After his father's death, his mother began business as a dyer and fancy box-maker at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and young Cooper was apprenticed to a shoemaker.

[3] In his efforts to publish his work after his liberation Cooper came to the notice of Benjamin Disraeli and Douglas Jerrold.

With Jerrold's help, the work appeared in 1845, and Cooper then turned his attention to lecturing on historical and educational subjects.

[3] At the same time he adopted sceptical views, which he continued to hold until 1855, when he reconverted to Christianity, joined the Baptists, and was a preacher among them.

[citation needed] According to his autobiography, he publicly announced his recovered faith during a lecture at London's Hall of Science on 13 January 1856, and began to challenge sceptics to debate.

Although he had abandoned his religious beliefs at the time of his imprisonment, Cooper's next 30 years were spent as a lecturer in defence of Christianity, attacking the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel.

[3] The Thomas Cooper Memorial Baptist Church in Lincoln, built in 1972, is named in his honour.