George Coppin (1819–1906) was a comic actor born in England who arrived in Sydney in 1843. Coppin was also an entrepreneur who ran a number of theatres, an amusement park and Astley’s Ampitheatre, along with four hotels. The actor Charles Kean claimed that Coppin had an inelegant way of shoving both hands in his side pockets and looking blank, a pose that Roberts has captured in this portrait. Coppin later became active as a local politician.