Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st Baronet

Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st Baronet (1 July 1821 – 5 June 1902) was a nineteenth-century politician, merchant and philanthropist in the Colony of New South Wales. He served as the first speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the colony and was a noted philatelist.

Cooper was given the hereditary title of Cooper baronet of Woollahra in 1863, the second of four baronetcies conferred to British expatriates in the Australian colonies.

Early life Cooper was born at Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of Thomas Cooper, merchant, and his wife Jane Ramsden. He was the nephew of the emancipated convict and extraordinarily successful businessman, Daniel Cooper, who supported his education. As a child his family moved to Sydney, but he returned to Britain in 1835 and studied at University College London for four years.

In 1853 he inherited the bulk of the enormous fortune of his uncle, Daniel, who had no children.

Political career In June 1849, at the age of , Cooper was elected a member of the unicameral Legislative Council at the by election for Counties of St Vincent and Auckland. The district was abolished on 30 June 1851 and he did not contest the 1851 election. Cooper returned to the Legislative Council in 1855 at the by election for Counties of Murray and St Vincent.

New South Wales obtained self-government in 1856, the Legislative Council was abolished and replaced with an elected Legislative Assembly and an appointed Legislative Council. Cooper was elected as the first of 2 members for the district of Sydney Hamlets, which included what were then outer suburbs of Sydney and are now the inner suburbs of Paddington, Surry Hills, Redfern, Chippendale, Glebe, Camperdown, O'Connell Town (north Newtown), Balmain, North Sydney, Kirribilli and McMahons Point. He was re-elected in 1858. Cooper successfully stood for Paddington from 1859 to 1860. At the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly, Cooper was elected Speaker, defeating Henry Parker by one vote.

Family Cooper married, in 1846, Elizabeth Hill, daughter of William Hill of Sydney and Mary Johnson, both convicts, and they had two sons and five daughters.

Cooper died on 5 June 1902 in Kensington, London, and was survived by his wife and by two sons and three of their daughters. The eldest son, Daniel Cooper (1848–1909), succeeded as second Baronet, but had only daughters and was himself succeeded by his brother William Charles Cooper (1851–1925) as third Baronet. His great-grandson was the art collector and historian Douglas Cooper.

Philately Cooper was a founder and the first president (1869–78) of the Philatelic Society of London, the predecessor of today's Royal Philatelic Society London. His Australian postage stamps, sold to Judge Frederick Philbrick in 1878 for £3,000 (the first four-figure price for a collection), became part of Ferrary's celebrated collection. The Sir Daniel Cooper Lectures, sponsored by the Royal Philatelic Society, are in his honour.

Honours Cooper was knighted in 1857, created a baronet of Woollahra in 1863, appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1880 and upgraded to a Knight Grand Cross (GCMG) of the order in 1888.