Alfred Ernest Egerton Cooper (5 July 1883 – 11 May 1974), RBA, ARCA, was a British painter of portraits, landscapes and other figurative work. In the era of Modernism, he continued to work in traditional style from his studio in Chelsea, London. Cooper was an artist of modest origins who attended the Royal Academy Schools then became a scholarship student at the Royal College of Art. He lost most of the sight of one eye due to chlorine gas in the First World War. However, as the war ended, he was promoted to captain and official war artist of the RAF. After producing military paintings of aircraft and RAF personnel, he went on to paint King George VI, Winston Churchill and Barnes Wallis, besides various earls and other worthies. He was a teacher of art, he restored old paintings, and he produced sporting pictures, murals and paintings for illustrated newspapers. He took part in the painting event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. His work is held in numerous collections, such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Imperial War Museum, the Guildhall Art Gallery and the Parliamentary Art Collection. Cooper was married with one son and lived most of his life in London, where he was president of Chelsea Art Society. He was said to be "one of Chelsea's oldest and best-loved artists". Background Cooper's maternal grandparents were Robert Speed (Foston 1811 – Lincoln 1863), a stocktaker (employee who takes inventory) at the ironworks, and his wife Sarah Hannah "Annie" or "Ann" née Jones (Heighington 17 January 1810 – Elkesley 2 October 1911), whose portrait was painted by her grandson in 1901 when she was 95 years old. Robert and Annie married in 1858. Annie had twelve children, forty grandchildren and about fifty great-grandchildren. She was still active outdoors in her 102nd year. Cooper's paternal grandparents were Thomas Cooper, a police officer, and Mary née Edwards. His father was Alfred John Cooper (born 12 February 1857), a railway clerk; later a political agent and relieving officer from Coven, Staffordshire. His mother was school mistress Sarah Hannah Sturges Speed (26 July 1859 – 1896/1897), and his parents married at Trinity Chapel, Wolverhampton, on 19 June 1882. His sister was Winifred Mary Cooper (1886–1936), born in Wolverhampton, as was her mother. Alfred Ernest Egerton "Fred" Cooper, was born on 5 July 1883, in Tettenhall in the West Midlands. He