Eighteenth century coffee houses

[slimbridge]

Would anyone be familiar with eighteenth century coffee houses in London?
  I have found that an "ancestor?" Samuel Coppock was master of the Grecian coffee house . In his 1778 will he mentions the wife of Henry Timbrell of Old Slaughters coffee house.
  I need to confirm I have the right Samuel Coppock.
My questions are - would Samuel Coppock have been described as a gentleman after he sold the Grecian coffee house?
Would a coffee house master be known as a vintner?
Mary

[supermoussi]

would Samuel Coppock have been described as a gentleman after he sold the Grecian coffee house?

Maybe.

Would a coffee house master be known as a vintner?

Probably not, but what was stopping him from running a bar as well as a cafe? Cafe by day, bar at night perhaps?

[Nick29]

Maybe you need to establish whether he actually owned the coffee house, or managed it for someone else ?

[Valda]

Hi


A gentleman was a term which meant someone who had enough income not to have to work, living frugally or otherwise.

A vintner was a wine merchant buying and selling wine. Coffee Houses besides serving coffee did serve wine.


'Old Slaughter's Coffee House, at 74 and 75 St Martin's Lane was founded in 1692 and became a fashionable haunt of artists and writers'


Further information on the coffee house and coffee houses in general

http://www.georgianlondon.com/old-slaughters-coffee-house


The Grecian Coffee House

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grecian_Coffee_House

You can see a drawing of the Grecian Coffee House here

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Coffee_houses.html


'The Grecian, as the name might suggest, attracted those interested in philosophy and other academic disciplines. Macaulay wrote:-
Those who wished to find a gentleman commonly asked, not whether he lived in Fleet Street or Chancery Lance, but whether he frequented the Grecian or the Rainbow.'


Regards

Valda

[slimbridge]

Thanks everybody.
Sadly, I seem to have made a mistake in identifying the Samuel Coppock who is my ancestor. His wife died in 1774, according to several of the London papers of the time - my man died about 1772 but his widow survived until at least 1799 and seems to have died 1807. hence the Samuel Coppock ex Grecian coffee house is not mine Mary

[Valda]

Hi


That's the problem with the London area, with such a large population there are always people living at the same time with the same name even when you think it is probably a little rarer.


Regards

Valda