Sir John Cooper, 1st Baronet

Sir John Cooper, 1st Baronet (died 23 March 1630), was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1628 to 1629. He was father of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury.

Life

Cooper was the only son of another Sir John Cooper (1552–1610), who in 1586 served as a member of parliament for Whitchurch in Hampshire, by his marriage to Margaret (or Martha), a daughter of Anthony Skutt, of Stanton Drew in Somerset. He had four sisters, Bridget, Margaret, Martha and Jane.^[1] On his father's death in 1610, Cooper inherited the manor of Pawlett in Somerset.^[1]

On 4 July 1622, Cooper was created a Baronet by letters patent which described him as of Rockbourne in the county of Southampton. In 1628 Cooper was elected Member of Parliament for Poole.^[1] The parliament was dissolved on 10 March 1629.

Cooper married firstly Anne Ashley, the daughter and sole heir of Sir Anthony Ashley, 1st Baronet, of Wimborne St Giles in Dorset. His first wife died soon after her father on 20 July 1628, leaving a daughter, Philippa (who married Sir Adam Brown and died in 1701) and two sons, Anthony-Ashley and George.^[1] Cooper married secondly Mary, Lady Morrison, the widow of Sir Charles Morrison, 1st Baronet and a daughter and coheir of Baptist Hicks, Viscount Campden (1551–1629). There were no children of the marriage, and Cooper died on 23 March 1630.^[1]

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