Biography:
Sarah Cooper
25/09/1815 –16/04/1891
Sarah Cooper
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SARAH COOPER: 1815 – 1891
The monument marking the vault in which members of the Cooper family are buried has Sarah’s date of birth as the 25th September 1816, but the record of her baptism which took place in the parish of Clunbury, Shropshire, where she was born to William and Sarah Cooper, records that her baptism took place on 4th October 1815, suggesting that she was born in September 1815, and not September 1816.
Sarah was the second of four children[1] born to farrier William Cooper and his wife Sarah. Little is known of Sarah’s early life and it has not been possible to trace her with any certainty in the census returns for 1841.[2] She was evidently a schoolteacher, as she is described in the 1871 census as a “former school teacher.” She is consistently noted in the census returns from 1851 to 1881 as unmarried, so must have remained a spinster.
At the time of the 1851 census Sarah was visiting her uncle Thomas Cooper and his wife Mary. Thomas was a farmer at Sibdon Cawood in Shropshire. In 1861 she was visiting her sister Elizabeth at East Hall, Shropshire[3]. Elizabeth had married a farmer, John Carter. In 1871, Sarah was living in Clunbury village with her 14 years old niece, Isabella Carter[4].
In the early 1840s, Sarah’s elder brother, William, had moved to Berkhamsted, where he set up a veterinary practice and went on to establish a business manufacturing sheep dip. William had married, but he and his wife had no children, and Mary died in 1874. It was probably following Mary’s death that Sarah moved to Berkhamsted to live with her brother. In the 1881 Sarah was living on Berkhamsted’s High Street with William in his home, The Poplars, together with a housekeeper and a domestic servant.
William died in 1885. Sarah remained living in Berkhamsted. In 1891 she was still living on the High Street together with Louisa Harris, her companion and housekeeper, a cook and two domestic servants. Sarah died on 16th April 1891 at the age of 74 years.
[1] William, 1813 – 1885; Sarah, 1815 – 1891; Elizabeth Ann, 1817; Henry, 1822 – 1876.
[2] There are 4 Sarah Coopers in Shropshire in 1841 (but none in her birthplace of Clunbury). Two of these were married, so Cooper would be the married not maiden name, but of the other two candidates, it is not possible to determine which, if either, is our Sarah.
[3] 1861 census
[4] 1871 census
View this burial in the cemetery
SARAH COOPER: 1815 – 1891
The monument marking the vault in which members of the Cooper family are buried has Sarah’s date of birth as the 25th September 1816, but the record of her baptism which took place in the parish of Clunbury, Shropshire, where she was born to William and Sarah Cooper, records that her baptism took place on 4th October 1815, suggesting that she was born in September 1815, and not September 1816.
Sarah was the second of four children[1] born to farrier William Cooper and his wife Sarah. Little is known of Sarah’s early life and it has not been possible to trace her with any certainty in the census returns for 1841.[2] She was evidently a schoolteacher, as she is described in the 1871 census as a “former school teacher.” She is consistently noted in the census returns from 1851 to 1881 as unmarried, so must have remained a spinster.
At the time of the 1851 census Sarah was visiting her uncle Thomas Cooper and his wife Mary. Thomas was a farmer at Sibdon Cawood in Shropshire. In 1861 she was visiting her sister Elizabeth at East Hall, Shropshire[3]. Elizabeth had married a farmer, John Carter. In 1871, Sarah was living in Clunbury village with her 14 years old niece, Isabella Carter[4].
In the early 1840s, Sarah’s elder brother, William, had moved to Berkhamsted, where he set up a veterinary practice and went on to establish a business manufacturing sheep dip. William had married, but he and his wife had no children, and Mary died in 1874. It was probably following Mary’s death that Sarah moved to Berkhamsted to live with her brother. In the 1881 Sarah was living on Berkhamsted’s High Street with William in his home, The Poplars, together with a housekeeper and a domestic servant.
William died in 1885. Sarah remained living in Berkhamsted. In 1891 she was still living on the High Street together with Louisa Harris, her companion and housekeeper, a cook and two domestic servants. Sarah died on 16th April 1891 at the age of 74 years.
[1] William, 1813 – 1885; Sarah, 1815 – 1891; Elizabeth Ann, 1817; Henry, 1822 – 1876.
[2] There are 4 Sarah Coopers in Shropshire in 1841 (but none in her birthplace of Clunbury). Two of these were married, so Cooper would be the married not maiden name, but of the other two candidates, it is not possible to determine which, if either, is our Sarah.
[3] 1861 census
[4] 1871 census
Relatives
Historical Connections
The following local places of interest are linked to Sarah Cooper:
Coopers Chemical Works
Berkhamsted Castle
Ashlyns Hall
Sunnyside Church
White Hill
Military graves