Transcript of the diary of
Frederick Duckering Cooke of Derby
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part
10 18 September 1902 to 24 April 1906
Introduction to the dairy of Frederick Duckering Cooke
of Derby
The diary of Frederick
Duckering Cooke came into my hands incidentally. It was part of the estate of his
grand-daughter Nancie Reynolds left to her friend Renée Goodwin who is my
mother-in-law.
The diary as
an artefact
The black ink hand-writing is
contained in a ledger-type volume of foolscap size with a black cardboard cover
and marbled flyleaf. The pages are
numbered up to 315 and a partial attempt has been made at an alphabetical index
on the remaining pages. The opening page
explains that the volume starts as an “epitome” and entries for the first ten
years (1862-1872) are summarised from notebooks “knowing by experience how much
is written on the spur of the moment which mature reflection would leave
unwritten”. After 1872 the entries are
more immediate, but are still mostly written from memoranda, often a month or
more at a time.
The period covered is 1
January 1862 (with a few remarks on his life before this date) to April 24
1906. However, entries are by no means
daily or even continuous. There are months when there is no entry and there are
some periods when the diary was abandoned completely. There are no entries for the years 1881 to
1884 and sparse entries for 1885 to 1888, 1890 to 1893 and 1901 to 1903.
Fred Cooke’s handwriting is
fluent and neat, as you would expect of a man whose livelihood depended partly
on this skill. The main difficulties it
posed for me as transcriber were in similarities of capital T and I, his habit
of leaving lower-case t’s uncrossed and therefore identical with l,
similarities between n and r and dots on i’s that floated out of position. Context usually made the word obvious with
little problem, except in the case of names, which obviously lack semantic
clues. A question mark has been added
when I was not sure of the word. Some
spellings are seemingly “mistakes” but may reflect old usage. For instance, he writes “staid” for the past
of the verb to stay where we would write “stayed”, and consistently spells
rabbit with two tt’s. I conserved all
spellings. Similarly, I reproduced his punctuation, which often lacked commas
in lists of people.
Some themes from the diary
Fred Cooke’s family
background
Fred gives his date of birth
in his introduction to the diary as 7 June 1843, and often notes his
“anniversary of birth” over the years.
His father was a tenant farmer at Tothby, near Alford, though he had to
sell up in 1863. Fred had already left
farming two years before when he took
Fred’s father’s year of birth
is unknown (He also was named Frederick), but his mother’s is recorded by Fred
as being 1808. Her maiden name was
Robinson, a fact not given in the diary but in Fred’s handwriting on the
flyleaf of an old Receipt Book which came into my hands at the same time as the
diary. Under the inscription “M
Duckering’s Receipt book 1786", Fred has written: “Miss Mary Duckering
married Mr John Robinson at Tothby or Alford.
Their daughter Elizabeth married Frederick Cooke, my father and this
book came into my hands March 1904.
Frederick Duckering Cooke at Derby”.
Fred was the only son of
Frederick Cooke and Elizabeth Robinson and seemingly the youngest of four
children. The others were Lizzie, Polly
and Fanny. Lizzie married Langley Joseph
Brackenbury on 28 October 1862. She had
three children that are mentioned in the diary: Constance (Connie), Joe and
Maud. After the death of Langley
Brackenbury on 25 June 1875, Lizzie spent time as housekeeper to Mr Kirkby of
Sutterton near Boston and then cared for Fred Soulby’s children (brother of
Edward, see below. Fred Soulby had
drowned himself at Peterborough in 1896).
Joe Brackenbury lived with Fred Cooke and his family in Derby and helped
him in the business from August 1875, but, after taking his preliminary law
exams in May 1878, he decided to learn coffee-plantation management and sailed
for India on 16 July 1878.
Polly Cooke married Barnes
Walker on 4 August 1864. She had two
children, Harry (born 3.6.1865) and May.
Harry was Fred’s godson. Barnes Walker died on 21 April 1870 and Polly
married Edward Soulby on 15 April 1874.
Fanny Cooke remained
unmarried and went on living with her parents in Alford. She was regularly called in to help Fred
Cooke’s household. For example she
stayed for about a month after the birth of their second, third and fourth
children and to help with a house move in 1879.
Fred Cooke’s career
Brought up to the life of a
tenant farmer, Fred left it of his own accord in January 1861 when he took
articles with his brother in law Langley Joseph Brackenbury who was a solicitor
in Alford.
Fred passed all his law exams
in 1866 and was accepted to appear in all the Common law courts by October 1866
and Chancery in January 1867. On the
first of January 1867 he moved from Alford to manage the Derby office of Marcus
Huish, a solicitor in Castle Donington.
The offices were in the “old Jacobean residence”, The Wardwick, on the
corner of Becket Street. Fred was taken
on at £120 per annum (around £10000 at 2004 values) with the possibility of a
partnership when that of Huish and Eddowes expired (due 30 April1867). As no offer had been made by 23 September
1867, Fred gave notice that he would leave.
However, unfortunately, Marcus Huish died suddenly (9 February 1868),
leaving Fred with the urgent need to make his own arrangements. He had an interview with another Derby
solicitor, Gamble, on 2 April 1868 and arranged terms on 4 April to work for
him at £200 per annum (around £17000 at 2004 values) for three months with a
view to a partnership if business permitted after that date.
By 1871 Fred Cooke notes that
he is earning £350 per annum(around £30000 at 2004 values), but is being pressed
by Gamble to invest more capital in the partnership. He invested £50 in April 1872 (about £4000 by
2004 values), but seemingly the partnership had begun to sour and on 12
February 1873, Cooke gave Gamble notice of termination of the agreement.
It is not clear where the
offices were that Fred occupied at this time.
Fred seems to have taken all
types of business. Criminal cases and
minor civil litigation dominate at first.
As time goes on he seems to have become more heavily involved in
property transactions and to have begun speculatively to purchase property
himself as well. It is difficult to
judge exactly what is going on, but he notes in the diary bidding for certain
properties and being “pressed” to pay up, possibly before he has effected a
sale. A particularly long-running deal
concerning a tan-yard at Horsley is noted as starting in February 1872 and not
concluding until September 1878 with a loss of £2000 (about £150000 by 2004
values).
Some small appointments were
taken on to boost earnings. Fred became
a Commissioner for Oaths in November 1873 and acted as Presiding Officer at
several elections from 1880 to 1895.
By September 1878 Fred
Cooke’s business had reached a financial low which lasted until July 1880. It seems that too many claims became pressing
all at once and he was forced to liquidate capital and forfeit securities. His domestic furniture, worth nearly £300
(about £20000 by 2004 values), was under threat in May 1879 and he notes the
terms of a moneylender: £80 to borrow £250 for a year and a half (about £7000
to borrow £23000 by 2004 values). He
appealed to relatives and friends and considerable bad feeling appears to have
been generated between the Dolman family and the Cookes (Dr Arthur Dolman was a
friend of Fred’s who had been his Best Man and who had married his wife’s
sister Lottie).
Fred was forced to cut back
on expenses over the following years. He
moved his office to the (presumably cheaper) premises at 4 Albert Street in
June 1879 and did not renew his certificate to practice in 1878-9. By 1885 he was working from home (52 Rose
Hill Street). Further office moves chart a slow recovery. By May 1886 he had one room at 11 ½ St Mary’s
Gate, in June 1887 he leased the whole of 9 St Mary’s Gate, subletting the top
bedrooms and kitchen, and finally in March 1892 he leased 3 rooms at £14 per
month (about £1000 at 2004 values) at 8 Full Street.
Although Fred Cooke was a
sole practitioner from 15 March 1873 to 1 January 1877, he always had some kind
of paid help if only to put coal on the fire during the winter. In March 1875 he notes that a Richard Oliver left
and he took “another small boy” in his place.
Fred’s nephew Joe Brackenbury helped in the business from August 1875
for a year before embarking on his articles with another firm. A managing clerk Mr Walker is mentioned as
being ill in September 1878. He died in
November of that year. All of the Cooke
sons spent some time in the business, too.
He gives the early routine of
his time in articles as keeping his former style of life “hunting one day a
week, shooting and out of door recreations, but working steadily in the office
as well”.
Once he was established in
Derby, Fred made a considerable effort to extend his social network. He notes the names of those he has met,
presumably as an aide memoire.
Fred never seems to have
become wealthy and his fortunes fluctuated throughout his career. References to domestic house-moving, the
contraction of his household in numbers of servants and the social activities
embarked upon are the main barometers of his income. He may have been able to rely on inheritances
to subsidise his living expenses and there is also little doubt that he lived
on credit of various kinds from time to time.
The following passage from the diary in 1875 gives an impression of his
experience at this time: “After much
spiritual strife and prayer, I find my mind much strengthened in faith, for
which I thank God; our daily prayer for ‘daily bread’ has been daily met,
provision being constantly made, almost always from sources I have not
looked to - truly there is peace in believing. May he in his merciful providence bless my
labours during the coming year so that I may be able within its compass to pay
every man his due, and lay by something for His service. May he give me wisdom to guide my
steps aright in the situation in which he has placed me, and send me His Holy
Spirit to keep my feet on the lines
Domestic Life
Fred married Annie Mason on 7
September 1869, when he was aged 26 and Annie 25. She also came from Lincolnshire, living on a
farm at Rigsby, close to Alford. Fred
had met members of the Mason family during his late adolescence and writes of
skating with Will Mason on 7 January 1864, going to a ball with him on 29
January 1864 and horse-riding on 25 March 1864.
Annie’s other brother, Eardley Mason is mentioned on 28 January 1864,
the date of his marriage. Fred had
obviously taken some interest in Lottie, one of Annie’s sisters, giving her one
of his own paintings, a water colour of a “lion dining” on 8 November
1864. However, he followed this up with
one of a “lioness with cubs” for Annie on 13 December. In 1872 when he summarises his earliest diary
entries, he mentions that he first
Before he “noted” Annie, Fred
had become involved with a woman he refers to by her initials JV and some kind
of proposal seems to have been made.
However, he came to see this liaison as ill-advised and sought to break
it off in July 1865. The rift appeared
to take some time and it is only in November of that year that he again felt
free. By this time he had seen enough of
Annie to consider marriage to her and he had an interview with her father on 12
March 1866 to explain his intentions. Mr
Mason was encouraging but urged Fred to become qualified before proposing to
Annie.
Fred’s move to Derby to set
up in the Law separated the engaged couple for three years, with only
occasional visits enabling them to keep in touch. During this time he lived in lodgings at Mrs
Allerstone’s, 28 Osmaston Street. Fred
and Annie married on 7 September 1869.
The couple then set up house in Derby at The Elms on Duffield Road where
Mr Hall was their landlord.
The impending birth of their
first child is only noted as an indisposition preventing Annie from going to
Lottie’s wedding to Dr Arthur Dolman on 2 June 1870. Fred announces in the dairy out of the blue
“Little Ernest born” on 25 June 1870. In
September he notes that “we could not go out anywhere this autumn”, but on October
20 he takes Annie to London for a few days, in spite of the baby only weighing
7lbs (3.175 kg) at this point. A
nursemaid (Mrs Horobin) was engaged when Ernest was born. The Cookes also had a “maid of all work” and
a housemaid (Emily).
In March 1872 Fred reflects
that his “wedded life has been to this moment an unbroken run of happiness (I
believe mutual) and long may it continue!”
He refers to plans for taking a larger house “in anticipation of xxx”,
and again the expected child only makes an appearance in the diary when he is
born. He took on the neighbouring “large
house” at the Elms on 30 June 1872 and Bernard William was born on 8 August
1872. Fred mentions that Dr Dolman
attended Annie and this time it was Fred’s sister Fanny, sent for by telegram
from Alford, who arrived later on the same day to help out.
Fred notes that Annie “came
out of her bedroom” on 17 August, at which time the baby weighed 3/4 lb more
than he had at birth (when he was 8lbs (3.629 kgs). Annie’s nurse left on 5 September, though had
to be recalled as Annie had a stomach upset.
A third son followed about as
swiftly as he could. Again, there are
few hints that he is expected, though his birth seems to have been slightly
premature. On 18 June 1873 Fred writes: “Annie was unexpectedly “taken” during
the night and was delivered of another boy.” Fanny Cooke was fetched from Alford on 23
June and Nurse Potter was engaged to
help with the baby, George Philip (named after Earl Chesterfield at his own
suggestion). Unfortunately this baby
died on 31 December 1873 after a short illness “from inflammation of the
lungs”. Both Annie and Fred had been
away in London for a week from 15 to 22 December but the family were together
for Christmas and all seemed well. Two
weeks after George’s death Fred writes “We miss him still very much.
A daughter was born to the
Cookes on 3 November 1874. As usual,
Fred gives no hint of the expected event in the months beforehand, and Rosa
Marion arrived before the doctor could be summoned. Fanny Cooke came on 6 November and Fred went
off to Lincolnshire on a week’s shooting holiday on 7 November.
The Cookes moved house in
response to a need to economise, settling at Holton House, Full Street on 25
March 1875.
Their last son was born on 16
May 1877, Henry Edwin. Fred makes no
prior mention of the impending event.
Nurse Johnson attended Annie and, as Mrs Potter was “worn out and has been
suffering from Rheumatism”, Mrs Johnson
was engaged for the baby: “We don’t much like her as an individual, but she is
a good nurse.” The nurses employed were
not wet nurses (Mrs Potter, at least, would have been too old).
On 10 June 1879 the Cookes
moved again to Rock Villa, 7 Madeley Street.
On 21 July 1879 Lilian Amy Cooke was born, again before the doctor had
time to arrive and again unheralded in his diary by her father.
On 20 March 1880 there is a
reference to Annie being ill in the night with a “mc”, presumably a
miscarriage. A nurse is engaged for a
week to care for her. The last Cooke
child, Laura, was born on 15 January
1881. Her birth is the only one not
recorded in the diary, occurring at a time when Fred had let his writing
lapse.
The Cookes moved house again
in 1885 to 52 Rose Hill Street, buying the property in 1888 for £520 (about
£50000 by 2004 values) only to sell it again in 1889 for £555 (about £51000 by
2004 values), to his disgust the profit disappearing on removal fees.
The diary gives some details
of the careers and adult lives of the Cooke children. Ernest worked in his father’s office in 1885
aged 15, then left home to work as a designer.
By 1890 he was head of Mr Simmond’s studio and had won a Bronze medal,
two Queen’s prizes and two third grade prizes at South Kensington. He was sent by his company to the States and
lived for over two years in Philadelphia from July 1891 to January 1894. By June 1894 he was working in Kidderminster
and then he appears to move to London where in 1897 he is working for Woodward
and Grosvenors of Newgate Street. He
became attached to a girl called Emily Pipe.
No marriage is documented in the diary but at Christmas 1899 Ernest and
“Emily Pipe” are noted as visiting, while by June 1900 “Ernest and Emmie” came
for a visit, and were later visited in London. If Fred is here following his
usual practice in referring to her in these two different ways we can assume a
marriage has taken place between the two dates.
Bernard also worked in his
father’s office and was considering going into the Law, remaining from May 1886
to March 1889 (aged 13 to 16). He then
left and started work at the Midland Railway engineering department of points
and signals in Derby under Mr Paul Prince in May 1889. He did well and became the third and last
Signal Works Manager in 1919 and retained this position with L.M.S. after the
re-grouping of 1923, being associated with major improvements and technological
advances and having a number of patents to his name. In June 1898 he married Lavinia (Vinnie) née
Briggs and they had one daughter, Nancie Mary, who eventually inherited the
diary.
Rosa passed the exams for the
College of Preceptors in 1890 (second class, second division). In February 1895 she went (by her own choice,
Fred notes) as governess to the nine year old daughter of Reverend Cray of
Lamplugh near Cockermouth, staying until July 1896. She married Walter E Pratt in July 1897 and
they settled in Lancaster where Walter had a job at a works. Their son Norman was born in April 1900 and a
daughter was born in May 1904.
Harry passed his “Cambridge
Local Examination” in 1897, and, started to help his father in the business
from January 1891 (aged 13).
Lilian, like Rosa, took the
College of Preceptors examinations, gaining second class second division in
January 1895. She married Archie Wright, son of the Cookes’ doctor, in August
1905 and they went to live in London (initially at 96 Abbey Road Hampstead in
lodgings) where Archie was setting up as an apothecary.
Laura also passed College of
Preceptor’s examinations (first class third division) in January 1895. She took examinations in music and qualified
as an Associate of Trinity College of Music in London in January 1901.
Servants were a continual
part of the Cooke’s family life. By 1870
they had three travelling with them on a visit to Chapel St Leonards. Eliza the cook is mentioned as leaving after
two years’ service in 1873, Mary the housemaid in February 1873 after a similar
time. Emily the housemaid left in August
1873. Maria the nursemaid is mentioned
in April 1874 and again in November 1876 when she left to get married.
The Cookes kept animals,
birds and fish as pets or, in keeping with Fred’s background in farming, for
food. At the Elms, where there was a
large garden, they kept chickens from September 1872, and an experiment in
raising pigs for sale was started. This
was abandoned in January 1875 as a failure.
A goldfish is mentioned in August 1872, followed by a dog, a Skye
terrier named “Mop” in January 1873. At
least two cats appear, one in February 1873 and another,” Tiny”, in 1886.
Health
Fred Cooke was fairly
preoccupied with his own state of health, chronicling ailments and
consultations with doctors.
Physically Fred was of medium
height at 5ft 9 inches (1.65 metres) on 6 April 1863, when he was 20 years
old. He had grown three inches (7.5 cm)
since the age of 15 ½.. His weight is
given as 10 stone 13 lbs (69.4kg) on 7 December1866 aged 23, 10 stone 11 lbs
(68.5kg) on 1 January 1869 aged 28 and 12 stone 11 lbs (81.2kg) on 12 August
1897 aged 54. He took pleasure in many
active pursuits while still in Lincolnshire and he records participation in
races both over ground and in the water.
Annie was 10 stone 5 lbs
(65.8kg) at age 24 in January 1869 and 8 stone 9 lbs (54.9kg) at age 53 in
August 1897.
The vital statistics of the
children are not given with any consistency.
Ernest was a very delicate baby, weighing only 7lbs (3.17kg) at the age
of three months,. By the age of 2 ½ he
had grown to 2ft 11inches (0.89 metres) and weighed 2 stone 2lbs (13.6kg). Bernard is the only other baby whose weight
is mentioned: 8lbs (3.629kg) at birth.
In terms of preventative
health care, Fred mentions vaccinations.
He was vaccinated (against smallpox which he notes was present at the
time) in July 1866. He documents the
vaccination of some of the children.
Other diseases were considered endemic to childhood and Fred notes the
onset of and recovery from measles for all the children. Only one Cooke baby died in infancy, George
Philip, who contracted a lung infection.
“Rheumatism” is the condition
that Fred seems to have been most prone to throughout his life. However, it may be that this term covered a
variety of actual and/or imagined medical conditions for him judging by the
times of his life and circumstances under which he makes complaint. He first notes an attack in July 1865 when,
at the age of 22 he suffers from riding a “restive horse”. In April 1867 he complains of “rheumatism” in
his ankle and three years later he is ill for a month with “rheumatism”
affecting his eyes. By December 1872 his
back is the seat of the problem; in April and December 1876 his hip.
Stomach/digestive tract
ailments are also documented. In March
1868 he suffered from “peritonitis” which returned in April and May of the same
year, laying him up for a week at a time.
Sick headaches then dominate, with a suspicious frequency in connection
with over-indulgence at dinner parties, although Fred fails to make the
connection. He notes attacks 18 January
1872, 5 September 1872, 7 February 1873, 5 January 1876 and 29 December 1877
all after social events. Another is
noted the day after the birth of George Philip on 18 June 1873! “Gout” in his stomach is suffered in June
1904 and July 1905,
Other episodes of ill-health
include two bouts of “Erysipelas” in February 1878 and November 1903, a broken
left arm from slipping on the ice in November 1890 and a “fit” lasting three
quarters of an hour in January 1892, He
was examined by a Dr Greaves for Life Insurance on 27 November 1897 and writes
that the report was not good “owing to rheumatism and heart action weak”.
Annie seems to have enjoyed rude
health, or perhaps any episodes of illness she suffered were not always
documented.
Social and leisure
Social and leisure activities
take pride of place in Fred Cooke’s diary.
In the years before his move
to Derby, Fred joined the Rifle Corps under Captain J Lister of Saleby.
Fred hunted when he had the
opportunity and took part on the South Wold hunt on 29 November 1862 and 6
January 1866. He writes about swimming
1/4 mile in the Witham on 25 June 1863, and ½ mile breaststroke in 26 minutes
on 1 July of the same year. He mentions
walking to Chapel St Leonards, 9 ½ miles in 1 hour 40 minutes in June 1863 and
skating in the winters of 1864 and 1865.
Visits to the seaside were
regular features of the year. In his
youth this was Chapel St Leonards and he made a visit there each year from 1864
to 1871 except for 1869 when he and Annie went to Lowestoft for their
honeymoon..
Painting was Fred’s chief
“hobby” and there were not many periods of his life when he neglected it. From his remarks after visiting exhibitions
of contemporary art, it is obvious that his taste was for the kind of romantic
realism popular with traditionalists after Constable etc. He makes the remark that “ “Art” is to hold
the mirror up to nature”. He took landscape,
animals and still life as his subjects, sketching out of doors and completing
works in oils, a favourite activity for a wet Saturday or Sunday
afternoon. He often gave the resulting
works as presents to family or friends and others were mounted on the walls of
his and Annie’s bedroom.
Music was also an abiding
interest. Fred played the flute and sang
tenor. He began a choir in Alford and,
on coming to Derby, joined the Choral Union.
He notes occasions when he sang tenor solos at St Alkmund’s church and
St Peter’s Penny Readings from 1869 to1872.
A piano was hired in 1868 and bought for £42 (about £2600 by 2004
values) in October 1870.
Fred and Annie were
communicants of the Church of England and they were regular church-goers from
1870 to 1880 at St Alkmunds. Fred writes
of his enjoyment of sermons particularly by Rev Abney. He was a churchwarden and a member of the
church committee at St Alkmund’s and the family rented a pew. After moving to other areas of Derby, the
family went to St Lukes, St James and St Andrews.
Physical activity and being
out of doors remained important to Fred throughout his life. He made much of the chances of skating that
any cold winters allowed, and he and the children were among the first patrons
of the indoor skating rink opened in Derby.
Walking was enjoyed for its own sake, and pleasure walks with Annie or
some of the children across Derby to the station are mentioned as well as walks
in the parks and surrounding fields.
Fred and the family were avid
supporters of any “attraction” that came to Derby. They regularly attended the annual
agricultural show and always made time to visit any circus or fair.
Visits to London were made
for the sake of experiencing the capital and its landmarks, to see the Royal
Academy exhibitions and to go to plays and musical events. Fred mixed these in with business in the
early years of his life in Derby, but his latter business life did not appear
to involve matters outside Derby.
Spectator sports only begin
to figure in the diary from 1898 onwards when a cricket match is attended.
13.6.1873 (4.45 am) Birth of
George Philip Cooke,
21.6.1898 Marriage of Bernard
William Cooke to Lavinia (Vinnie) Briggs at St Luke’s Church, Derby.
22.8.1905
17.4.1879