Elias Godfrey (Bill) Coppel's (1896-1978) law studies at the University
of Melbourne were interrupted by war service. He enlisted in the AIF
in 1915 and spent nine months in Egypt before being sent to the Western
Front in August 1916 and was discharged in 1919. He was admitted to
the Victorian Bar in 1922. His publication in 1935 of The Law Relating
to Bills of Sale, Liens on Crops, Liens on Wool, Stock Mortgages and
the Assignment or Transfer of Book Debts earned him his LL. D., awarded
in 1937.
Coppel appeared several times before the Privy Council and, as well
as undertaking a number of company investigations, he was a royal commissioner
in inquiries into third party insurance in 1959 and the Queen Victoria
Market in 1960. He was Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria
from 1950 to 1952 and of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1956 and 1958.
Bill Coppel served as Warden of Convocation of the University of Melbourne
from 1950 to 1959 and was a member of Council and Faculty of Law from
1959 to 1967.
Marjorie Jean Service (1900-1970), a graduate in Arts and Law from the
University, and Bill Coppel were married in 1925. Marjorie Coppel was
active in the Council for Civil Liberties, notably on behalf of the
Jewish detainees from the Dunera. She also campaigned for the establishment
of day-care centres for working mothers. Her publications include Food
and Health in 1941, Our Food in 1949 and, with Mary Lazarus, The Making
of the Modern World, in 1960. Marjorie Coppel's service as a member
of the Council of Janet Clarke Hall is commemorated in the courtyard
which bears her name.
All three of the Coppel children graduated from the University of Melbourne:
Hugh, who died in 1951, was a lawyer; Andrew, a mathematician, is Emeritus
Professor at the Australian National University and Charles is Associate
Professor in the Melbourne History Department.
