(Vol. iv., pp. 24.93)
The poet's family was originally of Stroode in Slinfold, Sussex, not
Kent, as Lord Campbell (_Lives of the Chan._, vol. iv. p. 258.) states,
and spelt their names Cooper. The first person who altered the spelling
was John Cooper of London, father of the first baronet, and he probably
adopted the spelling in affectation of the Norman spelling; the family
having in those days been styled Le Cupere, Cuper, and Coupre in
Norman-French, and Cuparius in Latin, as may be seen by the grants made
to Battle Abbey. The pronunciation was never changed. All the Sussex
branches continued the spelling of Cooper until the time of Henry Cowper
of Stroode, who died 1706. In Lord Campbell's _Lives of the
Chancellors_ (p. 259.) the first letter is signed "William Cooper."