William Cooper (chemical manufacturer)

William Cooper (26 December 1813 – 20 May 1885) was a British veterinary surgeon, agriculturalist and industrialist who specialised in the manufacture of agricultural insecticides for livestock.

[4] As a veterinary surgeon he was frequently confronted by the horrendous condition of farm animals caused by various parasitic insects, in particular a skin disease which afflicted sheep known as sheep scab - at the time treated very ineffectually by only ointments composed of tobacco stalk and sulphur emulsified in goose fat.

From 1852 throughout the remainder of the 19th century the Berkhamstead based business expanded at considerable speed, the newly built factory taking every advantage of the new mechanical innovations of the day.

The factory had its own printing press producing labels of a complicated design in order to prevent the sheep dip being faked by the unscrupulous.

[7] A stained glass window designed by the glazier Nathaniel Westlake was installed in the north aisle of St Peter's Church in 1885 in memory of William Cooper.