Spencer Cowper, MP and barrister was born in 1670, the second son of Sir William Cowper, 2nd Baronet of Hertford, and his wife, Lady Sarah Cowper, the diarist, and the daughter of Samuel Holled, a London merchant. William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper PC KC FRS was an English politician who became the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. Cowper was the son of Sir William Cowper, 2nd Baronet, of Ratling Court, Kent, a Whig member of parliament of some mark in the two last Stuart reigns...

 Lord Chancellor

Chancellor

Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...

 of England was his elder brother.

Education

Cowper was educated at Westminster, called to the bar and in 1690 made controller of the Bridge House Estates

Bridge House Estates

The Bridge House Estates are a charitable trust, established in 1282 by the City of London Corporation in the English city of London. It was originally established to maintain London Bridge and, subsequently, other bridges. Funded by bridge tolls and charitable donations, the trust acquired an...

 with a residence at the Bridge House, near St Olave's Church close to what is now Tooley Street

Tooley Street

Tooley Street is a road in South London connecting London Bridge to St Saviour's Dock; it runs past Tower Bridge on the Southwark side of the River Thames, and forms part of the A200 road. - St Olave :...

 in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

.

The Sarah Stout Affair

Cowper served on the Home circuit, and was acquainted with a Quaker family called Stout in Hertford, who had supported his father and brother during elections in the area. The Stout’s daughter Sarah fell in love with him, even though he was already married to Pennington Goodere.

One evening at the Spring assizes Cowper went to Sarah's home to pay her the interest on a mortgage. He returned home and the next morning Sarah was found dead in the river. The prosecution asserted that because the body was floating when found, that it must have been put in the water after death. To support this idea, evidence was given by the famous physicians Samuel Garth

Samuel Garth

Sir Samuel Garth FRS was an English physician and poet.Garth was born in Bolam in County Durham and matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1676, graduating B.A. in 1679 and...

 and Hans Sloane

Hans Sloane

Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS was an Ulster-Scot physician and collector, notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum...

. It appears that there was no other evidence to support the charge. The defendants were acquitted.

At the time different allegations were made concernng the affair, including the one that the Tories of Hertford wanted to hang a member of a prominent Whig family and another that the Quakers, wanted to clear themselves from the stigma of suicide. Pamphlets were published on both sides, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to reignite the case.

Career

Cowper subsequently represented Bere Alston

Bere Alston (UK Parliament constituency)

Bere Alston or Beeralston was a parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1584 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act as a rotten borough.-History:...

 in 1705 and was re-elected at the 1708 election. He was one of the managers of the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell

Henry Sacheverell

Henry Sacheverell was an English High Church clergyman and politician.-Early life:The son of Joshua Sacheverell, rector of St Peter's, Marlborough,...

, but lost his seat, in 1710, in the reaction that followed. He was elected MP for Truro in 1715.
In 1714, he became attorney-general to the Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...

 and in 1717 he was appointed chief justice of Chester. With the accession of George II in 1727, Cowper was made attorney-general to the duchy of Lancaster

Duchy of Lancaster

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...

, and then in 1727 a judge of the common pleas.

Family

His first wife Pennington died in November 1727;

Cowpers eldest son William Cowper was clerk of parliament and died on 14th Feb 1740. His second son, John, was the father of William Cowper

William Cowper

William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...

 the poet and his third son Ashley was also clerk of parliament and a barrister. He died in 1788. Cowper's only daughter was Judith Madan

Judith Madan

Judith Madan was an English poet. She was the grand daughter of Lady Sarah Cowper , the diarist....

, a poet, married Colonel Martin Madan (MP)

Martin Madan (MP)

Colonel Martin Madan was groom of the bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and MP forWootton Basset from 1742 to 1747. Madan also served as a colonel in the Dragoon Guards.-Family:...

, Groom of the Chamber

Groom of the Chamber

Groom of the Chamber and Groom of the Privy Chamber were positions in the Royal Household of the English monarchy, the latter considerably more elevated. Other Ancien Régime royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles...

 to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and M.P. for Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett

Royal Wootton Bassett , informally known as Wootton Bassett, is a small market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001...

Cowper died on 10 December 1728 and was buried at the family seat Hertingfordbury

Hertingfordbury

Hertingfordbury is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the county town of Hertford. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book.-Location:...

 where a monument to him by Louis-François Roubiliac

Louis-François Roubiliac

Louis-François Roubiliac was a French sculptor who worked in England, one of the four most prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style, "probably the most accomplished sculptor ever to work in England", according to Margaret Whinney.-Works:Roubiliac was largely employed for portrait...

was erected.