Series 118/1 - Sermon manuscripts

William Macquarie Cowper was born in Sydney, the son of the assistant colonial chaplain William Cowper. He travelled to England and studied at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, taking an M.A. degree in 1835. That same year he was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter and married Margaret Burroughs. He and his wife returned to Sydney in 1836 and he worked as chaplain to the Australian Agricultural Company. In 1856 Bishop Barker appointed him acting principal of the newly established Moore Theological College, a position he held until the arrival of the first principal William Hodgson 6 months later. He was a trustee of the College from 1877-1902. He served as Rector of St Philip's, Church Hill, and was Dean and Archdeacon of Sydney from 1858. Margaret died in 1854 and he remarried Mary French in 1866. He is buried at St Jude's Randwick.