Sir Charles Cooper (1795 – 24 May 1887) was a politician and the first Chief Justice of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Biography

Cooper was born in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, the third son of Thomas Cooper, under-sheriff of Oxfordshire. Charles entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1822 and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in February 1827. He practised on the

Oxford circuit The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

until 1838, and was then appointed judge at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He and his sister Sarah Ann Cooper landed there in March 1839 in the ''Katherine Stewart Forbes'', and was for many years the sole judge, then senior judge, and in June 1856 was appointed the first South Australian chief justice. In September 1860 he was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council. Cooper retired from the bench in November 1861 and from the Executive Council in August 1862 owing to ill-health and was given a pension of £1000 a year. He returned to England in 1862, resided at

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, and improving much in his health lived to be 92 years of age. He died at

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 24 May 1887. He married in 1853 Emily Grace Newenham, daughter of Charles Burton Newenham (Sheriff of South Australia 1839-1856). He was knighted in 1857. Cooper's Creek, (now

Cooper Creek The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...

), in

central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and i ...

was named after him by his friend,

Captain Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and lat ...

. Cooper was a thoroughly capable judge who earned the esteem of the colonists. He held courts at first in his own house, which had the advantage that he was constantly on the premises. He was a sound lawyer and framed the first insolvency legislation of the colony. Though not robust looking, he was hospitable and interested in the social and intellectual life of the colony. While in South Australia he had a seaside residence adjacent "The Grange", Charles Sturt's property for which Grange Beach was named. It is likely that

Henley Beach Henley Beach is a coastal suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Charles Sturt. History Henley Beach was named for the English town of Henley-on-Thames, the home town of Sir Charles Cooper, South Australia's first judge. Cooper ha ...

was named for Cooper's hometown after Cooper rejected Sturt's proposed name "Cooper's Beach". His city home, at south-east corner of

Whitmore Square Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m2), it is located at the junction of Sturt Street, Adelaide, Sturt and Morphett St ...

, was in May 1870 re-opened as the Bushmen's Club, a facility for members visiting the city.

Family

On 7 July 1853, Charles Cooper married Emily Grace Newenham, eldest daughter of Charles Burton Newenham, Sheriff of the Province. They had no children, and she outlived him. His sister Sarah Ann Cooper (c. 1804 – 31 May 1895) married William Bartley (1801–1885), Senior Solicitor to the Lands Titles Office on 23 September 1852.

Sources

*
Cooper, Sir Charles (1795 - 1887)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 1, MUP, 1966, pp 244–245.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Charles 1795 births 1887 deaths Chief Justices of South Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of South Australia Colony of South Australia judges 19th-century Australian judges South Australian politicians People from Henley-on-Thames 19th-century Australian politicians