Annette Joy Cooper (born 15 November 1953) is a retired British

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

priest. She was the

Archdeacon of Colchester The Archdeacon of Colchester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Chelmsford – she or he has responsibilities within her archdeaconry (the Archdeaconry of Colchester) including oversight of church buildings and some supervision, d ...

(in the

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest (most of which wer ...

) from 2004 until 2018.

Early life

Cooper was born on 15 November 1953, the daughter of Harry Whitaker and Grace (née Parnham, later James). She was educated at Lilley and Stone Girls' High School, then an all-girls

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

. From 1979 to 1988, Cooper worked as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

. In 1980, she completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. She gained a number of social work qualifications, including a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW) and, in 1985, a Diploma in Social Work (DipSW). She left her first

vocation A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious co ...

upon ordination.

Ordained ministry

Having trained with the

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

Ordination Course, Cooper was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

on 3 July 1988 at

Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Kent. The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church of England and the s ...

by David Bartleet,

Bishop of Tonbridge The Bishop of Tonbridge is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Tonbridge, a market town in Kent; the see was erected ...

. She then became a

non-stipendiary minister Self-supporting ministers (SSMs), previously called non-stipendiary ministers or non-stipendiary priests (NSMs), are religious ministers who do not receive a stipend (i.e. payment) for their services and therefore financially support their own mi ...

St Peter, Pembury Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 Census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a ...

and simultaneously a full-time assistant

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

in the

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

health authority Between 1996 and 2002 the English National Health Service was organised under the following health authorities. In 2002 the health authorities were reorganised and their boundaries changed to constitute 28 strategic health authorities, which were ...

until 1991. From 1991 to 1996, she was a full-time chaplain at

Bassetlaw Hospital Bassetlaw District General Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. It is managed by the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Kilton Hil ...

. On 31 May 1994, she was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

Patrick Harris Patrick Burnet Harris (30 September 193426 December 2020) was a Church of England bishop who served in two episcopal positions. He was educated at St Albans School and Keble College, Oxford. He trained for ordination at Clifton Theological C ...

(the then

Bishop of Southwell __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . The ...

) at St Anne's Church, Worksop; 1994 was the first year that women were able to be priested in the Church of England. In 1996, Cooper moved to become priest-in-charge of St Mary's, Edwinstowe, where she was also a chaplain at

Center Parcs Center Parcs may refer to: * Center Parcs UK and Ireland Center Parcs UK and Ireland (formerly Center Parcs UK) is a short-break holiday company that operates six holiday villages in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, with each cover ...

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cores ...

(until 2000),

area dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ...

of the

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

deanery (from 1999) and an

honorary canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

Southwell Minster Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...

(from 2002). In 2004, Cooper became

in the

, in which role she was also made an honorary canon of

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, United Kingdom, is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd. It became a cathedral when the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914 and is the seat of the Bishop o ...

. When her archdeaconry was split on 1 February 2013, she became (additionally) Acting Archdeacon of Stansted until the first incumbent of that post (

Robin King Robin Andrew King, (born 7 July 1966) is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who, despite having been born into a Catholic family, served as the commander of the Ulster Protestant Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). A close friend of the o ...

) was collated on 15 September 2013. During 2013, Cooper was elected by and from among the female "senior priests" of the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

region to attend meetings (as 'participant observers') of the

House of Bishops The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

as one of eight Regional Representatives, as an interim measure until six women sit in the House by right. She served until that arrangement was ended in December 2016. Cooper retired during November 2018.Diocese of Chelmsford — Cooper will retire in November
(Accessed 11 May 2018)

Personal life

In 1972, the then Annette Whitaker married Andrew Cooper. Together, they have two sons and four grandchildren.

Styles

*1988–2002 & 2018–present: ''

The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

'' Annette Cooper *2002–2004: ''The Reverend''

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Annette Cooper *2004–2018: ''The

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

'' Annette Cooper

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Annette Joy 1953 births Living people 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English Anglican priests Archdeacons of Colchester