William Cocker

William Henry Cocker (9 December 1836 – 14 April 1911) was the first mayor of Blackpool, Lancashire, England, serving, in his initial term, from 1876 to 1879.^[1] He served again from 1884 to 1885 and from 1886 to 1887. He was selected as the first Freeman of the Borough in 1897.^[2][3] Cocker was noted for taking Blackpool from a "small coastal village into a major tourist destination,"^[4][5] and has been called a founding father of Victorian Blackpool.^[6]

Early life

Cocker was born in 1836 to John Cocker and Jane Banks, daughter of Henry Banks, in a house his father had built in Hygiene Terrace on Blackpool Promenade. His father had moved to Blackpool from Tockholes, near Darwen in east Lancashire, in 1828.^[7] William was educated at Preston Grammar School.^[8]

Cocker became a close friend of John Bickerstaffe, who went on to become another important figure in Blackpool's development.^[9]

In 1858, he married Betsey Pilling, a native of Rochdale.^[7]

Career

Cocker retired from his career as a surgeon in 1875. Two years earlier,^[10] he had opened a menagerie and aquarium in Blackpool's Prince of Wales Arcade, which later became the site of Blackpool Tower. The aquarium was incorporated into the tower building.^[6]

Personal life

In 1878, Cocker laid the foundation stone of Blackpool's St John's Parish Church, and had donated £1,000 towards the cost of the church's construction.^[11]

Death

Cocker died in 1911,^[7] aged 74. Having survived his wife for three years,^[7] he was interred alongside her, his parents, brother and sister-in-law in a small grassy burial ground at the eastern end of St John's Parish Church. He was also buried beside the tomb of noted Blackpool historian Reverend William Thornber. Having died a poor man, living in relative poverty in a house on Whitegate Drive,^[7] there was no money to add an inscription to Cocker's marker.^[2]

References