George William Cooper
Mayor of Oxford 1894/5
George William Cooper (1833–1922) was born at Lower Heyford on 13 April 1833. The 1841 census shows him living there at the age of eight with his father George Cooper, who was a butcher; his mother Mary; and his younger siblings John (4) and Leah (17 months). The family appear to have moved to Kidlington, as his younger brother Harry was born there in 1843. But his brother Frank was born in Lower Heyford again in 1849.
Cooper’s wife, Ann, was born in Kidlington, and the couple appear to have started off their married life there. By the time of the 1871 census they had moved to Oxford, and were living at 55 St Thomas’s High Street. Aged 37, Cooper is described as a baker, and he and his wife Ann have two children: Henry (7) and a baby boy just three days old. Also living with them are his sister Elizabeth Shirley (47) and his brothers Harry (22 and described as a baker), and Frank (17). Two bakers who worked for Cooper were lodging with them, and they had one domestic servant and a nurse, presumably for the baby.
Cooper’s civic career began in 1876 when he was elected as a Liberal for the North ward, but after the council rearrangement in 1889 he served on the West ward.
At the time of the 1881 census Cooper was still living in St Thomas’s parish, Oxford: aged 47, he is described as a master baker and corn merchant, and with him and his wife are his sons George (20) and Harry (17) who are both described as baker’s sons, and his daughter Lizzie (18), described as a baker’s daughter. His two other sons, Ernest (10) and Sidney (6), are still at school. Also living in the house are five journeyman bakers (ranging in age from 15 to 24) and a female general servant.
In 1887 Cooper was appointed Sheriff of Oxford; in 1894 Chief Magistrate; and in 1894 Mayor. Because the new Town Hall was in the process of being built during his mayoralty, council meetings were held in various places, such as New Road or the University Schools. He took the Corporation to a service at a nonconformist place of worship (New Road Baptist Church) for the first time.
In 1891 Cooper was one of the passengers in a coach driven on the frozen Thames from Folly Bridge to Iffley lock. The census that year shows him living at 8 St Frideswide Terrace with his wife and four of his children: Elizabeth (28), Harry (27) and Ernest (20), who were both grocer’s assistant, and Sidney (16), who was an accountant’s clerk. The family has one servant.
In 1895 Cooper was made an Alderman, and in 1899 a Justice of the Peace.
Cooper’s arms are set in glass in the Council Chamber (left)
Because he was on the Municipal Buildings Committee when the new Town Hall was opened (1897), Cooper’s head is carved in stone in the Council Chamber corridor (right).
By the time of the 1901 census, Cooper had retired to Glendale, 39 Banbury Road. His wife had died, and his widowed daughter Mrs Elizabeth Hughes (38) was living with him. they were looked after by two servants.
Cooper is probably the only councillor to have served on the council simultaneously with his son (G.H. Cooper) and his daughter (Mrs Lizzie Hughes).
Cooper died at 39 Banbury Road in 1922.
See also:
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 June 1915, p. 9 ("Who’s Who in Oxford")
- Oxford Times, 14 April 1922, p. 8 (interview on his 89th birthday)
- Arms of Cooper in stained glass in a window of the Council Chamber
- 1841 Census: Oxford (Lower Heyford), 886/05/06
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Thomas), 1440/65
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Thomas), 1504/8
- 1891 Census: Oxford (St Thomas), 1169/45
- 1901 Census: Oxford (St Thomas), 1381/125