Thomas Cooper (20 March 1805 – 15 July 1892) was an English

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and a leading Chartist. His prison rhyme the ''

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

s'' (1845) runs to 944 stanzas. He also wrote novels and in later life religious texts. He was self-educated and worked as a

shoemaker Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...

, then a

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

, a

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled after B ...

and a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, before taking up Chartism in 1840. He was seen as a passionate, determined and fiery man.

Early years

Cooper was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, the son of a working dyer. After his father's death, his mother began business as a dyer and fancy box-maker at

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Gainsborough is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the River Trent ...

, and young Cooper was

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

d to a

. In spite of hardships and difficulties, he managed to educate himself, and at the age of 23, having been a shoemaker in Gainsborough, managed to open a school there in 1827. He had moved to Lincoln by 1834 and married Susannah Chaloner, a cousin of

George Boole George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ire ...

in that year. His wife died in 1880. He joined the

Lincoln Mechanics' Institute The Lincoln Mechanics' Institute or Lincoln and Lincolnshire Mechanics' Institute was founded in Lincoln, England in 1833. It was one of the many Mechanics' institutes which sprang up in the early 19th century and was the first Mechanics' Institu ...

in 1834 and shortly afterwards was on the Committee of Institute. He probably remained on it until he left Lincoln in 1838.

Chartist leader and lecturer

After journal work in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

and

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 ...

, where he for a couple of months edited "The Kentish Mercury" from Greenwich, Cooper joined the staff of the ''Leicestershire Mercury'' in 1840 and moved to Leicester. Leicester under his leadership became a Chartist stronghold, with its own journals, such as the ''Commonwealthman'', and a school for adults. He became a leader and lecturer among them and in 1842 was imprisoned in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

for two years after riots in the

Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of cer ...

, where he wrote his ''Purgatory of Suicides'', a political epic. However, Cooper abandoned full-time radicalism on his release. In his efforts to publish his work after his liberation Cooper came to the notice of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

and

Douglas Jerrold Douglas William Jerrold (London 3 January 18038 June 1857 London) was an English dramatist and writer. Biography Jerrold's father, Samuel Jerrold, was an actor and lessee of the little theatre of Wilsby near Cranbrook in Kent. In 1807 Dougla ...

. With Jerrold's help, the work appeared in 1845, and Cooper then turned his attention to lecturing on historical and educational subjects.

Writing and lecturing

While working on various papers, Cooper in 1850 ran ''Cooper's Journal,'' but only a few issues appeared. At the same time he adopted

sceptical Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

views, which he continued to hold until 1855, when he reconverted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, joined the

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

, and was a preacher among them. According to his autobiography, he publicly announced his recovered faith during a lecture at London's Hall of Science on 13 January 1856, and began to challenge sceptics to debate. Though still calling himself a Chartist, he sought to earn a living and a reputation as a writer. In addition to his poems, he wrote several novels, although those like ''Alderman Ralph'' (1853) failed on both counts. Although he had abandoned his religious beliefs at the time of his imprisonment, Cooper's next 30 years were spent as a lecturer in defence of Christianity, attacking the evolutionary theories of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

and

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new sp ...

. He authored ''Evolution, The Stone Book, and The Mosaic Record of Creation'' (1878), which argued for

creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...

and rejected evolution. Cooper was impulsive, but an honest, sincere man. His autobiography (1872) is seen as a minor

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

classic. In his later years he settled into being an old-fashioned Radical. His friends in 1867 raised an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...

for him, and in the last year of his life he received a government pension. He died in Lincoln on 15 July 1892 and was buried there.

Works

Cooper's main works were: *''Wise Saws and Modern Instances'', London, 1845; written in Stafford jail *''Two Orations against Taking Away Human Life'', 1846, on

non-resistance Nonresistance (or non-resistance) is "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy. It is considered as a form of pri ...

*''The Baron's Yule Feast'', London, 1846 *''Land for the Labourers'', London, 1848 *''Captain Cobler: or, The Lincolnshire Rebellion : an historical romance of the reign of Henry VIII'', London, 1850 *''Bridge of History over the Gulf of Time'', London, 1871 *''Life of Thomas Cooper, written by Himself'', London, 1872 *''Plain Pulpit Talk'', London, 1872 *''God, the Soul, and a Future State'', London, 1873 *''Paradise of Martyrs'', London, 1873 *''Old-fashioned Stories'', London, 1874. New York, 1893
''Evolution, The Stone Book, and The Mosaic Record of Creation''
London, 1878 *''Atonement'', second series of ''Plain Pulpit Talk'', London, 1880

London, 1885 Cooper's ''Poetical Works'' were published in London, 1877.

References

Attribution: * * *

Sources

*Stephen Roberts (2008), ''The Chartist Prisoners: the Radical Lives of Thomas Cooper (1805–1892) and Arthur O'Neill (1819–1896)'' * ww.thepeoplescharter.co.uk People's Charter.

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Thomas 1805 births 1892 deaths British Christian creationists English prisoners and detainees Chartists Writers from Leicester English male poets 19th-century English poets 19th-century British writers 19th-century English Baptist ministers 19th-century English theologians British sceptics