CFHS code : PL125
Parish : St Paul
Inscription : In Loving Memory of AGNES MARY daughter of JOHN WILLIAM and CHARLOTTE ANN COOPER b 1874 d 3 Aug 1892 wife of JOHN WILLIAM COOPER b Feb 2nd 1848 d Feb 17th 1920
Monument : Stone cross (broken)/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This monument was restored after the CFHS survey. It is cleared every year, along with related monuments, by one of theTrinity college gardeners. Located close to the entrance just south of the path and 3 rows from the avenue path behind the notice board and opposite the lodge and 3 plots from the south wall. The inscriptions are of metal letters and now very hard to read. John William’s sister HARRIET ELIZABETH COOPER is buried 2 monuments to the south.
Inscription – When the monument was restored the top section of the plinth was placed the wrong way round. Originally Agnes’ name would have faced west, above the section in brackets which still faces west.
east face
In Loving Memory of AGNES MARY [daughter of JOHN WILLIAM and CHARLOTTE ANN COOPER born 1874 died 3 Aug 1892]
CHARLOTTE ANN COOPER wife of JOHN WILLIAM COOPER born Feb 2nd 1848 died Feb 17th 1920
north face
JOHN WILLIAM COOPER born April 26th ……..
Died November …….
Relationships parents and 2 daughters
Agnes Mary Cooper (1874 – 3 August 1892)
Agnes was the eldest daughter of John and Charlotte Cooper and died at 59 Bateman Street aged 18 years old.
Dr. John William Cooper (26 April 1845 – 10 November 1906)
John was the youngest son of Charles and Jane Cooper. His father was a solicitor and Town Clerk and John grew up at 26 Jesus Lane. He went up to Trinity Hall in 1862, and was awarded an LL.B in 1866, LL.M in 1869 and LL.D in 1880.
John worked as a barrister and also played a large role in town affairs. He was called ‘one of the old school of barristers. He was proud of the traditions of their great cause, full of its anecdotes and instinct with its life’. He was a member of the Cambridge Corporation, a governor of Addenbrooke’s Hospital and sat on the board of the Royal Albert Benevolent Homes. He represented Barnwell on the Town Council from 1874 to 1883 for the Liberal party. He was de-selected in 1883 for voting for a Conservative candidate for magistrates’ clerk. The election of 1883 was highly political with the Ratepayers’ Association campaigning against him and despite a number of Conservatives voting for John as a mark of protest he was not elected. He changed political sides and became a Conservative, although it was said that he never truly felt at home in his new party.
He was also a skilled journalist, editor of the Cambridge Independent Press for some time, Cambridge University correspondent for the Times newspaper and was the local secretary of the Newspaper Press Fund.
Despite being involved in Council affairs and journalism he remained a lawyer and was ‘leader of the local curcuit’. He served as a magistrate from 1882 onwards. Judge Wheeler paid tribute to John in court after his death referencing ‘his adroitness, his astuteness and his learning’ and that he ‘loved this noble town and University with a strong affection’.
He died at Bateman Street aged 61 and was buried on 15 November. Newspapers announced his death with the headline ‘a notable figure in the public life of Cambridge’. The Cambridge Independent Press said that ‘he had been in an indifferent state of health for a long time and alhtough he recovered from serious attacks of illness sufficiently to resume his professional duties it was evident that he was working under difficulties, and the announcement of his death was not unexpected’.
Charlotte Ann Cooper (née Welsman) (2 February 1848 – 17 February 1920)
Charlotte was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire and was the daughter of William and Mary Welsman. Both her parents were originally from Devon and William moved around the country with his job working for the Inland Revenue. She grew up in London before marrying Dr. John William Cooper on 9 September 1873 at St. Paul’s Church, Cambridge. They lived at 59 Bateman Street and had two daughters: Agnes Mary and Beatrice Maud (1879-1949). John died in 1906 and Charlotte then moved to live at 6 Gresham Road with her daughter Beatrice. She died at Gresham Road aged 72 years old.
Although we did not find an inscription on the stone we know from the grave register that Beatrice is also buried here.
Beatrice Maud Cooper (12 November 1879 – 20 June 1949)
Beatrice continued to live at 6 Gresham Road after her mother’s death, and in 1939 was living there with one domestic servant. She died aged 70 years and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 22 June 1949.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Cambridge University Alumni Database
CHFHS transcripts of burial and grave registers.
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]