Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Baronet

Who was Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Baronet?

Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Baronet FRS was a wealthy English landowner, art-collector and public figure, who lived at Sprotbrough House, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Copley was the son of Sir Godfrey Copley, who was created baronet by King Charles II in 1661, and he succeeded to his father's title and estates in 1678. In 1677 he had immediately followed his father as High Sheriff of Yorkshire.

He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1691. He is remembered mainly because he provided a bequest of £100 to the society in London in 1709, which provided the funding for an annual award, the Copley Medal, the Society's premier award for scientific achievement. 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."

He served as Member of Parliament for Aldborough from 1679 to 1685 and for Thirsk from 1695 to 1709, and also served as commissioner of public accounts and controller of the accounts of the army.