COWPER, HENRY (1758–1840), lawyer, was the third son of General Spencer Cowper, by Charlotte, daughter of John Baber; grandson of William Cowper, clerk of the parliaments 1739–40, and great-grandson of Spencer Cowper, judge (1669–1727) [q. v.] (Pedigree in Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, ii. 195). He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple 26 May 1775. From 1785 to 1826 he was deputy clerk of the parliaments and clerk assistant of the house of lords. He published in 1783 ‘Reports of Cases in the Court of King's Bench from Hilary term 14 George III to 18 George III’ (3 vols.); second edition 1800. He died at Tewin Water 28 Nov. 1840. He married his cousin-german, Maria Judith, eldest daughter of Rev. John Cowper, D.D., rector of Berkhampstead St. Peter's, but had no issue. By his will he left a sum of money for educating the poor children of Hertingfordbury parish.
[Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire, ii. 195; Cussans's Hertfordshire, ii. 118; Gent. Mag. new series, 1841, xv. 320; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
COWPER, MARY, first Countess Cowper (1685–1724), daughter of John Clavering of Chopwell, Durham, was married to William, first earl Cowper [q. v.], in 1706. The marriage was kept secret for some months (September 1706 to February 1707). The first letter which she wrote to her husband after the marriage bears the following endorsement by him: ‘First letter received from my wife, formerly Mrs. Clavering, having been privately married to her without consummation, by which it appears I judged rightly of her understanding; I hope also of her other good qualities; I was not induced to the choice by any ungovernable desire; but I very coolly and deliberately thought her the fittest wife to entertain me and to live as I might when reduced to a private condition, with which a person of great estate would hardly have been contented,’ &c. She seems to have been a lady of considerable attractions, intelligence, and accomplishments. On the accession of George I she was appointed a lady of the bedchamber to the Princess of Wales, with whom she had corresponded for some years, and whose confidante she became. Though of a Jacobite family, she ardently espoused her husband's political principles. On entering the royal household she began to keep a diary, an imperfect copy of which was lent in manuscript to Lord Campbell, and freely used by him for the purpose of his biography of Lord Cowper. It was edited, with the addition of a subsequently discovered fragment, from the original manuscript, with an introduction, notes, and appendices, by the Hon. Spencer Cowper in 1864 (London, 8vo). It consists of two fragments, the first covering the period between October 1714 and October 1716, the second being the record of little more than two months, April and May 1720, during which the negotiations for the reconciliation of the king and Prince of Wales were in progress. The records of the intermediate and subsequent periods were destroyed by Lady Cowper in 1722, when her husband fell under suspicion of complicity in the Jacobite plot, and she was apprehensive lest his house might be searched. The earlier papers probably contained matter relating to the quarrel between the king and the prince which would not have been grateful to the former. The reason for destroying the later papers is not apparent, as it seems very unlikely that Cowper was really involved in the conspiracy. Lady Cowper survived her husband by about four months, dying on 5 Feb. 1723–4.
[Diary of Mary, Countess Cowper, 1714–20, edited by the Hon. Spencer Cowper, London, 1864, 8vo, 2nd edition, 1865; Hist. Reg. Chron. Diary, 1724, p. 10.]
COWPER, SPENCER (1669–1728), judge, was the younger brother of William Cowper the chancellor [q. v.] He was born in 1669, educated at Westminster, called to the bar, and in 1690 made controller of the Bridge House estates, with a residence at the Bridge House, St. Olave's. He went the home circuit and was acquainted with a quaker family at Hertford, named Stout, who had been supporters of his father and brother at elections. The daughter, Sarah Stout, fell in love with him, though he was already married, and became melancholy upon his avoiding her company. At the spring assizes in 1699 he was at her house in the evening, having to pay her the interest on a mortgage. He returned to his own lodgings, and next morning she was found dead in the river. Cowper, with three lawyers who had spent that night at Hertford and gossiped about Sarah Stout, were accused of murdering her. They were tried before Baron Hassell on 16 July 1699. There was absolutely no direct evidence: the pro-
