Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cowper, Spencer (1713-1774)
COWPER, SPENCER, D.D. (1713–1774), dean of Durham, youngest son of William, earl Cowper [q. v.], lord chancellor of Great Britain, was born in London in 1713, and educated at Exeter College, Oxford (B.A. 1731, M.A. 1734, B.D. and D.D. 1746). He became rector of Fordwich, Kent, prebendary of Canterbury 1742, and dean of Durham 1746. He died at Durham on 25 March 1774, and was buried in the east transept of the cathedral, called the Nine Altars, where a monument was erected to his memory.
Besides some occasional sermons he published: 1. ‘A Speech made at the Enthronement and Installation of Richard [Trevor] Bishop of Durham,’ Durham, 1753, 4to. 2. ‘Eight Discourses preached on or near the great festivals in the cathedral church of Durham. To which is added a Letter to a young lady on the Sacrament, and on the Evidence for the Christian Religion,’ London, 1773, 8vo.
[Hutchinson's Durham, ii. 169; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 365, iii. 60, 620; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Gent. Mag. xliv. 190, xlix. 271; Cat. of Oxford Graduates (1851), p. 156; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy), i. 52, iii. 300.]