. Enigma) and low-grade material was delayed because the need to minimise the number of people with access to Ultra material meant that the majority of his staff were not given access to it for most of the war. His relationships with AI 4 in the Air Ministry were always awkward and often difficult. His German subsection's ability to produce unique intelligence needed by the home RAF Commands, and later the USAAF, could not be exploited until AI 4 agreed. It took Cooper the better part of a year to persuade them that this should be done. After the war, Josh Cooper continued to serve at GCHQ as one of its senior staff, retiring in 1961. He published several books on Russia and Russian literature, dying in June 1981. He had married Winifred Parkinson in 1934, with whom he had two sons.

Name: Arthur Richard Valentine Cooper
Arrival date: 2 Jun 1947
Birth Date: abt 1916
Birth Location: England
Birth Location Other: Northwood
Age: 31
Ethnicity/ Nationality: English
Port of Departure: London, England
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Airline: British Overseas Airways Corporation

Arthur Richard V Cooper
Death Age: 71
Birth Date: 17 Feb 1916
Registration Date: Jan 1988
Registration district: Gloucester
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 22
Page: 2136

Cooper Arthur Richard valentine of Haregrove Cranham Glos died 16 Jan 1988 Probate Llandaff 15 Mar 1988. Not exceeding £70,000 8880700963H
National Probate Calendar.

Arthur married Diana de Vere JULIUS [813] [MRIN: 794], daughter of Lieut Col Stanley de Vere Alexander JULIUS [811] and Maud Ethel LAKE [812], 3 Qtr 1943 in Buckinghamshire. (Diana de Vere JULIUS [813] was born in 1913 in East Preston SSX, died on 11 Jan 2002 in Cranham GLS and was buried on 23 Jan 2002 in St James Cranham GLS.)