In a review of the last of his sailing books published in the year of his passing, recognition of his achievements during and after his eventful life are summarized with the following accolades.

[6] In 1870, in his final year at university, he spent his summer vacation in Auray, Brittany in northern France, sailing a small dinghy in the Gulf of Morbihan and out into Quiberon Bay.

Cowper originally undertook the voyages documented in Sailing Tours, mostly single-handed, in the yawl Lady Harvey, a 44 foot (13 m) Dover fishing lugger built in 1867.

[12][13] They made their home on the Isle of Wight and Edith bore ten children; three did not survive infancy[12] but their eldest son, Frank Cadogan Cowper, grew up to become a recognised Pre-Raphaelite artist.

[15][16] His brother, Colonel Harry Cooper CMG CBE, became ADC to Queen Victoria from 1898 to 1901 and to King Edward Vll from 1901 to 1904.