Cooper, Samuel Joshua (1830 -1913)

The crest is that of the Cooper family. Fairbairn's Crests gives it with the lion argent as Cooper of Yorkshire, and Burke's General Armory with the lion proper as Cooper of Painshill, Surrey. There is a genealogy of Cooper of Painshill in Burke's Landed Gentry for 1875, but it contains no S.I. Cooper. Samuel is a common first name in many families of Coopers.

This is most likely the crest and monogram of Samuel Joshua Cooper (1830-1913) of Mount Vernon, near Barnsley in Yorkshire. He was a local businessman and a great benefactor to the Barnsley area, in particular to St Thomas’ church in Worsborough. He was the son of Samuel Cooper (d. 1849), a colliery proprietor and linen manufacturer, and his wife Harriet of Park House, Barnsley. In 1859 Samuel Joshua married Fanny Mann. Among his many philanthropic deeds, he took a deep interest in education and was a governor of Barnsley Holgate Grammar School to which he gave £1500 for the foundation of a ‘Cooper’ Scholarship in 1893. He also gifted to Barnsley the Cooper Art Gallery.