Cooch, William Joseph, 1898-1950

Calligrapher, printmaker, member of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. He was born in Ireland on 22 July 1898, one of four children of Captain William Cooch of the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers. Cooch trained as an architect in London and on 18 October 1922 married Mary Amelia Devanney. That year Cooch and his wife joined with his parents and siblings to emigrate to New Zealand. Cooch and his wife Mary had two daughters Pat and Angela. Cooch settled in Wellington and gained employment as a government architect. One of the projects he worked on was Government House in Wellington. In his spare time Cooch created prints working in woodcuts and linocuts. Both he and his sister, Louise Orgias (née Cooch) were members of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. As a calligrapher he was involved in producing certificates for the refurbishment of the Waitangi Treaty House in the 1930s and also for the Disabled Servicemen's Training Centre in Riccarton, Christchurch in 1947. Cooch also designed and etched designs for New Zealand stamps, notably the 1935 5d Swordfish in ultramarine as well as the Hygenia Goddess of Health, health stamp of 1932. He died on 17 September 1950 (Information by email from Victoria Leachman, Te Papa, 2 May 2008).