- Thompson Cooper
Thompson Cooper (8 January 1837,
Cambridge – 5 March 1904,London ) was an English journalist,man of letters , and compiler of reference works. He became a specialist in biographical information, and is noted as the most prolific contributor to the Victorian era "Dictionary of National Biography ", for which he wrote 1423 entries.http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/dictionary/lslecture1/lslecture2/; other sources say 1422.]Life
Thompson Cooper was the son of
Charles Henry Cooper , a Cambridge solicitor and antiquarian. Educated privately in Cambridge, Cooper was nominally articled to his father, and joined him in his antiquarian pursuits.A. A. Brodribb, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32556 ‘Cooper, Thompson (1837–1904)’] , rev. G. Martin Murphy, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 11 Oct 2008] He became aFellow of the Society of Antiquaries aged 23, and at some point converted to Roman Catholicism.As a young man, he was a parliamentary reporter, and developed an interest in shorthand. His "Parliamentary Short-Hand" was published in 1858. Cooper became sub-editor on the "
Daily Telegraph " in 1861, and the paper's parliamentary reporter in 1862. In 1866 he began a long connection with "The Times ": he was the paper's parliamentary reporter 1866-1886, its summary-writer for theHouse of Commons 1886-98, and from 1898 its summary-writer for theHouse of Lords .Reference works
With his father
Charles Henry Cooper he compiled "Athenae Cantabrigienses", a biographical work covering alumni of theUniversity of Cambridge .The "Register and Magazine of Biography" (1869) was a short-lived periodical venture for
John Gough Nichols , covering contemporary biography only, and lasting six months. [ [http://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/2001/JPooleyTLAHS2001.pdf (PDF)] , p. 9.] "A New Biographical Dictionary" appeared in 1873, and was subsequently developed under various titles. ["Men of the Time: a Dictionary of Contemporaries"; "Biographical Dictionary. Containing Concise Notices (upwards of 15,000) of Eminent Persons of all Ages and Countries".]"Men of Mark: A Gallery of Contemporary Portraits" was a series of photographic portraits, accompanied by short biographies from Cooper. [ http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~mwolff/cartoons.html] It was published from 1876 to 1883.
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