Sir Daniel Cooper | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 1stSpeaker of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 22 May 1856 – 31 January 1860 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Premier | Sir Stuart Donaldson Sir Charles Cowper Sir Henry Parker William Forster |
| Governor | Sir William Denison |
| Succeeded by | Sir Terence Aubrey Murray |
| Constituency | Sydney Hamlets Paddington |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 July 1821 Bolton-le-Moors, England |
| Died | 5 June 1902(1902-06-05) (aged 80) Kensington,London, England |
| Political party | Independent, Imperial Federationist |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Cooper, Elizabeth Hill (m.1846) |
| Relations | Daniel Cooper (uncle) Douglas Cooper (great-grandson) |
| Residence(s) | Woollahra House Salisbury Court Dunara |
| Known for | Cooper baronets of Woollahra |
Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st BaronetGCMG (1 July 1821 – 5 June 1902) was a nineteenth-century politician, merchant and philanthropist in theColony of New South Wales. He served as the first speaker of theLegislative Assembly of the colony and was a notedphilatelist.
Cooper was given thehereditary title ofCooper baronet of Woollahra in 1863, the second of four baronetcies conferred to British expatriates in theAustralian colonies.
Cooper was born atBolton,Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Cooper, merchant, and his wife Jane Ramsden. He was the nephew of the emancipated convict and extraordinarily successful businessman,Daniel Cooper, who took an interest in the education of his nephew. He was taken toSydney by his parents when a child, but was sent back toBritain again in 1835 and spent four years atUniversity College London.[1]
Cooper began business atLe Havre, France, but his health failing, he returned to Sydney in 1843. There, he acquired an interest in a mercantile firm, afterwards known as D. Cooper and Company, and bought much property in Sydney and its suburbs. This afterwards appreciated in value and Cooper became a wealthy man. Like his uncle, he invested in thewhaling industry in Sydney. He owned two vessels that made six whaling voyages from Port Jackson between 1836 and 1852.[2]
In 1853 he inherited the bulk of the enormous fortune of his uncle, Daniel, who had no children. He was an early member of the senate of theUniversity of Sydney, to which he gave £500 for a stained glass window, and £1,000 to found a scholarship.[3]
In June 1849, at the age of 27, Cooper was elected a member of theunicameralLegislative Council at theby election for Counties of St Vincent and Auckland.[4] The district was abolished on 30 June 1851 and he did not contest the1851 election. Cooper returned to the Legislative Council in 1855 at theby election for Counties of Murray and St Vincent.[5]
New South Wales obtainedself-government in 1856, the Legislative Council was abolished and replaced with an electedLegislative Assembly and an appointed Legislative Council. Cooper was elected as the first of 2 members for thedistrict of Sydney Hamlets,[6] which included what were then outer suburbs ofSydney and are now the inner suburbs ofPaddington,Surry Hills,Redfern,Chippendale,Glebe,Camperdown, O'Connell Town (north Newtown),Balmain,North Sydney,Kirribilli andMcMahons Point. He was re-elected in 1858.[6] The district was abolished in 1859 and replaced by four single member districts.[7] Cooper successfully stood forPaddington from 1859 to 1860.[8][9] At the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly, Cooper was electedSpeaker by a majority of one vote overHenry Parker. His election was not popular, but Cooper held office with dignity and impartiality and set a standard for future speakers.[1] He successfully established rules of procedure and parliamentary conventions, which influenced the Parliament in the following years.[8]
In politics, he was close toCharles Cowper andHenry Parkes and financially supported Parkes' newspaperThe Empire. In return it described his political principles as being 'of so liberal a cast that, were he less identified with the great interests of property, he would be set down as a dangerous democrat'.[1]
In January 1860 his health was again troubling him and he found it necessary to resign. He was asked to form a ministry in March, but declined and in 1861 returned to Britain.[10] During theCrimean War he had exerted himself in raising a fund for the relief of widows and children of soldiers, and in theUK in 1863 he did much work to relieve the distress inLancashire caused by thecotton famine.[1] He continued his interest in New South Wales, did useful work in connexion with the exhibition held at Sydney in 1880, and in 1886 was a member of theRoyal Commission for theColonial and Indian Exhibition at London.[3] In 1897 he was appointedAgent-General for New South Wales in London.[11][12]
Cooper married, in 1846, Elizabeth Hill, daughter of William Hill of Sydney and Mary Johnson, both convicts, and they had two sons and five daughters.
Cooper died on 5 June 1902 inKensington, London,[13] and was survived by his wife and by two sons and three of their daughters.[1] He was buried inBrompton Cemetery, London.[14] The eldest son, Daniel Cooper (1848–1909), succeeded as second Baronet, but had only daughters and was himself succeeded by his brother William Charles Cooper (1851–1925) as third Baronet. His great-grandson was the art collector and historianDouglas Cooper.
Cooper was a founder and the first president (1869–78) of the Philatelic Society of London, the predecessor of today'sRoyal Philatelic Society London.[15] His Australianpostage stamps, sold to JudgeFrederick Philbrick in 1878 for £3,000 (the first four-figure price for a collection), became part ofFerrary's celebrated collection.[16] The Sir Daniel Cooper Lectures, sponsored by the Royal Philatelic Society, are in his honour.
Cooper was knighted in 1857, created abaronet of Woollahra in 1863, appointed a Knight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1880 and upgraded to a Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) of the order in 1888.[8]
Political families of Australia:Wentworth/Hill/Griffiths/Scott/Cooper family
| Parliament of New South Wales | ||
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales Legislative Council | ||
| Preceded by | Member forCounties of St Vincent and Auckland 1849–1851 | District abolished |
| Preceded by | Member forCounties of Murray and St Vincent 1855–1856 | Council abolished |
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
| New parliament | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly 1856–1860 | Succeeded by |
| Member forSydney Hamlets 1856–1859 | District abolished | |
| New district | Member forPaddington 1859–1860 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Agent-General for New South Wales 1897 – 1899 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Baronet (of Woollahra) 1863–1902 | Succeeded by Daniel Cooper |
