Sir Charles Cooper (1795 – 24 May 1887) was a politician and the first Chief Justice of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Biography

Cooper was born in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and ...

, the third son of Thomas Cooper, under-sheriff of Oxfordshire. Charles entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1822 and was called to the bar in February 1827. He practised on the Oxford circuit until 1838, and was then appointed judge at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. He and his sister Sarah Ann Cooper landed there in March 1839 in the ''Katherine Stewart Forbes'', and was for many years the sole judge, then senior judge, and in June 1856 was appointed the first South Australian chief justice. In September 1860 he was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council. Cooper retired from the bench in November 1861 and from the Executive Council in August 1862 owing to ill-health and was given a pension of £1000 a year. He returned to England in 1862, resided at Bath, Somerset, and improving much in his health lived to be 92 years of age. He died at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 24 May 1887. He married in 1853 Emily Grace Newenham, daughter of Charles Burton Newenham (Sheriff of South Australia 1839-1856). He was knighted in 1857. Cooper's Creek, (now

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...

), in central Australia was named after him by his friend, Captain Sturt. Cooper was a thoroughly capable judge who earned the esteem of the colonists. He held courts at first in his own house, which had the advantage that he was constantly on the premises. He was a sound lawyer and framed the first insolvency legislation of the colony. Though not robust looking, he was hospitable and interested in the social and intellectual life of the colony. While in South Australia he had a seaside residence adjacent "The Grange", Charles Sturt's property for which

Grange Beach Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austr ...

was named. It is likely that Henley Beach was named for Cooper's hometown after Cooper rejected Sturt's proposed name "Cooper's Beach". His city home, at south-east corner of

Whitmore Square Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m2), it is located at the junction of Sturt and Morphett Streets in the south-wes ...

, was in May 1870 re-opened as the Bushmen's Club, a facility for members visiting the city.

Family

On 7 July 1853, Charles Cooper married Emily Grace Newenham, eldest daughter of

Charles Burton Newenham Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, Sheriff of the Province. They had no children, and she outlived him. His sister Sarah Ann Cooper (c. 1804 – 31 May 1895) married William Bartley (1801–1885), Senior Solicitor to the Lands Titles Office on 23 September 1852.

Sources

*
Cooper, Sir Charles (1795 - 1887)
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, pp 244–245.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Charles 1795 births 1887 deaths Chief Justices of South Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia Colony of South Australia judges 19th-century Australian judges South Australian politicians People from Henley-on-Thames 19th-century Australian politicians