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Cooper Family Trees

The Coopers of Streatham and Beyond
(Part I)

Introduction



Henry Cooper's Descendants


Early in the Nineteenth Century a part of the Cooper extended family became established in the Streatham area of Greater London. The parents of the family were Henry and Henrietta Cooper. Where Henry was born is unknown at present, but it is known and recorded in the England/Wales 1851 Census that Henrietta was born in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

A search for Henry's birthplace has come to a halt because no trace can be found of any documented evidence. Consequently it has been decided to concentrate on tracing the names of as many as possible of Henry and Henrietta's descendants.
It will be almost impossible to finish this task - simply because there is no one in touch with some large segments of the family. Only so much can be achieved from researching the records - especially with the 100 year restriction put on some records such as the British Census reports - but it will provide an interesting research programme for many years. As the people that this is addressed to are all descended from Edward (one of Henry's children) it will probably be easier to concentrate on Edward's descendants first - but at the same time trying to find descendants of the other children.

It is hoped that if the current known data is distributed among the family and all memories are brought to bear the task will be made easier. In particular it should not be too difficult to obtain the basic details of all of those members of the family descended from Walter Cooper, Willie Bray Cooper and Alfred Cooper, three of Edward's children.
Considerable headway has already been made with the New Zealand Coopers (those descended from Alfred) and some other parts of the family where contact has been made.

As more information is added to the data base, updates will be produced. It is also intended that more photos of members of the extended family will be included, together with pictures of places of significance. At present, this work comprises a narrative section, giving the details of all that is known of each person, together with any photos; and Family Trees.
The narrative section contains details of those people in the first four generations and the Family Tree contains all of those known in all generations.


Some Sources of Information that have been used:

Civil registration of Births Deaths and Marriages in England and Wales (Stored at the General Register Office, London) did not start until 1837 and was not enforced until 1875.
The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is an index of mostly Births, Christenings and Marriages collected by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) from some of the Parish records of Great Britain and other countries. However, they were not permitted to record some Parish records for religious reasons so this index is far from complete.
The old Parish records contained a minimal amount of information and it is sometimes impossible to track back from one generation to the previous one. An example of this is that what is thought of as the Marriage record of Henrietta and Henry gives no details of their parents or where they were born. Parish Birth records do not give the maiden surname of the mother. Census records, containing personal details have only survived since 1841. They were carried out every ten years. They are in Counties and in Census Places within each County. They do not give the women's maiden surnames and the 1841 Census showed only whether or not the person was born in the County.


Recently the 1901 Census has become available on the Internet and a number of lines of enquiry will be made to try to trace parts of the family.

Streatham

Streatham probably originated as a small Roman settlement during the building of the road from London to the Sussex coast. Documents show that prior to the Norman conquest the manor belonged to the Abbey of Chertsey. Afterwards, together with Tooting it passed to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy and subsequently to many notables including the Dukes of Bedford and the Du Cane family. It became an important resting place for travellers on the road from London to Croydon where the Archbishop of Canterbury had a residence at Addington.
City merchants and other wealthy notables began building country residences there in the late 17th Century, attracted no doubt, by its reputation for good healthy air and the medicinal qualities of Streatham Spa. Development was slow and concentrated mainly around the parish church of St Leonards and the Common and Greyhound Lane. In 1811 the population was about 2700 and by 1851 was still less than 5000. By the end of the 19th Century it had reached 70,000, although the area was still considered rural with plenty of open space. The 35 acres of Streatham Common is all that now remains of a vast open land that once stretched from Norbury to Tulse Hill. The large estates and country houses were broken up after the first world war and estates of smaller houses built in their thousands. Following severe bombing damage in World War II, many areas have also been rebuilt with blocks of post-war housing.

THE FIRST GENERATION

Henry Cooper(178? - ?)

St George of Hanover Square

The first record appears to show Henry marrying Henrietta Baker in 1811 in St George, Hanover Square, Westminster. There is no certainty that this is the father and mother of Edward Cooper etc. The next record shown in the IGI ( International Genealogical Index) shows the christening of Henry and Henrietta Cooper's children: The records of St Leonards of Streatham etc:
These records are considered to be the correct set as the dates, ages and birthplaces tie in with other records - Marriage Certificates and 1841 and 1851 Census records. So, it is reliably thought that Henry Cooper married a woman named Henrietta whose name could possibly be BAKER and they had 5 children - 4 of whom were born in Streatham. They may or may not have married in 1811 in St George's, Hanover Square, Westminster. The first child - Maryanne Cooper - does not show in any marriage records seen so far. It is possible that she was an early death - as infant mortality was high. It will need more research. Charles, Edward and Lucy Cooper all married in 1841 and William Henry married in 1851. Most of the Marriage Certificates show that Henry Cooper was a Butler. It does not show that he was deceased at the time of the marriages - but it is thought that this could be the reason for three of the children marrying within the same year. Henry was probably the butler to one of the wealthy London business families who were building large country houses in the Streatham area at this time. As such he would probably be only resident in Streatham during the Summer months and would then travel back to where the family had their London city house. It is also possible to speculate that Henry may have met Henrietta when working at another of the family's country houses at Burnham, where she was born and possibly went into service.

The Marriage of Henry's Children:

The marriages took place on: