Spencer Cowper (priest)

Spencer Cowper (1713–1774) was Dean of Durham Cathedral from 1746 to 1774,[1] known also for his early contributions to meteorology and his liking for poetry and music.

[2] Cowper was the younger son of William Cowper, the first Earl and the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and his second wife Mary Clavering.

[2] He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, matriculating in 1729 aged 16, graduating B.A.

[3] Along with his religious duties as Dean of Durham, he kept a naturalist's journal which included records of the local meteorology.

[2] Some of Cowper's sermons[4] survive, as does a collection of his letters published in 1956.