Arthur Aikin Brodribb

“ From 1861 onwards Cooper was a working journalist, his first engagement being that of a sub-editor of the 'Daily Telegraph.' In 1862 he became a parliamentary reporter of that paper. He had learned shorthand, the Mason-Gurney system, and, besides putting it to practical purposes, published a manual of the system, 'Parliamentary Shorthand,' as early as 1858. Later, he became a recognised authority on the history of the art. ”

“ This preferment he held for life. Devoted to classical study, Brodribb joined his cousin, Alfred John Church, in translating the works of Tacitus; the History appeared in 1862, Germania and Agricola in 1868, the Annals in 1876, and De Oratoribus in 1877. The useful work is competently done and gained general recognition. ”

“ Cooper collected, while still a boy, materials for a work that should rival the 'Athenaæ Oxonienses' of Anthony à Wood. His father joined in the project, with the result that in 1858 appeared the first volume of 'Athenæ Cantabrigienses,' containing memoirs of the authors and other eminent men, being alumni of Cambridge, who died between 1500 and 1585. A second volume, published in 1861, carried the work forward to 1609. A part of the third volume was printed, but not published, when the father died in 1866 ”