Wellcome Foundation Archive

Cooper Family Personal Records

The Cooper McDougall & Robertson business, acquired by the Wellcome Foundation in 1959, was itself made up from the merger and acquisition of other businesses. Central to its development was the Cooper firm, started by William Cooper in 1843. Before it merged with McDougall & Robertson in 1925, it was very much a family-dominated concern. This series of records reflects the close link between the family and the business. Sir Richard Ashmole Cooper, chairman from 1913-1946, was only the latest in a long line of Coopers to work at the top of the business. He was also Unionist MP for Walsall 1910-1922, and there is mention of his work as an MP in this series.

Perhaps most notable among these records is the series of notebooks left by the first William Cooper (though some were written in by other family members). They relate to many aspects of the Coopers business, recording formulae, developments in the production of dips and other products, sales, and so on. Notebook no. 2 for example, records “it takes 3 men a day at least to ... clean up the mill room. Damp saw dust is best for cleaning ...”, and later notes that an 1872 census of sheep, horses and cattle in the UK found that the number of sheep – 31 403 500 - about equalled the human population.

There are also papers collected on the history of the Cooper family. Included are copies of wills, genealogical information, and papers related to the arms and title taken by the family as a result of Richard Powell Cooper being awarded a baronetcy by King Edward VII in 1905.

These records are a further addition to the Library’s holdings on animal health, and in particular the development of veterinary products and veterinary medicines. It is also enlightening for those studying the development of a family business from small beginnings, through growth, to flourishing as a major concern. Watch out for more releases of related records.

More information on the history of the Coopers company can be found in the online Archives and Manuscripts catalogue, by searching on Reference = WF/C/P, and in the Business Archives Council / Wellcome Trust Survey of the Historical Records of Veterinary Medicine in the United Kingdom (available at the Wellcome Library and elsewhere).

Enquiries about the WF Archive should be addressed to Archives and Manuscripts ( archs+mss@wellcome.ac.uk).