Spencer Cowper (priest)

Spencer Cowper (1713–1774) was Dean of Durham Cathedral from 1746 to 1774,^[1] known also for his early contributions to meteorology and his liking for poetry and music.^[2]

Life and work

Cowper was the younger son of William Cowper, the first Earl and the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and his second wife Mary Clavering. He was the cousin of the poet William Cowper.^[2]

He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, matriculating in 1729 aged 16, graduating B.A. 1732, M.A. 1734, B.D. & D.D. 1746.^[3]

Along with his religious duties as Dean of Durham, he kept a naturalist's journal which included records of the local meteorology.^[2]

Some of Cowper's sermons^[4] survive, as does a collection of his letters published in 1956.^[5]

Relatives

Cowper Family Tree^[6]

William Cowper
(d. 1664)
1st Baronet of Ratling Court in the County of Kent

Martha Master

Joyce Hukeley
(1622–1669)

John Cowper
(1613–1643)

Sir Samuel Holled
(1619–1661)

Anne Cowper
(d. 1664)

William Cowper
(1639–1706)
2nd Baronet of Ratling Court

Sarah Cowper
(1644–1720)

Baron Cowper of Wingham in the County of Kent, 1706
Earl Cowper and Viscount Fordwich, in the County of Kent, 1718

Elizabeth Culling
(1676–1703)

William Cowper
(1665–1723)
1st Earl Cowper, 1st Viscount Fordwich, 3rd Baronet of Ratling Court

1) Judith Booth
(d. 1705)

2) Mary Clavering
(1685–1724)

Samuel Cowper
(1666)

John Cowper
(1667–1686)

Spencer Cowper
(1670–1728)

Pennington
Goodere
(1667–1727)

William Cowper
(1697–1719)

Mary Cowper
(1700–1740)

William Cowper
(1687–1692?)

William Cowper
(1689–1740)

Spencer Cowper
(1690)

Spencer Cowper
(1691–1706)

John Cowper
(1694–1756)

Ashley Cowper
(1701–1768)

Judith Madan
(1702–1781)

Sarah Cowper
(1707–1764)

William Clavering-Cowper
(1709–1764)
2nd Earl Cowper, 2nd Viscount Fordwich, 4th Baronet of Ratling Court

Anne Cowper
(1710–1764)

Spencer Cowper
(1713–1774)

William Cowper
(1731–1800)

George Nassau Clavering-Cowper
(1738–1789)
3rd Earl Cowper, 3rd Viscount Fordwich, 5th Baronet of Ratling Court

George Augustus Clavering-Cowper
(1776–1799)
4th Earl Cowper, 4th Viscount Fordwich, 6th Baronet of Ratling Court

Peter Leopold Louis Francis Nassau
(1778–1837)
5th Earl Cowper, 5th Viscount Fordwich, 7th Baronet of Ratling Court

George Augustus Frederick Cowper
(1806–1856)
6th Earl Cowper, 6th Viscount Fordwich, 8th Baronet of Ratling Court

Francis Thomas de Grey Cowper
(1834–1905)
7th Earl Cowper, 7th Viscount Fordwich, 8th Baron Lucas, 3rd Baron Butler, 9th Baronet of Ratling Court, 4th Lord Dingwall

Florence Amabell Herbert

Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert
(1838–1906)

Earldom of Cowper, Viscountcy of Fordwich, Barony of Cowper, Baronetcy of Ratlingcourt extinct, 1905

Auberon Thomas Herbert
(1876–1916)
9th Baron Lucas, 5th Lord Dingwall

Nan Ino Cooper
(1880–1958)
10th Baroness Lucas, 6th Lady Dingwall

Anne Rosemary Palmer
(d. 1991)
11th Baroness Lucas, 7th Lady Dingwall

Ralph Matthew Palmer
(b. 1951)
12th Baron Lucas, 8th Lord Dingwall

References

^ Deconinck-Brossard, Francoise (2008) [2004]. "Cowper, Spencer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6508. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ ^a ^b ^c Kenworthy, Joan M; McCollum, Margaret S (March 2009). "A Contribution to Meteorology by Spencer Cowper, Dean of Durham 1746-74". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 63 (1): 57–80. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2007.0047. JSTOR 40647193. S2CID 145590156.
^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Cowper, Spencer (1)" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
^ Cowper, Spencer (1773). Eight Discourses preached on or near the great festivals in the Cathedral Church of Durham. London: the corner of Essex-Street in the Strand: W. Brown.
^ Cowper, Spencer (1956). Hughes, Edward (ed.). Letters of Spencer Cowper, Dean of Durham, 1746-74. Andrews & Co.
^ Gittings, Clare (January 1997). "The hell of living: Reflections on death in the diary of Sarah, Lady Cowper, 1700–1716". Mortality. 2 (1): 26. doi:10.1080/713685853.