Sir Charles Cooper (1795 – 24 May 1887) was the first Chief Justice of South Australia and for two years a politician in the colony of South Australia.
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Early life and education
Charles Cooper was born in 1795 Henley-on-Thames, the third son of Thomas Cooper, under-sheriff of Oxfordshire.
He entered the Inner Temple in 1822 and was called to the bar in February 1827.
Career
He and his sister Sarah Ann Cooper traveled to the colony of South Australia onboard the Katherine Stewart Forbes, arriving in Adelaide in March 1839.
In September 1860 was sworn in as a member of the Executive Council of South Australia, which was part of the government in the now self-governing colony.
Honours and legacy
While in South Australia he had a seaside residence adjacent to "The Grange", Charles Sturt's property for which Grange Beach was named. It is likely that Henley Beach 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, was in May 1870 re-opened as the Bushmen's Club, a facility for members visiting the city.
Personal life
Cooper married in 1853 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.