The story of the Cope family coffee shop begins in the early years of the nineteenth century. William Cope, was born on September 3rd 1797 in the parish of St George the Martyr but was christened at the church of St Mary in Lambeth on February 4th 1798. In 1814 one of his early experiences which he used to tell his grandchildren about was the great freeze-up of the River Thames and the last Frost Fair held on it.
For more on the background see Lambeth
Marriage of William Cope and Sarah Phipps
About 1822 William married Sarah Phipps, then aged about 19. The place and date of the marriage is so far not known. Sarah came from the quiet hamlet of Cockpole Green in Berkshire, midway between Henley and Maidenhead. She was however christened at the church of St Mary the Virgin in Hurley on 3 Jul 1803 as Cockpole Green was too small to have its own church. It was a long way from Lambeth so perhaps Sarah herself had found work in London.
Children of William and Sarah: (All except the first two were baptised at St John the Evangelist)
- Sarah chr.31 Aug 1823 Christchurch, Southwark; m.Archibald Brown
- William chr. 30 Jan 1825 Christchurch, Southwark, bur. 9 Sep 1832 St John the Evangelist, Lambeth
- Emma chr.29 Apr 1827, bur.11 May 1828
- George Henry chr.28 Dec 1828, bur.29 Aug 1830
- John William b.Nov 1829 bur.3 Jan 1831
- Henry George, chr. 3 Apr 1831, m.Sarah Alicia Arrowsmith, d.28 Jan 1881 (Continued in Coffee Shop (2)
- Edwin Alfred b.20 Jun 1834, chr.13 Jul 1834, m.Louisa Colwell, d.10 Mar 1891, bur.18 Mar 1891
- Mary Ann Eliza chr.21 May 1837, m.(1)Leonard Goodson (2)John Lack
- Charles b. 2 Oct 1844, chr.9 Feb 1845
- Ellen b.29 May 1848, chr.1 Oct 1848
Living Conditions in Victorian Lambeth
For more detail on the social background to family life see Lambeth
The first few years of marriage for William and Sarah were very hard. As can be seen above, in sixteen years William and Sarah had ten children and buried four of them, three of them by their second year and William, the eldest boy, at the age of 7.
The most likely cause of death was bronchitis turning to pneumonia but those years were rife too with outbreaks of cholera. The crowded south bank of the Thames and the dockland area was not a healthy place to live. It is hardly surprising that William and Sarah's young growing family succumbed to something.
As the birthplaces of their children reveal, the Cope family moved frequently in the first few years, perhaps looking all the time for larger living quarters. They lived first in Henry St, then in Princes St (Coin St - now a large car parking area) which joins Commercial Road opposite Princes Wharf and another sawmill. Later they moved yet again, into Cornwall Place on the other side of Stamford St and then into Cornwall Road. They had so far never stayed in one house longer than a couple of years.
William and Sarah's first two children were christened in Christchurch, Southwark, there being no convenient church in Lambeth at the time. The church of St John the Evangelist, Waterloo Road, was built in 1824. There was still no railway or station and no bridge nearby for crossing the Thames. The most convenient route to the city - and cheapest, since the few bridges were mostly toll bridges - was to cross the river by boat. At some time the Copes acquired a boat of their own. Two brothers, who were probably Henry George and his brother Edwin, the only surviving sons - were nearly drowned when one of them was sucked into the mud up to his armpits at low tide and the other was nearly trapped too as he struggled to save him.
William Cope, Sawyer
It is fairly safe to assume that William was already working as a sawyer. Although this is not quite the area usually referred to as the 'London Docks' it was a dockland area with wharves stretching all the way from Waterloo Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge. On the nearer side Broadwall marked the boundary between this area and Southwark. The larger boats could not come beyond London Bridge but the Thames watermen came with their heavy-laden barges ferrying goods from the docks down-river, which were always busy. Two of the Cope grandchildren became lightermen later on, their boats being 'lighters'.
Lambeth 'Eating-House'
It is unlikely that William spent time without work but it was always safer to have some other project going. In William's case it was an eating-house. By 1832 the family was living at No.63 Cornwall Road, described as an 'eating-house' in the 1841 Census. William may have been the proprietor but it must have been Sarah who ran the eating-house, doing all the cooking and serving and cleaning. They were to remain there for the next twenty years or so. Cornwall Road runs due south from Commercial Road, now known as Upper Ground Street. Opposite the top end of it was the old Shot Tower which was used in the manufacture of lead shot.
On the 1841 Census William was described as an "eating-house keeper." The P.O Directory mentions "eating & groceries" and then again from 1845 onwards, "eating-rooms" They were still selling groceries however into the 20th century. There were four children surviving out of eight. Sarah, the eldest, was 17 or 18, being old enough to have been in service for a number of years. Henry George was 10, Edwin Alfred was six and Mary Ann Eliza was 3 or 4.
It is not known what happened to the last two children. Perhaps Charles died in the next big outbreak of cholera in 1849, but he was not living with the family in 1851. Ellen only appears on the 1851 Census aged three and by 1861 could have been living elsewhere in service as she has not yet been 'found'. It was a family with an enormous age range for by 1848 when their last child was born, Sarah, the eldest, was about 25.
The London & Southampton railway was extended to Waterloo Road and the new Waterloo Bridge Station built in 1848.
Commercial Road
In the Post Office Directory for 1853 William is described as a grocer. Then, about the mid-1850s William and his family moved round the corner into no.35 Commercial Road. The whole area belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall so presumably he either bought a lease or rented it. At no.32 were Spencer & Co, builders, and at no.36 was the public house the Dover Castle, one of many of that name in London. No. 36 must have been next door to no. 35 as all the numbered dwellings appear to face north towards the river. No.35, like most of the houses in the area, was a three storey building but it also had cellars below at the back as the ground shelved away quite steeply on the south side.
Family of Sarah Cope & Archibald Brown
Sarah and Archibald were married on 24 Apr 1848 at St Bride's Church in Fleet St. Nothing is known about Archibald except that he was christened at St James', Westminster on November 5th 1826 and died some time between 1863 and 1881.
Children of Sarah Cope and Archibald Brown
- Sarah b. 1849
- Archibald Brown b.1855, Lambeth, coal porter
- Caroline Brown, b. 1863, Hoxton Mdx, book folder
Possibly Sarah senior helped out in the shop, as the birth of young Archibald suggests. This would about the time the Cope family moved from Cornwall Road to Commercial Road. Young Sarah Brown must have worked in the shop as the Census of 1861 shows her living at at No.35 Commercial Road with her grandfather and old enough to work at the age of 12. Her mother had perhaps by then moved to Hoxton, a point which remains to be verified.
It was a common pattern for young people to begin their working life in the home of a relative - at about the age of ten right into the 20th century. For example in 1881 the Census shows a girl of eleven living in as a servant in the coffee shop. But for nearly all the time the coffee shop was in existence there were relatives involved in helping, and often living there too.
By 1881 Sarah was a widow, now 57, and back in Cornwall Road at no.79, ,just 'round the corner' and no doubt able to help out in the coffee shop. It is not known what happened to young Sarah, now 33, but the other two children were still living at home, Archibald being 26 and Caroline 18. Their subsequent history has not so far been traced. Return
Family of Henry George Cope & Sarah Arrowsmith
Go to Coffee Shop (2) for details of this family
Family of Edwin Alfred Cope & Louisa Colwell
Edwin (1834-1891) was still living at home, that is, 35 Commercial Road, when he married Louisa Colwell (1838-1884) who was living round the corner in Duke St, now renamed Duchy St, the third main one parallel to Waterloo Road after Cornwall Road and Prince's Street (Coin St). This was on June 27th 1858 at the Church of St Mary in Lambeth.
A brief glance at a trade directory for Lambeth reveals such varied occupations as tripe dressers, potato salesmen, artificial florists and cowkeepers. Edwin was a farrier, a shoeing-smith. There were stables everywhere and hundreds of horses, ponies and donkeys all needing to be well-shod on the cobbled streets, harnesses to be made or mended, perhaps their hair to be cut close or their tails docked even if, as was so often the case, they were not treated kindly by their masters.
The newly married couple moved into 17 Broadwall, between then and 1871.
Children of Edwin Cope & Eliza:
- Edwin Alfred, b. 15 Mar 1859, d.30 Dec 1892, carman
- Charles b. 6 Jan 1862, m. Sarah Fowler, no children, d.15 Dec.1931, lighterman
- William Henry b. 30 Dec.1863, m. (?), 2 children, d. 23 Nov.1930, art needleworker - embroidery tracer.
- Ada Louise b. 16 Nov 1865, unm, d. 23 Sep 1917, embroidery fancy tracker
- Clara b. 31 Dec 1867, infant, d. 13 Jan 1869
- Henry Colwell b. 15 Nov 1869, m. Ellen Maria Hendley, d. 12 Jul 1901, lighterman
- Clara Mabel b. 27 Jul 1872, unm, d. 2 Apr 1913, stationer's assistant
- Louisa Mary b. 31 Oct 1874, m. Robert Strachan, had 6 children, d. Dec/Q 1951, stationer's assistant
- Alice Beatrice b. 27 Dec 1876, m. William Mersom, had 3 children, d. 30 Jun 1941
- Emma Elizabeth, known as 'Lil' , b.22 May 1879, m. Fred Garrett of Boston, USA, no children, d.30 Oct 1928
Another move between 1881 and 1891 took Edwin and Louisa to 5a Boundary Row, off Blackfriars Rd.on the other side of the railway. They were now just over the border in Southwark, the back of their property actually being on the boundary, as clearly shown on the Ordnance Survey large-scale map of 1872. This was in the Christchurch ward. The opposite side of the road was completely taken over by a printing works, where perhaps the two girls who were stationer's asistants could have worked.
After his marriage to Sarah Fowler Charles lived in Frances St, long since swallowed up by the expansion of Waterloo station. It met Waterloo Road directly opposite St John the Evangelist's. William married Sarah's sister Ellen. (After the deaths of the two wives Charles and William shared a house with William's daughter Jessie acting as housekeeper.) Return
Family of Mary Ann Eliza Cope & Leonard Goodson
The shop in Commercial Road continued to be busy and full of people, though the death of Sarah, William's wife, in 1866 must have been a serious blow. Maybe this is why Mary Cope came back to live at home.
Mary, the second of William's surviving daughters, married on 17 Jun 1860 at the church of St Bartholomew the Great in London.. Her husband, Leonard Goodson, was a hatter's assistant born on May 21st 1832 at Little Hadham in Hertfordshire.
Children of Mary Cope & Leonard Goodson
- Laura S. Goodson b. 1861, Lambeth
- Leonard Goodson (renamed Lack 1871) b. 1863, Lambeth, turner
- Ellen Goodson b. 1865, Lambeth
In 1871 the Goodson family were all living over the coffee shop with Mary's father, William Cope. That area of London was famous for its hat-making and people from all over London came there to buy their hats. It is not clear whether Leonard senior was involved in making or selling them. The felting and steaming and blocking, always in a damp atmosphere, was a hard and unpleasant task. Leonard died in the summer of 1871.
By 1881 Laura, now 19, was a general domestic servant at a dancing school in St Marylebone. Ellen, 15, was a housemaid in a well-to-do household in St Pancras. Leonard junior was not traced at first, for the simple reason that he changed his name when his mother re-married!
Family of Mary Ann Eliza (Cope, Goodson) & John Lack
This second marriage took place in Whitechapel in the closing months of 1871. This rather hasty re-marriage only weeks after Leonard's death was probably because Mary had been left with three children, Laura now about 10, Leonard 8, and Ellen 6 and presumably no means of support. Leonard remained living at home and was still there in 1881, but he had then assumed his stepfather's name and was listed on the census as Leonard Lack.
Children of Mary Cope and John Lack:
- Frederick Lack b. 1874, Chelsea
- Charles Lack b. 1877, Lambeth
The Lack family were living at 52 Paradise St in Lambeth in 1881. This is now known as Old Paradise St and is just off the famous Lambeth Walk. John Lack was a coal weigher. Charles Lack married May Goward on 25 Dec 1898 in Hackney and they had 9 children, moving eventually to Essex. Return
William's eyesight was beginning to fail. Though he was not listed on the 1881 Census as officially blind his sight was too poor for him to find his way about the streets. His daughter Ada was delegated to take him to church on Sundays, a task she disliked as she feared being nicknamed 'Little Nell.' Henry George senior took over the coffee shop, but it was still the womenfolk who mostly ran it. Henry was said to have worked for Eyre and Spottiswoode as a joiner. It was a firm which his son-in-law Thomas Barnes, Ada's husband, also worked for, over a period of 50 years from the late 1880s onwards, but as a bookbinder.
There were numbers of printing works in the area. There was a timber yard between Commercial Rd & the river. At no.32 Commercial Rd was Spencer's, the builder's.
In October 1878 Sal died at St Thomas's Hospital. The children were still fairly young but it was probably the business which was most at risk. Within a few months, at the beginning of 1879, Henry married again, to Sophie or Sophia from Oxfordshire. Harry was just 19, Lizzie 16, Thomas about 13, Frank about 12, Ada aged 11, and William was just 8. Henry's was a marriage not destined to last as he himself was the next to fall ill after barely 18 months with Sophia. He died of pneumonia on January 28th 1881 having been ill for two months.
It was also only ten days since the terrible floods which must have affected the shop. Owners of properties on the riversides were obliged by law to keep their embankments at a particular level - 17 ft 6 ins in 1880. In 1881 the tide reached that level on January 18th . The Times newspaper reported the next day that a "calamitous high tide" had resulted in extensive flooding to the low-lying areas between Blackfriars and Westminster Bridges. It was the area of Commercial Road (now Upper Ground St) and Waterloo which suffered most, many buildings being flooded to a depth of 5 1/2 ft.It is highly likely that the coffee shop was one of those that suffered from it. Family members who knew it describe the front of the building as one storey higher than the back.
In his will Henry left just under £300 to Sophia. Most of the work in the coffee shop must now have depended on her and she is listed in 1881 as the coffee house keeper. William is described as a retired sawyer. Harry was not yet 21 and he was a joiner, who is said to have worked for Hall Bedall's.
At the end of the summer in 1883 William died at the age of 86. He had run an 'eating-house' for maybe fifty years, some thirty of those years being in Commercial Road. His grandson would carry the business on for another fifty.