Harold Cooper was born in Holton, Lancashire, England on 15 October 1877 and was articled to Walter Stirrup (1864-1956) in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1892. He also attended Blackburn Technical School. After completing his articles he worked as an assistant to Stirrup; to Frederick William Lacey (1855-1916); and to Frank Gatley Briggs (1862-1921) and Henry Vernon Wolstenholme (1863-1936).
Cooper qualified as an architect in 1899 and subsequently practised in Blackburn until at least the late 1930s. He was for a period in partnership with Harold Slater as Cooper & Slater. In 1910 they were placed Equal Second in a competition to design the Central Library in Blackpool. Their designs are illustrated in British Competitions in Architecture vol. 3, no. 26, November 1909 (pp. 46-47). Cooper & Slater had offices at 13 Richmond Terrace, Blackburn, and at 57-60, Central Chambers, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The partnership was dissolved in 1914
Cooper was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1900 and was a Soane Medallist in 1907
His address was given as Feniscowles Old Hall, Pleasington, Blackburn 1911 and 1939; 12 Richmond Terrace, Blackburn in 1914; and Richmond Chambers, Blackburn in 1939. He died in Blackburn in 1975
Bangor Street Council School, Blackburn; cotton mills for Messrs. S. Slater and Sons, Preston; St. Anne's Old Links Golf Club clubhouse. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The architectural Press, 1926
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001