{{Short description|English landowner, art-collector and Tory politician}} {{Redirect|Godfrey Copley|Sir Godfrey Copley, 1st Baronet|Copley baronets}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}{{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|suppressfields=birth_date|birth_date={{circa|1653}}}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
'''Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Baronet''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɒ|p|l|i}}; c. 1653 – 9 April 1709) of [[Sprotbrough|Sprotbrough House]], near [[Doncaster]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], was an [[England|English]] landowner, art-collector and Tory politician who sat in the [[English House of Commons|English]] and [[House of Commons of Great Britain|British House of Commons]] between 1679 and 1709.
==Early life== Copley was the son of Sir Godfrey Copley (1623–1677), who was created [[baronet]] by King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] in 1661, and his first wife Eleanor Walmesley, daughter of Sir Thomas Walmesley, MP, of Dunkenhalgh, Lancashire.<ref name=Cokayne3>{{Citation| editor-last=Cokayne| editor-first=George Edward |year=1903 | title= Complete Baronetage volume 3 (1649–1664) | url= https://archive.org/details/cu31924092524390/page/n229 | volume=3| location=Exeter | publisher=William Pollard and Co| access-date = 9 October 2018}}</ref> He was admitted at [[Lincoln's Inn]] on 18 November 1674.<ref name=LINCS>{{cite book| url = https://archive.org/details/VOL114201799/page/n323 | title = Admissions Register VOL 1 1420–1799 |publisher= The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn| date=1896}}</ref> He succeeded to his father's [[Copley baronets|baronetcy]] and estates in February 1678<ref name=Cokayne3/> and continued his father's term in office as [[High Sheriff of Yorkshire]] from February to November 1678.<ref name=HOP>{{cite web|url= https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/copley-sir-godfrey-1653-1709|title = COPLEY, Sir Godfrey, 2nd Bt. (c. 1653–1709), of Sprotborough, Yorks.|publisher= History of Parliament Online (1660–1690)|access-date = 6 March 2013}}</ref> He became a major landowner in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, holding lands in Sprotbrough, Newton, Cusworth, Cadeby, Wildthorpe, Loversall, Doncaster, Bentley and Warmsworth, among other places.{{cn|date=January 2023}}
==Career== [[File:Catherine Purcell (c.1657-1697), Lady Copley.jpg|thumb|upright|Catherine Purcell, attributed to [[Willem Wissing]]]]
Copley was returned as [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Aldborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Aldborough]] in 1679 and sat to 1685. He was admitted at [[Inner Temple]] in 1681. He married Catherine, daughter of John Purcell of [[Nantcribba]], Montgomeryshire by licence dated 15 October 1681.<ref name=HOP/> He was elected a member of the [[Royal Society]] in 1691.<ref>[http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/about-us/fellowship/Fellows1660-2007.pdf Complete List of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007] in 2 pdfs, published July 2007, retrieved July 31, 2012.</ref> and regularly met with literary and political figures in London taverns, developing a wide range of interests in political matters. Following Catherine's death, he married again with a settlement dated 31 May 1700, Gertrude Carew, daughter of [[Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet]] of Anthony, Cornwall.<ref name = HOP2>{{cite web| url = https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/copley-sir-godfrey-1653-1709 | title=COPLEY, Sir Godfrey, 2nd Bt. (c. 1653–1709), of Sprotborough, Yorks. and Red Lion Square, London | publisher= History of Parliament Online (1715–1754)| access-date = 18 August 2019 }}</ref>
Copley was returned as MP for [[Thirsk (UK Parliament constituency)|Thirsk]] at the [[1695 English general election]] and took an interest in matters of money and coinage. He was appointed commissioner for taking subscriptions to the land bank in 1696. He opposed the attainer against Sir John Fenwick. He turned his attention to local matters and was given leave to bring in a bill for making the [[River Don, Yorkshire|River Don]] navigable on 30 December 1697, but the bill was disrupted and thrown out.{{cn|date=January 2023}} He was returned again as MP for Thirsk at the [[1698 English general election]] and was immediately involved in issues relating to the army and the disbanding of soldiers. He was appointed a commissioner for the [[Aire and Calder navigation]] in 1699.{{cn|date=January 2023}}
Copley was returned to Parliament again at the two general elections of 1701 and was among those who supported the motion of 26 February 1702 which vindicated the proceedings of the Commons on the impeachments of the king's ministers in the previous Parliament. His long term interest in public finance came to fruition when he was elected as commissioner of public accounts in 1702. He was returned again at the [[1702 English general election]] and was appointed controller of the accounts of the army from April 1704. At the [[1705 English general election]], he was returned for Thirsk again and voted for the [[Court Party|Court]] candidate for Speaker on 25 October 1705. He was returned again for Thirsk at the [[1708 British general election]] and was appointed to draft the bill to standardize the treason laws within the Union in January 1709, and to prohibit the importation of French wine and other goods more effectively in March 1709.<ref name=HOP2/>
==Death and legacy== {{Infobox UK legislation | short_title = Moyle's Name Act 1767 | type = Act | parliament = Parliament of Great Britain | long_title = An Act to enable Joseph Copley Esquire (lately called Joseph Moyle) and his Issue to take, use, and bear, the Surname and Arms of Copley, pursuant to the Will of Lionel Copley Esquire, deceased. | year = 1767 | citation = [[7 Geo. 3]]. c. ''114'' {{small|Pr.}} | introduced_commons = | introduced_lords = | territorial_extent = | royal_assent = 29 June 1767 | commencement = | expiry_date = | repeal_date = | amends = | replaces = | amendments = | repealing_legislation = | related_legislation = | status = | legislation_history = | theyworkforyou = | millbankhansard = | original_text = | revised_text = | use_new_UK-LEG = | UK-LEG_title = | collapsed = yes }} [[File:Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Copley gold medal.jpg|thumb|upright|Copley Medal]]
Copley died at his house in Westminster on 9 April 1709 after a few days' sickness, and was buried at Sprotbrough. He had one surviving daughter Catherine by his first wife, but with no male heir the baronetcy became extinct. The estates were left to a distant cousin Lionel Copley after whom they passed in 1766 to Copley's grandson Joseph Moyle, son of his daughter Catherine and her husband Joseph Moyle of Beke, Cornwall. Moyle junior, who was [[Clerk of the Signet]], changed his surname to Copley by a [[private act of Parliament]], '''{{visible anchor|Moyle's Name Act 1767}}''' ([[7 Geo. 3]]. c. ''114'' {{small|Pr.}}), on inheriting the Sprotbrough estate and was created a baronet in 1778.<ref name=Cokayne5>{{Citation| editor-last=Cokayne |editor-first=George Edward |year=1906 |title= Complete Baronetage volume 5 (1707–1800) |url= https://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924092524416#page/n223/mode/2up |volume=5| location=Exeter |publisher=William Pollard and Co| access-date = 9 October 2018}}</ref>
Copley is noted for making a bequest of £100 to the Royal Society in London in 1709, which provided the funding for an annual award, the [[Copley Medal]], the Society's premier award for scientific achievement.<ref name=HOP2/> It is Britain's oldest scientific honour, a prestigious forerunner of the Nobel Prize, "in trust for the Royal Society of London for improving natural knowledge."
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080511171736/http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk/genealogy/copleysp.htm Pedigree of Copley of Sprotborough]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|en}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Aldborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Aldborough]] | years = 1679–1685 | with = [[Henry Arthington]] 1679<br />[[Sir Brian Stapylton, 2nd Baronet|Sir Brian Stapylton, Bt]] 1679–1681< | with2 = [[Sir John Reresby, 2nd Baronet|Sir John Reresby, Bt]] 1681–1685 | before = [[Sir John Reresby, 2nd Baronet|Sir John Reresby, Bt]]<br />[[Henry Arthington]] | after = [[Michael Wentworth|Sir Michael Wentworth]]<br />[[Roger Strickland|Sir Roger Strickland]] }} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Thirsk (UK Parliament constituency)|Thirsk]] | years = 1695–[[1707 British general election|1707]] | with = [[Richard Staines]] 1695–1698 | with2 = [[Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Baronet|Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt]] from 1698 | before = [[Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Baronet|Thomas Frankland]]<br />[[Richard Staines]] | after = Parliament of Great Britain }} {{s-par|gb}} {{succession box | title = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Thirsk (UK Parliament constituency)|Thirsk]] | years = [[1707 British general election|1707]]–1709 | with = [[Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Baronet|Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt]] | before = Parliament of England | after = [[Sir Thomas Frankland, 2nd Baronet|Sir Thomas Frankland, Bt]]<br />[[Leonard Smelt (politician)|Leonard Smelt]] }} {{s-reg|en-bt}} {{s-bef|before=[[Sir Godfrey Copley, 1st Baronet|Godfrey Copley]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Copley baronets|Baronet]]'''<br />(of Sprotborough)''' |years=1678–1709}} {{s-non|reason=Extinct}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Godfrey}} [[Category:1650s births]] [[Category:1709 deaths]] [[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of England|Copley, Godfrey, 1st Baronet]] [[Category:English art collectors]] [[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies]] [[Category:British MPs 1707–1708]] [[Category:British MPs 1708–1710]] [[Category:High sheriffs of Yorkshire]] [[Category:English MPs 1679]] [[Category:English MPs 1680–1681]] [[Category:English MPs 1681]] [[Category:English MPs 1695–1698]] [[Category:English MPs 1698–1700]] [[Category:English MPs 1701]] [[Category:English MPs 1701–1702]] [[Category:English MPs 1702–1705]] [[Category:English MPs 1705–1707]] [[Category:Civil servants in the Audit Office (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:18th-century English landowners]] [[Category:British fellows of the Royal Society]]