Canon William Henry Cooper (c. 1835 - 13 April 1909) was an Anglo-Irish priest of the Church of England who served as a missionary in Australia and New Zealand and Canada.
An Irish-man from the county of Tipperary in Southern Ireland, he undoubtedly sprang from an Anglo-Irish family with strong Church and Military tradition".
William was commissioned as Ensign in the 2nd Royal Cheshire Militia on 5 May 1855, shortly after his marriage by licence to Anna Matilda Wilson.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel accepted the new missionary; after an interview with Bishop Perry of Melbourne, he and Anna sailed to Australia in April 1864.
Hussey Macartney, Dean and Archdeacon of Melbourne, wrote: In June 1870, Cooper began another ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, New Zealand.
The dangers involved in this new work were noted in his reports, in one of which he commented: After seven years he could no longer ride a horse, and his doctor advised him a change of climate, so in 1877 he returned to Australia.
Cooper resigned as secretary in 1895, secured an agreement to rent a house in Dormans Park, Surrey, and admitted the first resident in 1895.
The college has hosted a number of residents and visitors, including the Reverend Dr. John Stott, a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement.