Lovick Emilius Cooper was born in 1837, in Norwich, Norfolk, the son of the Reverend Thomas Lovick Cooper (1802-1892) and Emily Mary Swinfen Cooper née Durrant (1802-1838). On 29 November 1837 he was baptised by his father in the Parish of St George in Tombland, Norwich.
He was shown as aged 3 years in the 1841 census living in The Vicarage, Empingham, Rutland, with his widower father, together with one male and two female servants.
On 15 July 1841 his father married Harriett Ricardo (1811-1885) at St George Hanover Square, London and they were to have three children: Sophia Gertrude Paston Cooper (1842–1907); Harry Jermyn Cooper (1844–1867) and Millicent Anne Cooper (1845–1851).
In the 1851 census he is shown as a scholar, boarding at No.2 Little Deans Yard, Westminster, London.
Died as a result of serving in the Indian War 1857-8. HM Rifle Brigade. Find a Grave lists Cooper's grave at Dilkusha Cantonment Cemetery, Lucknow, India and gives: "Sacred to the memory of Lieut. Lovick Emilius Cooper Second Battalion Rifle Brigade who died on the 18th. of May of wounds received before Lucknow aged 20 years."
Probate records claim that he had been an Ensign in H. M. 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, a bachelor who died on 19 March 1858 at Lucknow in the East Indies. Letters of administration were granted on 27 September 1858 to his father who was described as a clerk in Empingham, Rutland. His effects were listed as under £100. He was posthumously awarded, as an Ensign, the Indian Mutiny Medal 1857-1858.
He is also commemorated as 'Lovik Emilius Cooper Engn Rifle Brigade' on a memorial stone in the floor of the north transept of Westminster Abbey
He is shown as 'Lieut: Lovick Emilius Cooper_H.M. R.Brigde' (sic) on the Westminster Scholars war memorial.
Some confusion exists: he is described on two memorials as a Lieutenant, but in records and on one memorial as an Ensign; he is recorded as having died on 19 March 1858 in probate records, but 18 May 1858 on his gravestone.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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