COOPER, THOMAS (1805-1892), English Chartist and writer, the son of a working dyer, was born at Leicester on March 20, 1805, and was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He had a passion for knowledge ; studied Greek, Latin and Hebrew in his spare time; and in 1827 gave up cobbling to become a schoolmaster, and, later, a Methodist preacher. His affairs did not prosper, and in 1840 he joined the staff of the Leicestershire Mercury. Here he was con verted to Chartism and became one of the most ardent sup porters of Feargus O'Connor (q.v.). He organized the most pov erty-stricken Leicester workers into an "army" devoted to Chartist propaganda and the study of literature, assuming himself the title of "the Shaksperean General." He edited the Midland Counties Illuminator for the Chartists and took a prominent part in the general strike of 5842, making an organizing tour in the Potteries. For this he was imprisoned in Stafford gaol for two years, where he produced The Purgatory of Suicides, a political epic in ten books. After his release from prison he became disillusioned in Feargus O'Connor, and his political enthusiasm waned. After 1848 histori cal and educational subjects predominated in his lectures, and from 1856 he lectured in defence of Christianity. He died at Lincoln on July 15, 1892. See the Life of Thomas Cooper, written by Himself (1872).