Life story shared by Katie Hiscock (nee Cooper), great granddaughter
Annie BUTCHER COOPER is buried with her daughter Florence Maud SPENCE and her grandson, David Ronald SPENCE. (d. 1925).
Annie was born in 1862 and raised in Oxfordshire. She married Thomas (William) Samuel COOPER who was also born in Henley, Oxfordshire in 1869.. The couple married in London in 1889 in Westminster. Thomas was a baker while Annie was on home duties. They had 4 children: Florence, the youngest girl, was the only one born in Reading. The older children were: Annie Louisa Emily Virtue (nee Cooper) (1890 -1980), Thomas Walter (great grandfather, 1892 -1959), Horace George Cooper (1894- 1963) and Florence (1903-1928).
Annie died in 1933. In 1934 Thomas remarried to Winifred PURCHELL.
Florence married David McLachlan SPENCE from Scotland in 1922 in Reading. David was a professional footballer for Reading FC and did some stints at other football clubs too. He has been assigned a ‘heritage number’ by the club. Their son, David Ronald Spence, was born in 1925. He was 2 months old when he died from TB, shortly after Florence died from TB as well.
David was the second child. He had an older sister, Joyce Margaret Annie Spence (Bahn) born in 1922 and died in 2008. She emigrated to America.
David, Florence’s husband, remarried and stayed in Reading.
Division 15, Row L, Plot 11 (grave number: 17341).