John was born in 1903 in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales. He was the son of news agent Edward Rooper and Annie Elizabeth Coster Edwards. His mother died not long after he was born.
In 1911 he was living with his father in Wrexham. A cousin, Marion Jones was staying with them.[1]
His father remarried and Ethelwyn Mary Bennett Reed became his stepmother. In 1912 she gave him a half-sister, Persis Joan Mary Rooper.
John enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Midshipman in 1921. A little over two years later he made Lieutenant and by 1937 he was a Commander.
In 1931 he married Ann Pitcairn Campbell (1910-2001), daughter of Archibald Pitcairn Campbell and Olive Moser. They had one son.
In 1943 he was given the OBE for his actions after his ship, HMS Cleopatra was damaged by an explosion in the Mediterranean. He was Mentioned in Dispatches in 1944 for gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. He was retired out of the Navy in 1949 as medically unfit.
He passed away in 1981 at Isfield, West Sussex.[2]
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R > Rooper > John Bonfoy Rooper OBE
Categories: Royal Navy, World War II | Royal Navy Officers | Royal Navy | Isfield, Sussex | Wrexham, Denbighshire