Baron Cowper of Wingham, and in the following year made Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was made Viscount Fordwiche and Earl Cowper, 18 March, 1718, and resigned the Chancellorship in the month following. He died 10 Oct 1723.
Admitted 29 April, 1748.
Son and heir of the Rev. John Cowper, D.D., Rector of Great Berkhampstead (where he was born 15 Nov. 1731), and grandson of Spencer Cowper (q.v.). He was called to the Bar 14 June, 1754, having three days previously been admitted to chambers "situated three pairs over the Parliament Chamber." Here and in chambers in the Inner Temple, of which he became a member 14 June, 1757, he resided for nine years, during which time he wrote some literary trifles, and with some of his old Westminster schoolfellows (including Bonnel Thornton, George Colman the dramatist, and Robert Lloyd the poet) combined in forming the Nonsense Club, and in contributing to the Connoisseur, a literary periodical. It was during this time, too, that he fell in love with his cousin, Theodora Cowper, the sister of Lady Hesketh, to whom so many of his delightful letters are addressed. The period of his Temple residence must, therefore, have been the happiest of his life, and his removal from it in 1763 is coincident with the circumstances which induced the malady which more or less afflicted him till his death, 25 April, 1800.
The literary productions of Cowper appeared in the following order Poems (1782); John Gilpin; a Ballad (1783); The Task (1785); Poem (1788) The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer [translated into English blank verse] (1791) . The Power of Grace, illustrated [translated from the Latin] (1792); Poems (1798); Poems [from the French of Madame De la Guion] (1801); Adelphi: a Sketch of the character of the Rev. John Cowper (1802); Posthumous Works [with his life by William Haley] (1803—4); Latin and Italian Poems of Milton [translated into English verse] (1808); Poems, with a Memoir of the Author (1818); Memoirs of his early life, written by himself (1816).
Innumerable editions of Cowper's collected works have appeared, the best of which are those by Robert Southey in 15 vols., 12mo, 1833—37 (republished in Bohn's Standard Library in 8 vols.); by Rev. T. S. Grimshawe in 1835 (8 vols., 8vo); by Dr. Memes (1852); by George Gilfillan in 1854 (8vo); by John Bruce (1867); and Rev. W. Benham (Globe Ed., 1870).
Admitted 30 April, 1840.
Eldest son of William Charles Cox of Taunton, where he was born. He was called to the Bar 5 May, 1843. In 1857 he became Recorder of Helston, and in 1868, of Portsmouth. He held the position of Chairman of Middlesex Sessions from 1870 to his death. He was elected for Taunton in 1868, but unseated on petition. In early life he wooed the Muses and published a volume of poems, entitled The Opening of the Sixth Seal, in 1830. He wrote a number of legal treatises, the best known of which was The Law and Practice of Joint Stock Companies (1855), which ran through several editions. He also originated the series of Criminal Cases which bear his name. But the most remarkable feature of Mr. Cox's career was his successful journalism. He established the Law Times in 1843, and subsequently became proprietor of The Field Newspaper, The Queen, and Exchange and Mart, all of which were great financial triumphs. He was made a Serjeant-at-Law in 1868. He died at Mill Hill, Middlesex, 24 Nov. 1879.
