Spencer Cowper

Cowper was the second son of Sir William Cowper, 2nd Baronet of Hertford, and his wife, Lady Sarah Cowper, the diarist, and daughter of Samuel Holled, a London merchant. He was educated at Westminster School and called to the bar in 1693. In 1690 he was made controller of the Bridge House Estates with a residence at the Bridge House, near St Olave's Church close to what is now Tooley Street Southwark.^[1]

Cowper served on the Home circuit, and was acquainted with a Quaker family called Stout in Hertford, who had supported his father and brother during elections in the area. The Stout's daughter Sarah fell in love with him, even though he was already married to Pennington Goodere.^[1]

One evening at the Spring assizes in March 1699, Cowper went to Sarah's home to pay her the interest on a mortgage. He returned home and the next morning Sarah was found dead in the river. The prosecution asserted that because the body was floating when found, that it must have been put in the water after death. To challenge this idea, evidence was given by the famous physicians Samuel Garth and Hans Sloane. It appears that there was no other evidence to support the charge.^[2] The defendants were acquitted.^[1]

At the time different allegations were made concerning the affair, including the one that the Tories of Hertford wanted to hang a member of a prominent Whig family and another that the Quakers wanted to clear themselves from the stigma of suicide. Pamphlets were published on both sides, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to reignite the case.^[1]

Cowper subsequently represented Bere Alston in 1705 and was re-elected at the 1708 election. He was one of the managers of the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell, but lost his seat, in 1710, in the reaction that followed. In 1714, he became attorney-general to the Prince of Wales.^[3]

Cowper was elected MP for Truro in 1715. In 1717 he was appointed chief justice of Chester. With the accession of George II in 1727, Cowper was made attorney-general to the duchy of Lancaster, and then in 1727 a judge of the common pleas.^[4]

Cowper died on 10 December 1728 and was buried at the family seat Hertingfordbury where a monument to him by Louis-François Roubiliac was erected.^[1]

Summarize Timeline Top Qs Fact Check

His first wife Pennington died in November 1727.^[1]

Spencer married his second wife Theodora, the widow of John Stepney MP, shortly before his death in 1728. Theodora commissioned Roubiliac to erect her husband's monument.

Cowper's eldest son William Cowper was clerk of parliament and the father of General William Cowper of Hertingfordbury Park (MP).^[5] William died on 14 February 1740. Spencer's second son, John, was the father of William Cowper the poet. His third son Ashley was also clerk of parliament and a barrister, and the father of Theodora Cowper (with whom the poet fell in love) and Harriot Cowper (Lady Hesketh). He died in 1788. Cowper's only daughter was Judith Madan, a poet. She married Colonel Martin Madan (MP), Groom of the Chamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and M.P. for Wootton Bassett.^[1]

v t e Cowper Family Tree[6]

William Cowper d. 1664 1st Baronet of Ratling Court in the County of Kent Martha Master Joyce Hukeley 1622–1669 John Cowper 1613–1643 Sir Samuel Holled 1619–1661 Anne Cowper d. 1664 William Cowper 1639–1706 2nd Baronet of Ratling Court Sarah Cowper 1644–1720 Baron Cowper of Wingham in the County of Kent, 1706 Earl Cowper and Viscount Fordwich, in the County of Kent, 1718 Elizabeth Culling 1676–1703 William Cowper 1665–1723 1st Earl Cowper, etc., 3rd Baronet of Ratling Court 1) Judith Booth d. 1705 2) Mary Clavering 1685–1724 Samuel Cowper (1666) John Cowper 1667–1686 Spencer Cowper 1670–1728 Pennington Goodere 1667–1727 William Cowper 1697–1719 Mary Cowper 1700–1740 William Cowper (1687–1692?) William Cowper 1689–1740 Spencer Cowper (1690) Spencer Cowper 1691–1706 John Cowper 1694–1756 Ashley Cowper 1701–1768 Judith Madan 1702–1781 Sarah Cowper 1707–1764 William Clavering-Cowper 1709–1764 2nd Earl Cowper, etc., 4th Baronet of Ratling Court Anne Cowper 1710–1764 Spencer Cowper 1713–1774 William Cowper 1731–1800 George Nassau Clavering-Cowper 1738–1789 3rd Earl Cowper, etc., 5th Baronet of Ratling Court George Augustus Clavering-Cowper 1776–1799 4th Earl Cowper, etc., 6th Baronet of Ratling Court Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau 1778–1837 5th Earl Cowper, etc., 7th Baronet of Ratling Court George Augustus Frederick Cowper 1806–1856 6th Earl Cowper, etc., 8th Baronet of Ratling Court Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper 1834–1905 7th Earl Cowper, etc., 8th Baron Lucas, 3rd Baron Butler, 4th Lord Dingwall, 9th Baronet of Ratling Court Florence Amabell Herbert Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert 1838–1906 Earldom of Cowper, Viscountcy of Fordwich, Barony of Cowper, Baronetcy of Ratlingcourt extinct, 1905 Auberon Thomas Herbert 1876–1916 9th Baron Lucas, 5th Lord Dingwall Nan Ino Cooper 1880–1958 10th Baroness Lucas, 6th Lady Dingwall Anne Rosemary Palmer d. 1991 11th Baroness Lucas, 7th Lady Dingwall Ralph Matthew Palmer b. 1951 12th Baron Lucas, 8th Lord Dingwall