Mr Henry William Cooper was born in Southampton, Hampshire, England on 7 May 1886.

He was the son of Henry Cooper, a dock labourer, and the former Hannah Knight, both Southampton natives. He had two sisters, Jane, five years his elder, and a younger sister, Florence (b. 1890). 

Henry’s mother died when he was still a young boy and his father remarried to a lady named Jane who was originally from Frome, Somerset.

By 1901 Cooper and his family lived at 5 William Street, Southampton. He apparently first went to sea around 1907 when he served as a trimmer aboard Walmer Castle and later the Armadale Castle, both of the Union Castle Line. By 1911 he was described as an unmarried ship’s fireman whilst he was boarding at 9 George Street in Northam, Southampton, the home address of marine fireman Thomas French and his wife Annie. 

When he signed-on to the Titanic on 6 April 1912, Cooper gave his local address as 9 George Street, Southampton. His previous ship had been the Oceanic and as a fireman he could expect monthly wages of £6. 

Henry Cooper died in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.