Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/117

 , Meynell, and Conyers’ is signed ‘An. Cooper,’ and the title-page bears the initials ‘A. C.’ The author describes himself as an eye-witness of most of the incidents he details. On these grounds he has been identified with Andrew Cooper, the signature of a news-reporter who was with the king at York in 1642, and who published in London in August of that year ‘A Speedy Post, with more news from Hull, York, and Beverley,’ 1642. Mr. Corser gave Cooper the christian name of ‘Anthony,’ but Andrew is doubtless correct.

 COOPER, ANTHONY ASHLEY, first (1621–1683), was the eldest son of John Cooper of Rockborne in Hampshire, and of Anne, daughter of Sir  [q. v.] of Wimborne St. Giles in Dorsetshire, in whose house he was born on 22 July 1621, and after whom he was named. He had one brother George, and one sister Philippa, who died in 1701. His parents were both ‘of the first rank of gentry in those countries where they lived.’ His father, created a baronet in 1622, sat for Poole in the parliaments of 1625 and 1628. Lady Cooper died in July 1628, and Sir J. Cooper, who married again, in March 1631. At ten years of age, therefore, Anthony Ashley Cooper became a king's ward, and the extensive estates which he inherited in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire came under the control of the court of wards, then excessively corrupt. His father had left considerable debts, and through the agency of his great uncle, Sir Francis Ashley, then king's serjeant-at-law, a collusive order of sale was obtained, by which several properties were sold below their fair value to Sir Francis himself and to some of the commissioners, in spite of the prolonged resistance of the trustees appointed by Sir John Cooper. From further injury at the same hands the lad was saved in 1634 by his own helpfulness. He went in person to claim the help of Noy, the king's attorney, who had drawn up the settlement which was now attacked, and, in his own words, performed his part ‘with that pertness that he told me he would defend my cause though he lost his place.’ He afterwards reckoned his losses at 20,000l.; but his rental is stated at over 7,000l. a year, and he was always a wealthy man (Shaftesbury Papers, Public Record Office). He had also plantations in Barbadoes, and a quarter share in a ship, the Rose, engaged in the Guinea trade.

After the death of his father, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, along with his brother and sister, lived with Sir Daniel Norton, one of his trustees, at Southwick, near Portsmouth, and was educated by various tutors. Upon Sir Daniel's death in 1635, the children went to reside with another trustee, Mr. Tooker, at Maddington, near Salisbury. In 1636 he was entered as a gentleman-commoner at Exeter College, Oxford, and went into residence in 1637, but joined Lincoln's Inn in the beginning of 1638. He is said to have made an unusual progress in learning (Raleigh Redivivus, p. 7), and appears from his own account to have been recognised as a leader by the freshmen of his college. In his ‘Autobiography’ he gives most interesting notices of his exploits in that capacity, though in the physical contests which took place he was at a disadvantage from his small stature. On 25 Feb. 1639 Cooper married Margaret, daughter of the lord keeper [q. v.] By this marriage he was connected with the two Coventrys, [q. v.] and [q. v.] and with George Savile, afterwards Lord Halifax, whose father married his wife's sister. The versatility of mind and intellectual eagerness were already strongly developed. He took particular interest in palmistry and astrology, and many expressions in after life make it probable that he was not without some belief in these arts.

After his marriage Cooper lived partly at Coventry's London residences of Durham House in the Strand, and Canonbury House, Islington, and partly at his own Dorsetshire home at Wimborne St. Giles. At Tewkesbury, where he visited, he appears to have made himself so popular, that he was created a freeman of the town, and was chosen member without a contest at the election of March 1640, though his sitting in parliament was contrary to law, as he was not yet of age. There is no mention of any part taken by him in the debates of this parliament. Lord Coventry died on 14 Jan. 1640. Cooper remained with his mother-in-law until Durham House and Canonbury were given up in January 1641, when he went to live with his brother-in-law, the second Lord Coventry, at Dorchester House in Covent Garden.

Cooper failed to obtain a seat in the Long parliament which met on 3 Nov. 1640. He contested Downton in Wiltshire, and a double return was made. In the autobiographical fragment of 1646 he states that the committee of privileges decided in his favour, but that no report was made to the house. The journals record that a day had been fixed in February 1641 for the hearing, but there is no further notice of the matter. Thus the seat remained vacant. It appears that Denzil Holles, who had married the daughter of Sir