John Edwin Cooper

John Edwin Cooper was found drowned.

He had earlier had a dinner party on his yacht Gladys in Poole Harbour but vanished and was later found in the water on Hook Sands by some Poole fishermen.

A doctor that had lived in Southgate Road in Islington, London said that he and his wife had accompanied John Cooper, his wife and children on a cruise in John Cooper's yacht. He said that they anchored in Poole Harbour on 15 August 1903 and that in the evening, after dinner, that John Cooper went on deck to smoke whilst he remained below with the ladies and that two hours later John Cooper was missed and that a search failed to reveal his whereabouts.

At the inquest the doctor said that he knew nothing about John Cooper's health and was only giving evidence in the capacity of a normal witness, adding that he had never treated John Cooper professionally.

When the doctor was asked to describe John Cooper's manners at the dinner table he described him as eccentric, noting that he was perfectly sober.

When the captain of the yacht gave evidence he said that John Cooper had sometimes been low-spirited and depressed.

The jury returned an open verdict of Found Drowned.

John Cooper had lived in Fowey, Cornwall and had been a man of independent means.