Burial Lookup

[arthurk]

John seems to have been quite a character. I found a document at the Cheshire Record Office where one James Hodgson calls for the removal of John Cooper and describes him as ‘a man morally unfit to sustain the office of a Minister of the Gospel’. Well I was imagining all sots of things as you can imagine.

You didn't give a date, but on reading this I wondered if it might have something to do with what David wrote earlier:

Three non-conformist baptisms at Nantwich, Barker Street (Baptist):-
Isaac: 29th November 1817, born on 13th
Robert Thompson: 15th April 1821, born 29th March
Eliza Thompson: (day obscure) April 1823, born 17th March 1823

John recorded as minister in each case

Baptists don't baptise children, so I wondered if he was being censured for what look like infant baptisms. However, this wasn't the case. I've had a look at the images of the original registers, and they do record the births of these children, but the later dates are actually of registration, ie being written up in the registers. So there would be no grounds for complaint there.

My next thought related to this:

There is a death notice in the Lincolnshire Chronicle on 27th May 1865 of a John Cooper, 82, Unitarian Minister, in Lutton, which might be a printing error.

Baptists and Unitarians are not the same, and I can well imagine Baptists being shocked if one of their ministers were to become a Unitarian. Again, though, this might not be the case. The General Baptist Chapel in Fleet, where he married in 1854, was long established, but according to the National Index of Parish Registers there was also a Unitarian chapel, which at some date in the 19th century (not stated) became Baptist. It might be worth looking into the history of both chapels to see where he was the minister, and whether this had anything to do with the outrage.

[Jayson]

Thanks for the extra, arthurk.

The date of the document at the Cheshire Record Office is 17 July 1822, and was a notice addressed  to the inhabitants of Nantwich by James Hodgson, Deputy for the Association of General Baptists.

David provided a interesting link to a site which gave some additional information about John Cooper’s time at Coseley in Staffordshire where it is said that he was ‘an enthusiastic supporter of the Reform Bill of 1832’ and that ‘he antagonised many members of the congregation by his outspoken views’. He lost his position at that church (I’m guessing this living was also of the Baptist persuasion), and took legal action but this ultimately failed and he relocated to Lincolnshire.

I’m a bit confused as to when he actually died. In the Sutton St Nicholas parish register it says John Cooper of Lutton aged 52 buried on 10 Dec. However, both John’s will and the Newspaper obituaries say he died in May 1865 so the Lutton burial surely cannot be the same John Cooper as the age and date of death don’t match.


Thanks for the marriage extract, David. We might share a family connection through the Wilkinsons.

[DCB]

There were two John Coopers registered, so the burial is a different person.

COOPER, JOHN 82 
GRO Reference: 1865  J Quarter in HOLBEACH  Volume 07A  Page 201
COOPER, JOHN 52 
GRO Reference: 1865  D Quarter in OF HOLBEACH  Volume 07A  Page 230

The newspapers have the correct John on 21st May and the other on 6th December.

David

[DCB]

Whilst looking for the deaths of John, I found some interesting things about his daughter.

Stamford Mercury 13th Jul 1860
At Plumstead, Essex, on the 10th inst., (by the Rev. H. Brown, M.A., Rector of Woolwich,) the Rev. Jas. Stack, sen., late of the New Zealand Church Mission, East Cape, to Eliza Thompson youngest daughter of the Rev. John Cooper, of Long Sutton, in this county.

She is not with her husband on the censuses and there is a notice in the Surrey Comet on 16th February 1861, and in 1864, that James Stack would not be responsible for debts contracted by his wife, Eliza Thompson Stack.

1861 Census
St Johns Villas, 3, Kew Road, Richmond, Richmond upon Thames, Surrey
Eliza Thompson Stack Head Married Female 38 1823 Governess Nantwich, Cheshire

1871 Census
Chippenham Terrace, Paddington, Kensington, London & Middlesex
Eliza T Stack - - Female 48 1823 Governess Wanlinch (Nantwich), Cheshire

David

[arthurk]

I was a bit thrown by John Cooper's marriage at Fleet Baptist Chapel, forgetting that he was actually in Lutton. So I've looked in a couple of directories for the period, found at https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4

In both 1856 and 1861 he is listed as a Unitarian minister there:

https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/228588/rec/2

https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/192930/rec/2

That would almost certainly lead to, or be evidence of, a rift with the Baptists.

[AlanBoyd]

In census returns he seems to be ‘Unitarian Baptist Minister’. Does that have any significance?

[AlanBoyd]

1851 census
Eliza Thompson Cooper, 28, U, born Nantwich
is at 1 Apsley Terrace, Great Yarmouth
this is a small school with six resident pupils ages 7-14
The head is Jemimah Peterson, 35, U, (Glasgow?).
Both women are teachers, Eliza's relationship to head is 'partner'

RD Yarmouth
ED 1O
piece 1806
Folio 730
schedule number 163

[AlanBoyd]

I have collected a set of newspaper snippets pertaining to ‘the Misses Roberston and Cooper’ but I can’t post them because this thread is a lookup request. In summary:

March 1849: No 1 Apsley Terrace for sale. (In fact the whole terrace is for sale so possibly newly-built)

January 1850: the school is open for business

July 1851: A lady from Paris is on the staff and available for private French lessons

March 1855: Miss Cooper offers singing lessons

October 1855: an auction of the house contents ‘lately occupied by Misses Robertson and Cooper’

[arthurk]

In census returns he seems to be ‘Unitarian Baptist Minister’. Does that have any significance?

It might. I hadn't come across the term before now, but a brief search reveals that it was actually a thing. See for example this article on the Unitarian Baptist Church in York:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0005576X.2021.1966198

I've also never delved into Unitarian history, but this page might offer some resources - the congregation at Lutton is mentioned in the A-M list (under Long Sutton):

https://unitarianhistory.org.uk/research/