COOPER, John Hutton (1765-1828), of Royal Crescent, Bath, Som.

Cooper was descended from a Nottinghamshire family, his grandfather Benjamin having been born at Southwell in about 1706 and serving as rector of Kilvington, 1729-30, and of North Scarle, Lincolnshire, 1730-41. His mother was descended from the Dymoke family of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. He entered the medical profession and was described, at the time of his second marriage in 1797, as a ‘doctor of medicine’ of Stamford, Lincolnshire. St. Margaret, Westminster reg. He eventually settled at Bath, where he became a member of the corporation and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Somerset militia. As such he was appointed to the household of George III’s son the duke of Clarence in 1812. In March 1825 he was returned unopposed on a vacancy for Dartmouth on the Holdsworth interest. Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, 24, 31 Mar. 1825.

He divided against Catholic relief, 21 Apr., 10 May, and the Irish franchise bill, 26 Apr., 9 May 1825. He voted with Lord Liverpool’s ministry for the duke of Cumberland’s annuity, 30 May, 6, 10 June 1825. No trace of parliamentary activity has been found for the 1826 session. At the general election that summer he was again returned quietly for Dartmouth, after denouncing attempts to promote Catholic claims as ‘an infringement on the great bulwark of our constitution’. Ibid. 15 June 1826. He voted against relief, 6 Mar., and for Clarence’s annuity, 16 Mar. 1827. Lord Goderich’s ministry proposed him for a baronetcy in November 1827; Bucks. RO, Buckinghamshire mss, Goderich to George IV [Nov. 1827]. it was conferred on him under the aegis of the duke of Wellington’s administration three months later. In his only known contribution to debate, 24 Mar. 1828, he denied allegations that the Dartmouth harbour bill was a job, and as a member of the corporation he insisted that ‘a more just or equitable bill was never brought under the consideration of [the] House’. He divided against Catholic relief, 12 May, and with government against reduction of the ordnance estimates, 4 July 1828. He died in December 1828 and left his freehold house in Bath and the residue of personal estate sworn under £14,000 to his wife. PROB 11/1750/10; IR26/1188/31.