Edward Alfred Cowper (10 December 1819 London – 9 May 1893 Rastricke, Weybridge, Surrey) was a British mechanical engineer.

The elder Cowper, together with his brother-in-law Augustus Applegath, had helped to develop the vertical printing press in the 1820s.

Cowper's single-span design, was therefore adopted, even though it was some 62 feet (19 metres) wider than the widest roof span at that time.

"[2] At the end of 1851, Cowper resigned his post at Fox and Henderson and commenced to practise on his own account in London as a consulting engineer.

He married Juliana Hanson in 1847 in Kensington, London and they had six children, the youngest being the actor and singer Vernon Cowper (1871-1922).