Small purse with miniature coffin : Major Frank Eardley Cochran, South African Infantry

Small, unlined red leather purse with crossed ball metal clasp, containing a miniature carved wooden coffin containing a figure of a person inside. A tennis raquet has been drawn in ink onto the body of the figure; the face has also been suggested with ink dots, The tiny body displays evidence of having been coloured ochre or orange. A small metal loop has been inserted at the top of the coffin and a short red length of string is threaded through it.

Associated with the service of Major Frank Eardley Cochran, in Melbourne, Victoria, in February 1880. After gaining engineering qualifications at Melbourne University, Cochran enlisted as a private with the Third Victorian (Bushman's) Contingent which departed for South Africa on 10 March 1900 aboard SS Euryalus. The unit operated for 14 months in the Transvaal. Cochran was invalided home early, arriving on 2 May. Once recovered, he re-enlisted in early January 1902 at the army camp of Langwarrin in Victoria, was assigned to the 2nd Australian Commonwealth Horse (which included three Victorian rifle squadrons) arrived in South Africa in May 1902, serving until August that year. It is probable that Cochran then did not return to Australia, but continued his involvement in the South African military forces, later enlisting with the Natal Light Horse. Cochran, whose family was divided between South Africa and Melbourne, ultimately settled permanently to South Africa prior to 1914. Here, he enlisted for the First World War in 1916, in the 2nd Regiment, South African Infantry, where he qualified as a 1st Class instructor in Sniping. In March 1917 he was seconded for duty as Staff Captain to the 1st South African Infantry Brigade but he returned to regimental duty at his own request at the end of July. He had risen to the rank of Major, been awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1918, and been twice mentioned in despatches, before he was killed in action on 24 March 1918, near Pozieres. He is commemorated on panel 27 of the Pozieres Memorial. Miniature coffins such as this continue an ancient tradition of memorialising death. It is possible that this object was carried by Cochran in memory of a loved one.