The Couper arms are: Argent, a chevron gules, charged with another ermine between three laurel leaves slipped vert (1672-7).
In 1601 Robert Logan, the last baron of Restalrig, with the consent of Andrew Logan of Coitfield, sold “the towne and landis” of Nether Gogar, to Adam Couper*, a Clerk of Session and an Edinburgh man of business. He was among the creditors in 1598 of Thomas Foullis, goldsmith and Robert Jowsie, burgess of Edinburgh, who had contracted debts when providing King James VI with jewels, clothes and ready money.
*Adam Couper of Gogar [1586] - Second son of James Couper, Merchant Burgess of Edinburgh. Married (1) (contract, 1st February 1592-3) Margaret (died July 1607), daughter of David Danielstoun, Goldsmith Burgess of Edinburgh; and (2) 19th November 1607, Elizabeth Home (died 3rd December 1609). Fiscal, 1596-9. Principal Clerk of Session, 2nd December 1597. Died 3rd December 1608.
Couper made an interesting land deal in 1604 when, with the consent of James Mowat, chaplain of the Holy Rood that was situated in the lower part of the cemetery of St Giles, he bought a tenement of waste land in the Cowgate on the south side of the street near the former chapel. This ground in 1528 belonged to Walter Chepman, the first printer in Edinburgh, who after Flodden erected the Chapel of the Holy Rood on the area now covered by the National Library of Scotland. Chepman gave this piece of Southside Cowgate land to support the chaplain of his Chapel. At the reformation the Chapel was taken down and its stones used to build the Tolbooth.
Adam Couper’s son Alexander (Alexander Couper, of Foulfoord [before 1625] third son of Adam Couper of Gogar, W.S. Born 15th November 1598 Commissioner, 24th January 1642. Married (1) Catherine Cochrane, of the family of Barbachlay; (2) Elizabeth Marjoribanks (died 22nd September 1625; and (3) 24th August 1631, Isobel, eldest daughter of John Rae, Rector of the Grammar School, Edinburgh). In 1620 sold the ground to the Incorporation of Tailors who the following year built on the site the Tailors Hall still fortunately in existence.
When John Haistie resigned his four acres of Gogar Kirkland, Adam obtained them in feu ferme from the Provost and Baillies of Edinburgh acting for Trinity College. Finally, when the Richardson family sold their sixteen oxengate in 1604, Adam became the proprietor of the Barony of Gogar. The estate remained with the Couper family till the end of the 17th century.
On his entry to Gogar, Adam was involved in dispute with some of the tenants over their “dewty”. He obtained a decree against the tenants of the Kirklands which led James Crawford in 1604 to give up his two acres and houses.
When Adam died in 1608 his sons were minors. The curators for the heir, John, in 1609 paid Adam Dalrymple, Collector of the Kirk rents for Edinburgh, the parsonage and vicarage teinds of Gogar and the feu maill of the two acres of Kirkland.
John Couper, 1594-1640, married Helen Skene of Hallyards, 7th June 1620, Canongate, Edinburgh and built Gogar House (now Gogar Castle) in 1625. In 1638 he became a Baronet of Nova Scotia. His death is recorded as John Couper died 30th October 1640 (Gogar), Scotland.
Sir John Couper was living at a time of growing opposition to the policies of Charles I in matters civil and religious. The signing of the National Covenant and an increasing dislike of Episcopal government followed the rejection in 1637, of the Book of Common Prayer.
In the summer of 1640, when the Covenanters began to assemble their forces on the Borders, the Second Bishops War was about to begin. The Earl of Haddington, as major general in Lothian, was in charge of provisioning the Covenanting army. His base was at Dunglas Castle to which carts from Edinburgh made their way laden with beer, wine, biscuits and coal. Sir John Couper was with Haddington at Dunglas. On 20th August the Scots crossed into England and eight days later Leslie routed a royalist force at Newburn.
When news of the flight of the English reached Dunglas on the 30th August Haddington passed derogatory remarks on the enemy in the hearing of a page (Edward Parise or Ned Pavis). In the late afternoon, having dined with his gentleman companions, Haddington went downstairs reading a letter that he had just received. Suddenly the castle blew up with a blast of gunpowder, a wall collapsed killing the Earl of Haddington, his brothers, son, cousin, four other noblemen including Couper of Gogar and eighty others, including the page. The English page, described as trusted but faithless had thrust a hot iron into gunpowder. Parise/Pavis is thought to have blown up Dunglas in revenge for Haddington’s jeers at the English.
A handsome monument was erected to Couper’s memory in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh
He was in his 46th year.
Sir John Couper the younger who succeeded as Laird of Gogar and took an active part in public affairs. He served on the Committee of War for Edinburgh during the English Civil War period. In 1650 he expressed publicly in the kirk of Corstorphine his repentance for having taken part in the engagement by a group of Covenanters with Charles I when he was at Carisbrooke, to invade England if Charles accepted Presbyterianism in Scotland.
During the Cromwellian occupation of Scotland, Sir John had his estate appraised to meet the debts he owed to Helen Balsille, John Clerkson his tenant and James Duncan son of Robert Duncan in the Moat. Later, however, he redeemed his land. After the Reformation he was a Commissioner of Excise, a Justice of the Peace, a Commissioner of Supply and a Commissioner for Midlothian in Parliament. In 1681 he reminded the authorities that he had been appointed a Major of Militia under the Duke of Lauderdale in 1668 but was no longer able to carry out his duties because of age and infirmity. The Privy Council relieved him of his duties.
The Register of the Privy Seal, William III and Mary II, in 1689, Act anent May-November, some of the nobility were made Justices of the Peace within the shire of Edinburgh, including Sir John Couper.
Sir John was buried 29th November 1689 at the Old Chapel of Gogar.
The right worshipfull Sir John, Knight
ARMS: argent a chevron gules surmounted of ane other ermine betwixt three Lawrell slips vert. CREST: a hand holding a garland. MOTTO: Virtute.
John the younger was the last Couper to live at Gogar Castle. His daughter, Mary, was the wife of Thomas Chalmers, eldest son of James Chalmers, advocate. In 1685 Sir John who was heavily in debt executed a Deed of Entail of the lands of Gogar in favour of Chalmers and his wife. An entail ensured the succession to property of a prescribed line of heirs and was breakable only on certain conditions. No new entails were allowed after 1914. The Scots term is Tailzie. Chalmers then gave up his wadset (mortgage) right to 80,000 merks over Gogar lands but he, too, was in financial difficulties and borrowed from his brother Robert 30,000 merks which he advanced to his father-in-law’s creditors.
The entail on Gogar prevented Chalmer’s creditors getting any repayment out of the estate. So Robert Chalmers and other creditors of Thomas Chalmers raised an action of reduction (annulment) in the Court of Session on the ground that the entail was a fraudulent conveyance prejudicial to their interests. Their action was successful; a reduction being granted in 1697. Gogar estate was rouped in 1699 and bought by a wealthy Edinburgh merchant Andrew Myrton of Leny.
When Gogar estate came on the market in 1786 Sir Grey Cooper hoped to regain the family property but the price was too high. Sir Grey was Senior Secretary to the Treasury in 1767 and represented Rochester in Parliament. He traced descent from James brother of Sir John, the younger. When the 7th Bart, Sir Frederick Cooper, died unmarried in 1850 the title became extinct.
James Couper, Merchant Burgess of Edinburgh, had issue:-
Adam Couper, of Gogar Midlothian, b about 1552, d 1608. Married to Katherine Denniston, (The register of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet lists, Adam Couper, of Gogar [1586] second son of James Couper, Merchant Burgess of Edinburgh. Married (1) (contract, 1st February 1592-3), Margaret (died July 1607),daughter of David Danielstoun, Goldsmith Burgess of Edinburgh; and (2) 19th November 1607, Elizabeth Home (died 3rd December 1609). Fiscal, 1596-9. Principal Clerk of Session, 2nd December 1597. Died 3rd December 1608). had issue:-
Johnne Cowper, b1594.
Elizabeth, Christened 21/1/1595.
James, Christened 30/10/1597.
Alexander, Christened 15/11/1598. (The register of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet lists, Alexander Couper, of Foulfoord [Before 1625].- Third son of Adam Couper of Gogar, W.S. Born 15th November 1598, Commissioner, 24th January 1642. Married (1) Catherine Cochrane, of the family of Barbachlay; (2) Elizabeth Marjoribanks (died 22nd September 1625; and (3) 24th August 1631, Isobel, eldest daughter of John Rae, Rector of the Grammar School, Edinburgh). (Could this be the person referred to in The Genealogist [O.S., vol., i, pp. 257-266])?
George, Christened 26/8/1600.
Thomas, Christened 4/10/1601.
Robert, Christened 23/1/1603.
Margaret, Christened 15/2/1604.
Andrew, Christened 24/2/1605.
Adame, Christened 23/3/1606.
Johnne, b1594, d30/10/1640, m 7/6/1620 d30/8/1640 Helen Skene dJuly 1667. had issue:-
Johnne, Christened 18/3/1621 – d1690.
Margaret, Christened 12/8/1623.
Alisone, Christened 28/6/1624.
Helen, Christened 24/6/1625.
William, Christened 22/5/1629.
Catharine, Christened 6/10/1631.
Alexander, Christened 11/2/1634.
Robert, Christened 17/4/1635 m Margaret Inglis.
Alexander, Christened 18/7/1637.
Rebecca, Christened 22/3/1639.
Jeane, Christened 7/4/1640.
Sir William Couper, had issue:-
Agnes, Christened 28/6/1612.
Sir John Couper (Knighted prior to 26/8/1643), m to Elizabeth Fowlis had issue: -
Johnne, Christened 22/3/1643.
Margaret, Christened 11/12/1647, m 28/10/1680 Archibald Graham Bishop of the Isles, (had issue 2 daughters and coheirs, one of whom married Walter Graham of Kilmardinny).
James, Christened 7/3/1652.
Sir John Couper, m 15/3/1661. Dame Margaret Inglis, had issue: -
Barbara, Christened 5/5/1646.
Alison, Christened 16/7/1650.
Mary, Christened 24/2/1662, m Thomas Chalmers, Advocate, of the family of Aucherbrae.
James, Christened 15/10/1663, m Janet Fergusson heiress of the Isles
John Couper, m Margaret Foulis, had issue:-
Agnes, Christened 21/5/1770.
William, Christened 20/2/1773.
1595-1700 p.150/1
Cowper (Couper), Adam, writer; Elizabeth Home 3rd November 1607.
Cowper (Couper), Sir John of Gogar; Dame Margaret Inglis 15th March 1661.
1406-1700 p. 121:-
Coupar Sir Johne, of Gogare, by right of umquhyle Father Jon. Council of Guild-brother, Burgess and Guild-brother, gratis, by act of Council.
17th January 1677.
Coupar Sir James, Burgess and Guild-brother, son to deceased. Alexr. Council of Foulford, chief commander in the empire of Materra and late Admiral to the Dutch East India fleet in the year 1688.
23rd August 1689.
Couper, Adame, of Gogar, ordinary clerk of the College of Justice.
31st May and 26th June 1609.
Danielstoun, Margaret, sometime spouse to umquhyle Adam Couper, of Gogar, ordinary clerk of College of Justice.
10th March 1609.
Home, Elizabeth, relict of Adam Couper of Gogar, clerk of His Majesty’s Council of Session.
9th May 1610.
Couper, John, of Gogar, par. of Corstorphine, sher. of Edinburgh.
29th February 1644.
Couper, Mr. Adam, son to the deceased Adam C. of Gogar.
3rd August 1655.
Couper, Sir John, of Gogar.
5th April 1690.
Alexander Cooper of Failford, valuation of lands £551 18 4d. ‘A Directory of Land Ownership in Scotland c1770’.
Due to the complexity of the following documents and the number of claims that have been made on the title of the ‘Couper’, the Court of the Lord Lyon, was contacted and the following information was forwarded:-
there is a Scottish baronetcy conferred in 1641 on Sir William Cowper, who in 1641/2 also had conferred upon him an English baronetcy. That baronetcy is now merged with the Earldom of Cowper and we are not concerned with that baronetcy,
the second baronetcy is the putative one created in 1646 and conferred on Sir John Couper of Gogar. This was held by him and his son and then there was a hiatus of 131 years before it was assumed by Sir Grey Couper and borne by his descendants until Sir Frederick died unmarried in 1850 when the assumption ceased,
an entirely separate baronetcy was created in 1841 as a United Kingdom baronetcy and conferred on Sir John Couper and this is now the baronetcy held by Sir Nicholas Couper.
There is therefore, so far as the baronetcies are concerned, no connection at all between the baronetcy held by Sir Nicholas Couper (the present Baronet) and the baronetcy possibly created in 1646 for Sir John Couper of Gogar.
It is also the case that their Arms are not precisely the same in that the Arms granted to Sir John Couper have an Argent or silver/white field, whereas those recorded in name of Dr. Robert Couper have an Or or gold/yellow field and the Arms granted to Dr. Robert Couper were quite clearly new arms and not in any way based on those of Couper of Gogar".
From The Compact Edition Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press 1975:-
Sir GREY COOPER, (d 1801) politician was lineally descended from John Cooper, who is said to have been created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1638. Sir John Cooper the son and successor of the first baronet, died without issue but the title was assumed in 1775 by Sir Grey, the great grandson of the Rev. James Cooper, the second baronet’s next brother. Cooper who was a native of Newcastle-on-Tyne entered at the Temple and was in due time called to the bar on the formation of the Rockingham ministry in 1765 he plunged into politics in support of the new ministry. A pamphlet published anonymously, but believed to have been the composition of Charles Lloyd, private secretary to George Grenville, was issued in that year and from the circumstances of its authorship attracted some attention. It was entitled ‘An Honest Mans Reasons for declining to take any part in the New Administration,’ and was promptly answered by Cooper in two anonymous productions, the first called ‘A Pair of Spectacles for Short-sighted Politicians; or a Candid answer to a late extraordinary Pamphlet, entitled “An Honest Man’s Reason, &c.,” 1765 and the second entitled ‘The Merits of the New Administration truly stated,’ 1765. These brochures recommended him to the notice of the Rockingham ministry as a fit holder of the office of secretary of the treasury, but as his acceptance of the post would have involved the abandonment of a legal career, he did not consent to change his mode of life until he had secured ‘ an adequate pension in case of dismission.’His services as joint secretary of the treasury were so acceptable that he was continued therein under the successive governments of Lord Chatham Duke of Grafton and Lord North (1765-82). On the downfall of the last ministry he went out of office, but on the formation in 1783 of the coalition cabinet of North and Fox he became a lord of the treasury and remained there until the dismissal of the ministry by The King, after which date he never resumed office. While one of the treasury secretaries under Lord North he managed the Cornish boroughs and the duchy revenues but with these exceptions his energies were confined to the more legitimate duties of his office. In December 1765 he stood for Rochester against John Calcraft and was duly elected. At the dissolution in 1768 he was returned for Grampound. From 1774 to 1784 he sat for Saltash and from 1786 to 1790 he was one of the members for Richmond in Yorkshire. Cooper's administrative abilities were justly esteemed and he was considered a high authority on financial questions. During the debate on the commercial treaty with France (1787) he took an active part in the opposition and yielded to few ‘in his accurate knowledge of the complicated interests which it included.’ On this and the other financial measures of Pitt he directed a keen and searching criticism. Cooper retired from public life some years before his death and his nomination in 1796, as a privy councillor was a worthy tribute to his past services as a public official. He died very suddenly at Worlington, Suffolk, on 30th July 1801, aged 75 and was buried in the church, where there is a monument to his memory. His first wife (1753) was Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry Grey of Howick, who died 1755 without issue. His second wife (1762) was Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Kennedy of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; she died at Worlington on 3 November 1809, aged 75, having had issue two sons and two daughters. One of these sons came into possession in 1797, under a reversionary patent, of the post of auditor of the land revenue in nearly every county in England, a place worth about 2,000l. per annum and Cooper was supposed to share in the emoluments. Two of Cooper’s letters on public affairs are in the ‘Correspondences of the first Lord Auckland’ vol i. 357-9, 361-2, several to Sir Philip Francis are in the ‘memoirs of Francis’ ii, 41, 85 and many sprightly notes from him are in ‘Garrick’s Correspondence,’ vols. i and ii. He was the author, in addition to the works already stated, of ‘The State of Proceedings in the House of Commons on the Petition of the Duke and Duchess of Athol, relating to the Isle of Man,’ 1769 and of ‘Stanzas… inscribed to the Reverend William Mason, as a testimony of Esteem and Friendship.’
[Brit Mus. Add.MS.19167, f.9; Gent. Mag. 1801, pt. Ii.69-70, 1809, p.1084; Wraxall’s Memoirs (1884 ed). i. 428, iii.56, ıv. 402. T. 99; Almon’s Anecdotes, i. 92-4; Albemarle’s Rockingham, i. 309-10; Granville Papers, ıv. 157; Nicholas’s Illustr. Of lit. vi. 700-1.] W.P.C.
In the Complete Baronetage, volume II (1625-1649) edited by G. E. C. (published 1902). CREATIONS [S.] BY CHARLES I.
Page 439;
COWPER or COUPER:
cr. 24 March 1638; (d)
afterwards, from 1642 Baronets [E.];
from 1706,Barons COWPER of WINGHAM;
and from 1718,EARLS COWPER
I 1638. WILLIAM COWPER, of Ratling Court, in Nonington, co. Kent, was cr. a Baronet [S.] shortly before 1641, (d) and was subsequently cr., 4 March 1641/2, a Baronet [E.]. See p. 160 for fuller particulars of him and for the devolution of the title.
(d) See an article by “W.S. Cooper, Advocate,” on “Cooper of Gogar,” in The Genealogist [O.S., vol. i, p. 334].
Page 445/6;
COOPER or COUPER:
stated to be a
Baronetcy [S.]; (c)
created about 1638, or 1646. (d)
1638? JOHN COOPER, or COUPER, of Gogar, co. Midlothian, only s. and h. of Adam Cooper, Clerk of Session [S.], by Katharine Dennistoun, his wife, suc. his father (who had purchased the estate of Gogar in or shortly before 1601) in 1608 and is said to have been cr. a Baronet [S.], (c) probably about 1638, (d) but “no patent is entered in the Great Seal Register and it does not seem anywhere to be asserted that the original exists.” (c) He m. in or before 1620, Helen Skene, of Halyards. He d. 30thbur. 21st July 1667, at the Greyfriars, Edinburgh. Alexander Couper of Foulford Writer to the Signet was as next of kin tutor to the infants.
(c) An article on “Cooper of Gogar,” by “S***,” in The Genealogist [O.S., vol I, pp. 257 – 266 and 334], supplementing one in the Her. and Gen. [vol. viii, p. 193], deals fully with this family and “furnishes a negative reply” to the two questions (1), “Was a Baronetcy ever conferred on a Cooper, of Gogar?” and (2), “Is Mr.[William] Cooper, of Failford [in 1876], the heir male of the Gogar family?”
Both these articles are reproduced at the end of the compilation
(d) The date of 1638 and the remainder to heirs male are given in Playfair’s Baronetage [S.]. In Patterson’s Ayrshire, it is stated that the first Baronet “does not appear to have assumed the title. It is, however sometimes alleged that the Baronetcy was not created till 1646 in the person of the son.” This date, “1646,” is the one given in Edmondson’s List of Scotch Baronetcies.
II 1640,to 1686? John, afterwards (1643) Sir JOHN COOPER. or COUPER, of Gogar aforesaid, s. and h., bap. 18th March 1621; served heir to his father, 27th October 1640 and then styled “John Couper, of Nether Gogar;” was Knighted before 26th August 1643 and appears as Knight, but never as Baronet, in various commissions; was M.P. [S.] for co. Edinburgh, 1681 – 82; He m 15th March 1661, Margaret Inglis, of the family of Inglis of Otterston. He d. s.p.m., (e) in or shortly after 1686, when the estate of Gogar was sold to pay his debts.
(e) He left two daughters and coheirs, viz., (1) Mary, who m. Thomas Chalmers, and had issue; and (2) Margaret, m. 28th October 1680, Archibald Graham, Bishop of the Isles, by whom she had two daughters and coheirs.
[Nothing was heard of this (supposed) Baronetcy for upwards of one hundred and thirty years, when it was assumed as under].
III (f)1775,Sir GREY COOPER, Baronet [S. 1638?], (g) claiming to be cousin and h. male. He was s. and h. of William Grey M.D., who practised as a Physician at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by Mary in or before 1726),da. of Edward Grey, of Alnwick, which William (h)(who d. 5th May 1758), was only s. of another William Cooper, (h) M.D., who practised as a Physician at Berwick- upon-Tweed, who was s. of the Rev. James Cooper, (h) Minister of Wigton, 1664; of Mochrum, 1666; and Humbie 1681, till deprived as a non juror in 1695, when he became Curate of the Holyisland, near Berwick (where he died early in 1701), which James (though not licensed as a minister (i) till 16th February 1663) is stated (g) to be identical with James (seemingly (i) born 1622), 2d s. of the 1st Baronet. (k) He was b. about 1726 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; was admitted to the Temple and became a Barrister; was M.P. for Rochester, 1765-68; for Grampound, 1768-74; for Saltash 1774-84; and for Richmond. 1786-90; was a zealous supporter of the Rockingham Ministry [1765-66] and was Joint Sec. of the Treasury, (under three Ministries) 1765-82, was a Lord of the Treasury; April to Dec. 1783; P.C., 29th April 1796. Having suc. his father 5th May 1758, he was, 1st August 1775, served heir male to Sir John Cooper, of Gogar, called the 2nd Baronet and stated to have been brother of his great grandfather, James Cooper, by a service before the Sheriff of Edinburgh, which was, however, “never retoured to Chancery and [even] if it had been, could have conveyed no right to a title which had no existence.” (i) He accordingly after that date assumed the Baronetcy, that was ascribed in that service to the family of Cooper of Gogar. He m. firstly, 5th October 1753, Margaret sister of Charles, 1st EARL GREY, da. of Sir Henry GREY 1st Baronet [1746] of Howick, by Hannah, da. of Thomas Wood, of Falloden, co. Northumberland. She, who was bap. 8th December 1726, d. s.p. in 1755. He m. secondly, 19th July 1762, Elizabeth, da. of (-) Kennedy, of Newcastle- upon-Tyne. He d., suddenly, 30th July 1801 at his seat at Worlington, co. Suffolk, aged 75 and was bur. in the church there. M.I. will pr.1801. His widow d. there, 3rd November 1809, aged (also) 75.
(f) This numbering is exclusive of any who might have had a right to the [supposed] Baronetcy, after the death, about 1686, of Sir John Cooper, the s. and h. of John, the presumed grantee.
(g) According to the service of 1st August 1775.
(h) None of these three persons assumed the Baronetcy, which, in the case of James, who for many years survived the 2d Baronet (said to be his brother), is (to say the least) very remarkable.
(i) See note “c”(previous article).
(k) “One would expect to find the son of a gentleman, who had a residence in the town of Edinburgh and whose estate was only at a distance of five miles, a graduate of the University there, but the name of this James is not on the list. Then he was not licensed till 16th February 1663, when James, the son of Gogar, would have been over 40 years. It is not impossible that [James] the clergyman, was the James, yr. Br. of Sir John, but it seems unlikely and one would like to see the proofs that satisfied the jury.” (See note “c” previous article.)
IV (f) 1801 Sir WILLIAM HENRY COOPER Baronet [S.1638?], (g) 1st s. and h. by 2d wife; b 29th May 1766; took Holy Orders; was a Prebend of Rochester Cathedral, 1793-97; suc. to the Baronetcy, (g) 30th July 1801, was sometime detained prisoner in France by Napoleon. He m., 21st May 1787, Isabella Ball, only da. of Moses Franks, of Teddington, co. Midx. He d. about 1834. Will pr. January 1835. His widow d. 27th January 1855, at Isleworth House, co. Midx, aged 85. Will pr. February 1855.
V (f) 1834 Sir WILLIAM HENRY COOPER, Baronet [S. 1638?], (g) only s. and h. b. 28th March 1788; suc. to the Baronetcy, (g) about 1834. He m. 10th April 1827, at St. Geo., Han. Sq., Anne, 1st da. of Charles KEMEYS-TYNTE, of Kevenmably, co. Glamorgan, by Anne, da. of the Rev. Thomas Leyson, Vicar of Bossaleg, co. Monmouth. He d. s.p.s., 14th January 1836, at Chilton Lodge (near Andover), Berks, aged 47. Will pr. February 1836. His widow d. 17th September 1880, at Leversdown, Bridgewater.
VI(f) 1836 Sir FREDERICK GREY COOPER, Baronet [S. 1638?] (g) uncle and h.; b. 19th March 1769; was a “Colonel” before 1805; suc to the Baronetcy, (g) 14th January 1836. He m. 7th January 1805, at St. Geo., Han. Sq., Charlotte Dorothea (then a minor), 2d da. of Sir John HONYWOOD, 4th Baronet [1660], by Frances, da. of William (COURTENAY), 2d VISCOUNT COURTENAY of POWDERHAM. She d. July 1811. He d. 23rd February 1840, at Barton Grange, Somerset, aged 71. Will pr. April 1840.
VII (f) 1840 to 1850 Sir FREDERICK COOPER,Baronet [S. 1638?], (g) only s. and h., b. probably about 1808; suc. to the Baronetcy, (e) 23rd February 1840. He d. unm. 1850, when the issue male of his grandfather, Grey Cooper,became extinct, and the assumption of the Baronetcy (g) (commenced by his said grandfather in 1775) ceased. (l)
(l) The notice in Debrett’s Baronetage for 1870, that William Cooper, of Failford, co.Ayr, claims this Baronetcy “as representative of the 3rd son of the 1st Baronet,” is not correct as far as such claim goes, though apparently the pedigree is correct. The matter is very fully discussed in The Genealogist [O.S., vol. i, pp. 257-266, corrected by p. 334] and in the Her. and Gen. [vol. viii, pp. 193-196], where in a quotation that the Rev. John Cooper, formerly Couper (who died, s.p. 1789 aged 80) “considered himself entitled to the Baronetcy of Gogar and was proceeding to claim it but desisted therefrom on the appearance of Sir Grey Cooper, claiming descent from an elder branch.” This John was elder brother to William Cooper formerly Couper, of Curries’ Close, High Street, Glasgow, merchant who, in 1786, purchased the estate of Failford, (which his descendants still hold).
The following article appears in The Genealogist, volume 1 (1877), edited by George Marshall, LLD. Page 334 Edith Weston Registers. Referred to in (c) above.
[We insert with pleasure the following communication, though in our opinion it does not prove that a baronetcy was created in favour of the Coopers of Gogar. - Editor Genealogist.]
The article with the above title which appeared in the last number of ‘The Genealogist’ is founded upon an error. The paragraph quoted from ‘Debrett,’ making Mr. Cooper of Failford claim the Gogar Baronetcy, was unauthorized.
I wrote to the Editor of that work, last year, asking him to delete the words “title extinct” appended to a notice of Lady Cooper, widow of the last Baronet, as I believe that descendants of the first Baronet were in existence, but not only had I no authority from Mr. Cooper of Failford to make any claim to the Baronetcy, but I expressly stated that no claim was then made. My object was simply to keep the matter open during farther investigation.
As regards the assertion that no baronetcy was ever conferred upon a Couper of Gogar, Edmondson gives a list of the ‘Baronets of Scotland, commonly called Nova-Scotia Baronets.’ In it occurs the name of “Couper of Gogar created 1646.”
This list, he says, was “faithfully transcribed from the Records of the Order, under the Great Seal of Scotland, by James Cummings, Esq., Keeper of the Records and Secretary to the Order.” And Wood’s MS. ‘History of Corstorphine,’ considered to be a good authority upon other points, also states that “John Couper was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1646.”
It has been supposed that this Baronetcy was created in 1638, but this seems to be a mistake arising partly from the fact of Sir John Couper having been so designated prior to 1646 (he had probably been knighted in 1640 or early in 1641) and partly from confusion with the patent of “Sir Wm. Couper of Ratlingcourt,” the date of which patent, I find, is 24th March 1638.
W. S. COOPER, Advocate.
Arms: Or a chevron gules charged with another ermine, between three laurel-leaves slipped vert. Crest: Out of mural crown argent, a hand holding a garland proper. Motto: Virtute (‘By valour’).
Creation: Bt. [UK] 23rd June 1841.
Lineage: GEORGE COUPER, of Bafer, near Sorby; had:
ROBERT COUPER MD. FAS. of Fochabers, Moray of; m. 1786 Grace, dau of Rev. Ebenezer Stott, of Minigaff and had, with a yr. s. and three daus:
From The Compact Edition Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press 1975:
COUPER Robert, M.D. (1750-1818), Scottish poet, son of a farmer at Balsier, parish of Sorbie, Wigtonshire, was born 22nd September 1750. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1769 with the view of studying for the ministry of the Church of Scotland, but, his parents having died before he had completed his studies, he accepted the office of tutor in a family in Virginia, America. On the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1776 he returned to Scotland and after studying medicine at the University of Glasgow began practice at Newton Stewart, Wigtonshire. In 1788 he settled in Fochabers, Banffshire, as physician to the Duke of Gordon. In 1801 he published at Inverary two volumes. ‘Poetry chiefly in the Scottish Language,’ dedicated to the Duke of Gordon, the first volume mainly consisting of poems on the seasons and the second of odes and songs. Among the best known of his songs are ‘Red gleams the Sun,’ tune ‘Neil Gow,’ inserted in his own works under the title ‘Kinrara,’ and ‘The Ewebughta, Marion.’ He left Fochabers in 1806 and died at Wigton, 18th January 1818.
Stenhouse’s notes to Johnson’s Musical Museum, ed Laing; Charles Roger’s, Modern Scottish Minstrel 10-16.
ROBERTUS COUPER filius natu tertius Georgii Agricolae in parochia de Sorby in Gallovidia
Born at Balseir farmhouse, Sorbie, Wigtonshire, 22nd September, 1750. M.D. 1782. Tutor in Virginia for some years, up to 1776. Practitioner at (1) Newton-Stewart, (2) Fochabers, as Physician to the Duke of Gordon, 1788-1806. A minor poet of some reputation. Died at Wigton, 18th January, 1818.
One of his sons was: -
Sir George Couper, 1st Bt. [UK], so cr 23rd June 1841, CB. KH; b 1788; Col Comptroller Household to DUCHESS OF KENT (mother of QUEEN VICTORIA). Married 20th June 1820 Elizabeth (died 14th March 1880) daughter of Hon Justice Sir John Wilson, of the Howe, Westmorland and had issue:-
Sir George Ebenezer Wilson Couper, 2nd Bt. KCSI. CB. CIE. HEICS; b.29 April 1824 married 29 April 1852 Caroline Penelope (died 28 Nov 1910), sis of Sir Henry Flowers Every, 10th Bt, of Egginton (qv) and died 5th March 1908 leaving:
Sir Ramsay George Henry Couper, 3rd Bt. Lt 60th Foot, b.1st November 1855; married 22nd January 1844 Nora Emma (d 1st January 1925), daughter of Horatio Willson Scott and died 20th March 1949;
Sir Guy Couper, 4th Bt. b12th March 1889; d1975;
Sir George Robert Cecil Couper, 5th Bt. b. 15th October 1898, m. 15th March 1941 Margaret Grace (d1984) daughter of Robert George Dashwood Thomas, died 26th May 1975;
Sir (Robert) Nicholas Oliver Couper, 6th and present Bt.
Article in The Genealogist [O. S., vol. i.]: -
“This baronetcy which was supposed to have become extinct in 1836 is now claimed, but not assumed, by William Cooper Esquire of Failford, as representative of the 3rd Son of the first Baronet.” Debrett’s Baronetage, 1876, occurrences during printing.
This claim naturally suggests two questions:- Was a baronetcy ever conferred on a Cooper of Gogar? Is Mr. Cooper of Failford the heir male of the Gogar family?A very easy investigation furnishes a negative reply to both. A short notice of Cooper of Failford as a “doubtful pedigree” by Anglo Scotus can be found in the ‘Herald and Genealogist’, vol. viii, p. 193, (reproduced after this article,) but this does not seem to have been effectual and as a claim to a baronetcy is now advanced the subject bears further investigation.
The name of Cooper is probably to be met with in every county of Scotland and is also common in England, but there is no reason to believe that all bearers of it descend from one progenitor.
Cupar in Fife and Couper-Angus are places from which the surname may have been taken, but the occupation of Cooper is likely to have been the origin of the patronymic in at least as many cases. In Fifeshire the chartulary of the Priory of St. Andrews preserves the names of Dominus Salomone de Cupir 1245, Walter de Cupir 1288, Thomas de Cupir, Canon of St. Andrews 1406 and Thomas de Cupre, who was witness to a charter of Duncan, Earl of Fife.
In 1286 Peter de Cuper of Dundee witnesses a charter in favour of the Abbey of Balmerino. In 1483 William Cowper acts as a witness at Cupar and five years later he, or a namesake, attained the honour of sitting in Parliament for that Burgh, where in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the name was common among burgesses.
From the middle of the fifteenth century, various persons of the name figure in connection with the Abbey of Dunfermline, one of them being David Cuper Alderman, whose seal was affixed to an indenture in 1507.
James Cowper had a gift of plumbarie from the Abbot about 1560 and 1630, to 1633. Patrick Cowper represented the Burgh in Parliament; this family continued long afterwards to reside there.
There are pedigrees of the Coopers of Gogar, and the families claiming descent from them, in Playfair’s ‘British Family Antiquity,’ in Paterson’s ‘Ayrshire,’ (both editions) and in Burke’s ‘Landed Gentry.’
Simon Couper “One of the Barons of Scotland who was compelled to swear fealty to Edward I, in 1296”, is called the first ancestor; on referring to the Ragman Roll this baron shrinks to the modest dimensions of “Symond Cupre” of the county of Berwick and it is certain that before the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in Scotland in 1747, no one of the name ever attained the position of lord of a barony.
In 1275 the Chartulary of Dryburgh mentions the lands of Christian Cowper in Ravenysden, near Berwick-Upon-Tweed; in 1329 Alan Couper of Inver receives payments for services as shewn by the Chamberlain Rolls and, in 1479, Laurence Couper occurs as a witness at Berwick.
Playfair apologises for being unable from “the destruction of the national as well as private records” to go further back than Adam Cooper of Gogar living towards the close of the sixteenth century “whose ancestors had been settled at Gogar for many generations”. This apology is hardly called for; in 1607 Parliament ratified a Crown Charter of Confirmation, dated 17th February 1601, in favour of Adam Couper, one of the Ordinary Clerks of His Majesty’s Session, of the lands of Nether Gogar which he had purchased from the late Robert Logan of Restalrig. Adam’s father was a Burgess of Edinburgh and that seems to have been the rank of any persons of the name in Scotland who lived previous to this date.
Sir George Mackenzie remarks “that many sirnames who alledge they came from France bear Ermine and therefore I presume they came from Bretaigne; for that countrey being upon the sea, its inhabitants were more inclined to travel than the other French, but some Families, as the Coupers, do for more security carry the Flower de luces and Ermines in one shield to signify their descent from France and from Bretaigne in that kingdom”.
It is a pity to dissipate such a pretty romance; but it has already been shewn that the name is found here in the thirteenth century and what was the probable origin of it. The argument from arms is no stronger; the oldest authority for any bearing for the name is an illuminated manuscript in the Lyon office, compiled about 1565, which contains two coats; Cowper, azure, a bendlet engrailed between six fishes naiant counter naiant argent; and Couper, argent, a chevron gules charged with seven ermine spots between three trefoils slipped vert. Here we have no fleurs-de-lis, although the ermine does occur in one of the shields which, however, has the appearance of being an addition at a later date to the collection.
No person of any name at all resembling Cooper ranked as noble in Brittany till the 28th August 1669, when Pierre Coupaye was admitted at the Reformation de Noblesse held that year, as having filled the office of Echevin of Nantes; he neither bore ermine nor fleurs-de-lis, but a more modern family, the Couppe du Perblanc, carry ermine.
The seal of Adam Couper of Gogar attached to a charter of the year 1608 in favour of his son and heir apparent John, has a chevron ermine between three slips of laurel each with three leaves.
The heraldic MS.of Robert Porteus, Snowdoun Herald, 1661, gives for Cooper of Gogar; Argent, a chevron gules surmounted of another ermine between three trefoils proper, with the motto Virtute; and when the ‘Lyon Register’ was formed in 1672 ‘The Right Worshipful Sir John Cowper of Gogar, Knight’ recorded this, only altering the trefoils into laurel slips vert and taking for a crest a hand holding a garland.
The other coat dating from the sixteenth century makes its appearance in the Register in 1737 for David Cowper of Balleny, in the county of Edinburgh, as: Azure a bend engrailed between six fishes counter naiant argent, with a dove with a serpent nowed in her beak proper for crest and the motto ESTOTE PRUDENTES. This gentleman who was a writer in Edinburgh and also possessed the lands of New Grange, seems to have been the first and last of his family as, after his death, his nephews, David Duncan and William Brown were in 1749 served heirs portioners to him.
William Cowper, Bishop of Galloway 1612, who died in 1619 aged 53, bore on his seal a chevron ermine between three laurel leaves, but in a funeral escutcheon arranged by Henry Fraser ‘Ross Herald’, for one of his descendants, there is ascribed to him the coat given by Porteus. Bishop Cowper, whose father was a tailor and burgess of Edinburgh, had two brothers Andrew, a writer, who was tutor during their minority to his children and Mr. John who was minister of St. Giles’ in Edinburgh and of St. Mungo’s in Glasgow and in 1586 was imprisoned in the Castle of Blackness for refusing to pray for Queen Mary, then under sentence of death. He married Elizabeth Livingstone of the family of Baldowane and died on Christmas Day 1603, leaving a family. The Bishop had daughters who married into the families of Maculloch of Myrtoun, Maclellan of Borgue and Crawford of Skeldon and several sons who seem all to have died except Andrew. This Andrew Cooper, Cowper, or Couper, seems to have acquired the estate of Fentonbarns in Haddingtonshire by his marriage with Marion Preston, heiress of John Preston of Fentonbarns and Penicuik, Lord President of the Court of Session 1595 to 1616, and left a son and heir, William and a daughter, Marjory who married Mr. John Hay of Woodcockdale and was ancestress of James Bruce of Kinnaird, the traveller and of the present Lady Thurlow.
The only other person of the name who made a figure in Scotland was Sir James Couper described as Admiral of the Belgian fleet; his parentage is not clear, but his heir at his death in 1697, was his niece Margaret Pow, whose father was head master of the grammar school of Leith.
To return to the Gogar family:-
I Adam the purchaser died in 1608 and his son by Katherine Denniston his wife (said to be of the family of Colgrain, but not mentioned in the carefully compiled pedigree by the late Dennistoun of Dennistoun, printed in Irving’s ‘History of Dumbartonshire’).
II John of Gogar inherited his lands of Nether Gogar and others. He married Christian Skene said to be of the family of Halyards not far from Gogar and lost his life when Dunglas Castle was blown up 30th August 1640.
It is this gentleman who is said to have been created a baronet. No patent is entered in the Great Seal Register and it does not seem anywhere to be asserted that the original exists. Playfair says he was elevated to this dignity in the year 1638 by Charles I “for his rank and services” with remainder to his heirs male. Paterson adds that “he does not appear to have assumed the title. It is however alleged that the baronetcy was not created till 1646 in the person of his son”. His testament in the Commissariat Register of Edinburgh describes him as “Jon Couper of gogar” and the cautioner for his widow who gives up inventory for her children who were minors, is David Grey, tailor, burgess of Edinburgh. Alexander Couper of Foulfurd, Writer to the Signet, was as next of kin tutor to the infants.
III “John Couper of Nether Gogar” was served heir to his father in various lands in the county of Edinburgh 27th October 1640. He was knighted before the 26th August 1643 and after that till 1686 appears in the lists of Commissioners of Supply, Members of the Committees of War etc. but is nowhere styled Baronet. In 1681 Sir John was chosen to represent the county in Parliament. By his wife Margaret Inglis of the family of Otterston he had two daughters.
(1) Mary married Thomas Chalmers, Advocate, of the family of Auchenbraes. Their son married Janet Fergusson heiress of Isle in the county of Dumfries and was ancestor of the present R. D. Gillon Fergusson of Isle, senior coheir of the Coupers of Gogar, who is entitled to quarter the arms.
(2) Margaret married 28th October 1680 Archibald Graham Bishop of the Isles and had two daughters one of whom married Walter Graham of Kilmardinny.
Thus ended the direct heir of the family of Couper of Gogar and the estate was sold to pay debts incurred by Sir John.
Nothing seems to have been heard of a claim to its representation till the year 1775 when Mr. Grey Cooper, barrister-at-law, M.P. for Rochester, a relation of the influential family of Grey of Howick and author of various pamphlets in support of the Rockingham administration (one of them entitled ‘ A Pair of Spectacles for Short-sighted Politicians’), made his appearance in Edinburgh and was the 1st August served heir before the sheriff of the county to Sir John Cooper second Baronet of Gogar elder brother of his great grandfather. This service was never retoured to H. M. Chancery and, if it had been, could have conveyed no right to a title which had no existence.
The assumption however became generally recognised and Sir Grey, who was Secretary to and afterwards a Commissioner of the Treasury, in 1796 was made a Privy Councillor.
Four of his descendents were styled baronet, held high position in the church and the army, intermarried with the families of Honywood of Evington, co. Kent, baronet, Kemeys-Tynte of Halsewell etc., but his line expired on the death in 1850 of Sir Frederick called seventh baronet. The pedigree which the claimant submitted to a jury of “unprecedented respectability” stood thus:- John Couper second of Gogar had a second son James who seems to have been born in 1622; he is identified with:-
III James Cooper, minister successively of the parishes of Wigton, Mochrum and Humbie. He was deprived of his living as a non-juror in 1695 and was soon after Curate of Holy Island, where he died in 1701.
One would expect to find the son of a gentleman who had residence in the town of Edinburgh and whose estate was only at a distance of five miles, a graduate of the University there, but the name of this James is not on the list. Then he was not licenced till 16th February 1663, when James the son of Gogar would have been over forty years of age. It is not impossible that the clergyman was James, younger brother of Sir John, but it seems unlikely and and it would be interesting to see the proofs that satisfied the jury.
IV William Cooper, M.D. Berwick-upon-Tweed, who succeeded to the title but “suffered it to lay (sic) dormant”.
This statement does injustice to his father; if the pedigree were true the Rev. James, who survived his elder brother Sir John by many years, would have succeeded. His wife was “Margery, daughter of Anthony Compton, of Gainslaw Esquire, a junior branch of the ancient noble family of Compton Earls of Northampton”. This branch has been ignored by the Heralds at their Visitations and by more recent genealogists, which matters the less as Mrs. Cooper does not seemed to have belonged to it. Anthony Compton the purchaser of Gainslaw was Mayor of Berwick, an office also held by his father and namesake; he had only two daughters who survived infancy, Ruth, wife of Henry Selwyn and Hannah, who married William Jones, Comptroller of Customs in Scotland. His son William, the only other Compton of Gainslaw, left an only child Hannah, Mrs. Ogle of Eglingham.
V William Cooper a physician at Newcastle-on-Tyne also “suffered the claims of the family to lie dormant”, married Mary elder daughter and coheir of Edward Grey of Alnwick in Perth (sic) son of a younger son of Edward Grey of Howick and died in 1758.
VI The Right Honourable Sir Grey Cooper, Baronet of Gogar, proprietor of Wortlington co. Suffolk, married 1st, his cousin Margaret sister of Charles first Earl Grey. 2nd Miss Kennedy of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an heiress. “With a becoming spirit, a due regard to his own rights and those of his posterity, he set on foot and established his claim to the honours of his ancestors.” From 1850, when Sir Grey’s descendants in the male line expired, this title has been again suffered to lie dormant. Such assumptions are not so easy now as they formerly were and it may be expected that the claim of Mr. Cooper of Failford will only give him rank as a “claimant.”
His pedigree is set forth thus:-
III William Cowper, born in May 1629, another son of John of Gogar, is said to have served as an officer of Dragoons in the time of the Commonwealth, married Christian Scot and settled in Dumbartonshire. The register of the parish of Kirkintilloch contains entries of the baptisms of children of this “William Cowper” without any military or other designation and there were other persons of the name resident there at the time.
1V John Couper or Cowper resided at Deardyke and afterwards, it is said, at the Tower of Banheath; the register calls him simply “John Cowper in this parish” at the time of his marriage in 1676 to Christian Grey. “James Cowper in the Brewhouse” occurs as a witness to baptisms of their children, but finds no place in the published lineage.
V John Couper or Cowper married in 1708 Margaret Thom, both merely described as parishioners of Kirkintilloch and there is nothing to shew that they were above the rank of working people. In 1711 he is mentioned “in Badinheath”.
Rev. John Couper, “ a clergyman in the county of Lincoln”, changed the spelling of the name to Cooper and is said to have intended to claim the baronetcy of Gogar “but desisted therefrom on the appearance of Sir Grey”.
He died unmarried and is said to have left considerable property to the children of his brother William. The Scots’ Magazine has a notice of his death 21st September 1789, “at Glasgow in an advanced age. Mr John Cooper formerly Minister of a dissenting congregation in England”.
VI William Cowper his brother a merchant in Glasgow, also changed the form of his surname to Cooper soon after 1754. “He purchased the Regality of Failfoord or Smeithston” in 1786. This “regality” is said to have been erected by Crown charter 1706 in favour of Sir Thomas Wallace of Craigie, but after the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in Scotland no privileges of regality existed and the description is no longer used. Mr. Cooper executed an entail of his estate of Smeithston 30th March 1793, in which there is an obligation on the heirs succeeding “to use and bear the name of Cooper”.
VII Alexander Cooper of Failford his eldest son, seems to have been in entire ignorance of the descent from Gogar now asserted and of the claim to a baronetcy he inherited from his uncle, as in 1805 he petitioned the Lyon King of Arms for a grant of arms which he obtained. They are, Argent, on a bend engrailed between two lions rampant gules three crescents of the field, a bordure chequy of the first and azure, being founded on the bearings of Cooper of Northumberland and Warwickshire with a bordure of Stewart,the patentee’s mother being the daughter of a Glasgow merchant of that name. Crest, an oak tree with one of its branches borne down with a weight and the motto INCLINATA RESURGO.
It is, to say the least of it, remarkable that Mr. Cooper, if a Scotchman, should have desired or accepted a coat of arms suggestive of English origin. This gentleman dying unmarried, his brother and successor,
VIII Samuel Cooper of Failford also had a grant of the same arms but in the motto the word INCLINATA is dropped and he is allowed to use in addition the crest and motto of the Gogar family; 1839 is the date of this and would appear to be the beginning also of the pretension to descend from Gogar which was fully developed in the minute pedigree, evidently based to some extent on original research, published in Paterson’s ‘History of Ayrshire’ 1852.
In June of that year,
IX William Cooper of Failford, son and heir of Samuel, again registers arms expressing a desire “to make such alteration and addition to his arms as might identify the Scotch origin of his family and their former name of Couper or Cowper”.
This desire was granted by the Lyon Court and the coat now stands; First, Cooper as before, second and third Ritchie and Crawford, for his mother an heiress; fourth Couper of Gogar within a bordure chequy arg. and azure as a difference. This seems a strange confusion of two paternal coats; if the Gogar descent were proved, the coat of that family, with or without difference, should have been allowed; if Scotch descent were shewn, the quasi English coat might have been dropped and one resembling that of Gogar granted, but as it is there are two opposing coats, so to speak, borne by the claimants to the representation of a Scotch family, the one which occupies the first quarter not being Scotch at all.
The arms as finally settled are engraved in Burke’s Heraldic Illustrations’ 1860, with the statement that Mr. Cooper of Failford “claims descent paternally from a common ancestor with Coupers of Gogar baronets”.
The only baronetcy of Nova Scotia ever conferred on a gentleman of the name is enjoyed by Earl Cowper the descendant of William Cowper of Rattling Court, co. Kent, who had been so created shortly before he was made a baronet of England in February 1641, but the patent is not recorded.
S***
The following article appeared in the Herald and Genealogist, vol. viii
This is one of those which, notwithstanding the careful weeding out of similar performances by the learned Editor of the Landed Gentry, has retained its place in his last edition and thus still courts exposure.
As will be seen, the family owes its rise to successful trade in the city of Glasgow towards the close of last century, but this respectable origin is not sufficiently magnificent and one of the heroes of the ”Ragman roll” is claimed as Patriarch. The pedigree is given in the second volume of Paterson’s History of the County of Ayr (1852) with rather more detail than in the Landed Gentry, so I shall quote from the former work.
The introductory paragraphs are chiefly derived from Playfair’s Baronetage, a work of no great authority. It is stated that “Simon Couper, the first ancestor on record of the Coupers of Gogar, swore fealty to Edward I anno 1296”. A long leap is then made to a “James Couper, alive in 1592”, whose son Adam, “one of the principal Clerks of Sessions”, acquired about that time the estate of Gogar, near Edinburgh; and after some other particulars concerning this “Gogar” Family, who are believed to have obtained a Nova Scotia Baronetcy (which has descended in a very doubtful manner and seems to have expired about 1850), we are introduced to the ancestor of “Failford”.
This personage was “William third son of Sir John Couper of Gogar, Baronet” (and No. IV. of the Lineage), stated to have been “born 22nd May 1629”. This individual “served as an officer of Dragoons in the time of the Commonwealth. He married Christian Scot and settled in the county of Dumbarton. Robert Couper is witness to the baptism of two of his children. "The retired soldier had several children".
V “John Couper the elder son resided at the Tower of Banheath in the county of Dumbarton. He married in January 1676 Christian Grey, by whom he acquired property and who survived him. He died in March 1687” and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son.
VI “John Couper, born 25th August 1677. He also resided at the Tower of Banheath. In November 1708 he married Margaret Thom, a relative of the Rev. William Thom of Kirkdale, minister of Govan, celebrated for his wit and eccentricity and had issue” [who will be noted presently].
What authority is there for all this, particularity of detail? On which side of the civil war did the dragoon officer draw his sword? In what capacity did his son and grandson, the two Johns reside at the Tower of Banheath? In what record are the births, deaths, and marriages of those respectable but obscure people to be found?
The registers of the parish of Lenzie or Kirkintilloch, in which Banheath is situated, are not extant prior to the year 1709; so that, unless these dates can be substantiated by family records, they can neither be proved nor disproved by any other means. Regarding Banheath (anciently Badenheath) it may be observed that this estate was an old possession of the Boyds of Badenheath, cadets of the noble family of Kilmarnock. The last of the name, Robert Boyd of Badenheath, died in 1611;1 and the estate, after being a short time in the hands of Lord Boyd, passed into the family of Elphinstone, whether by succession or purchase is not clear. The late Lady Keith (Comptesse Flahault) was “Baroness Keith of Banheath”, a title created in the person of her father Admiral Lord Keith and, through the old Tower of Banheath has now passed out of their family, it belonged to them till 1803 or later. Of course from the manner in which this place is mentioned in the “lineage”, the inference is intended to be drawn that these Coupers were owners of Banheath or Badenheath; whereas if they really did live there it must have been as tenants, or in some inferior capacity, under the Boyds or Elphinstones.
The last mentioned John had a numerous family, with three of whom only the lineage concerns itself. The eldest of these “the Rev. John Couper, born 12th November 1709, was settled as a clergyman in the county of Lincoln, where he resided long. He considered himself [on what ground is not said] entitled to the Baronetcy of Gogar and was proceeding to claim it, but [considerately] desisted there from on the appearance of Sir Grey Cooper, claiming descent from an elder branch”. This reverend gentleman, rather inconsistently one might say with his pretensions to the title, changed, in imitation of the baronet, the spelling of his honest Scottish surname Couper to that of Cooper and died at Glasgow in 1789, leaving “his property which was considerable [but the nature of which is not stated] to the children of his brother William”. The brother who is numbered VIII in the lineage, was a merchant in Glasgow, in the Directory of which city for 1787 we find his name “William Cooper, merchant, Curries’ Close, High Street”. By successful trade he augmented, perhaps commenced, the family fortunes and in 1786, acquired by purchase the estate from which his successors take their designation. He too seems to have been smitten with his elder brother’s change of surname and “entailed the name of Cooper on his successors along with his lands”. From which era they held and doubtless still hold, a respectable position among Ayrshire landowners.
A somewhat imposing paragraph respecting the arms concludes the pedigree. The facts, as disclosed in the Lyon Registers, reveal an amusing instance of gradual adaptation of arms. The first to obtain a coat was “Alexander Couper of Failford and Smithston”, son of the merchant, who in 1805 obtained from the Lord Lyon a modification of the coat of an English family of the same name, viz. “Argent, on a bend engrailed between two lions rampant gules three crescents of the field within a bordure cheque argent and azure. Crest, on a wreath argent and azure an oak-tree with a branch borne down by a weight. Motto-Resurgo”. The next applicant for heraldic honours was this gentleman’s brother “Samuel Cooper of Failford, Smithston and Ballindalloch”, who in 1839 obtained from the Lyon Office right to quarter the arms of Ritchie and Crawfurd for his wife and, in addition to his brother’s shield and crest, right to use the crest of Couper of Gogar, “being a dexter hand holding a garland of laurel, both proper” and that family’s motto, “Virtue”. Lastly, this gentleman’s son “Alexander Cooper of Failford and Smithston and of Solsgirth”,in 1852 obtained leave from the Lord Lyon, in addition to the above insignia,to quarter the shield of Couper of Gogar, viz.: “Argent, a chevron gules charged with another ermine between three laurel slips vert”, differenced by a bordure, on the ground of “being believed to be descended from that family”. Thus, the owner of this composition claims, armorially, male descent both from English and Scottish Coupers or Coopers, which can hardly be correct in the same male line.
1 This person, who, according to Robertson’s Ayrshire Families (vol. i. p. 108), was the third brother of Robert fourth Lord Boyd, had acquired Badenheath by marrying the heiress of the same name. His elder brother Lord Boyd had been at an early age “rentalled”, i.e. entered as tenant, by Archbishop Dunbar of Glasgow in the adjoining estate of Bedlay, belonging to the See. At the spoliation of the Archbishopric, after the Reformation, the Lords Boyd secured these and many other lands, which remained in their family until their forfeitures in the Rebellion of 1745.
The Right Honourable Charles, Earl Grey, Lord Viscount Howick and Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, one of His Majesty's Privy Council, etc., etc., etc., 1st September 1824.
In the Surnames of Scotland by George F. Black, the following is given as the derivation of the name Cooper, Coupar, Couper and Cowper. This surname occurs in one form or another in nearly every county of Scotland. The name was in most cases derived from Cupar in Fife, but the occupation of ‘cooper’ has also contributed to its origin. The earliest record of the name is territorial, when dominus Salomone de Cupir appears as a charter witness in 1245 (RPSA., p44, 282). The name, also, is common in early Fife records from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, additional evidence of its local origin. An instance pointing to the occupation as the source of the name occurs in 1329 when payment to “Alanus cuparius” (i.e. the “cooper" is recorded (ER., I, p. 221). John Cupar held land in Aberdeen, 1281 (REA., II, p. 278). Christian Cowper who held lands in Ravenysden near Berwick in 1275 (Dryburgh) may have been a relative of Symon Coupare of Berwickshire who rendered homage in 1296 (Bain, II, p. 207). Michael Couper was tenant in vill de Butyll, 1376 (RHM., II, p. Ix) and William Coupare had a tenement in Irvine, 1426 (Irvine, l, p. 130). Thomas de Cupro, canon of the church of St. Andrews, 1406 (RPSA., p. 10). Patrick Culpar (the l is silent), witness in Aberdeen, 1486, appears in 1477 as Cowlpar and his wife as Cowlper (REA., I, p. 300, 212). Finla Couper in Belnakeill, Atholl, was fined for resetting outlawed Macgregors, 1613 (RPC., x, p. 151), Patrick Cowper in Tilliemad, 1634 (SCM., III, p. 134) and Helen Copper in Keltie, 1672 (Dunblane), William Cowper the poet, writing to Mrs. Courtenay, one of his friends says: “While Pitcairne whistles for his family estate in Fifeshire, he will do well if he sound a few notes for me. I am originally of the same shire and a family of my name is still there” (New statistical account, lx, p. 344). Couper 1479, Couppar 1662, Cowpar 1500, Cowpare, 1512, Cuper 1286.