Photograph portrait of Richard Cooper

Richard Cooper was born in 1827 in Caverswall, Stafforshire, the son of William Cooper, a farmer, and Betsy Cooper. In 1851 he married Sarah Hill, the daughter of a farmer from Brailsford in Derbyshire and moved to his own farm in Clifton, just outside Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Sarah died in early 1855, shortly after the birth of their only child, William Hill Cooper. In 1859, Richard Cooper married Anne Marson, a farmer’s daughter from Caverswall. By 1861 he had given up farming and was working full time for the stay making company, Messrs Cooper & Smith, which had been established with his business partner, Charles Smith. In 1877, when Smith died, Richard Cooper took control of the business. He died in 1885.