Born on December 26th, 1809, the son of Edward Breese Copeman, a merchant living at Great Witchingham in Norfolk. He received his early education at the Grammar School in Trunch, and was then apprenticed in Norwich, first to A Brown, and then to J G Crosse ('Crosse, of Norwich'), whose midwifery cases he afterwards described. He served as a Dresser at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and then entered St George's Hospital, London. Returning to Norwich, he was elected House Surgeon to the hospital. He started in general practice at Cottishall, near Norwich, in partnership with W Taylor, where he obtained a considerable reputation, and settled at Norwich in 1848 as a consulting physician. He was elected Physician to the Hospital in 1851 and was connected with that institution throughout life, becoming Consulting Physician in 1878. As a consulting physician he enjoyed an extensive practice, and as a consulting obstetrician was held in especial repute. He was a strong advocate for the use of the vectis, his favourite instrument. Besides being for many years Physician to the Hospital, he was at the time of his death Physician to the Norwich Eye Infirmary and the Norwich Magdalen, Consulting Accoucheur to the Norwich Lying-in Charity, and had been one of the founders, and also the first Physician, of the Jenny Lind Hospital for Children. In 1863 he was President of the East Anglian Branch of the British Medical Association, and presided over the Norwich Meeting of the Association in 1874, being elected Vice-President on his retirement in the following year. Copeman was an enthusiastic musician, and played the violoncello admirably. He was for many years Chairman of the Sub-committee of Management of the Norfolk and Norwich Musical Festivals. He took a deep interest in this work, and, on his retirement from it some years before his death, was presented with a handsome testimonial by the Lord-Lieutenant and leading citizens of the county and city of Norwich. Though failing in health for some time, Copeman continued to see patients until the day before his death. He died in an attack of heart failure on February 25th, 1880. Publications: *Remarks on the Poor Law Amendment Act, with reference to Pauper Medical Attendance and Medical Clubs*, 8vo, Norwich, 1838. *Collection of Cases of Apoplexy, with an Explanatory Introduction*, 8vo, London, 1845. *Records of Obstetric Consultation Practice; and a Translation of Busch and Moses on Uterine Haemorrhage*, 8vo, plate, London, 1856. *Brief History of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital; with a few Biographical Observations on the late W Dalrymple and J G Crosse*, 8vo, Norwich, 1856. *An Essay on the History, Pathology and Treatment of Diphtheria*, 8vo, Norwich, 1859. *Illustrations of Puerperal Fever*, 8vo, London, 1860. Copeman also translated Jean Antoine Gay's work, "On the Nature and Treatment of Apoplexy" (with an Appendix), 8vo, London, 1843. His contributions to the medical journals were numerous and important. He published a paper on "Flooding after Delivery" in the *Med Gaz* and wrote largely in the *Brit Med Jour*. The latter says of his works and of these contributions: "He called attention to the abuse of bleeding in that affection [apoplexy] and was thus one of the first to show the necessity of a more restricted use of the lancet. It is interesting that one of his last contributions - a paper published in this journal on Dec 18th, 1879 - was a paper on bloodletting, in which he gave the result of his matured experience, and, suggesting that the reaction against blood-letting had gone too far, described the conditions in which in his opinion it might be useful."