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W. J. Cooper & Son
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W. J. Cooper & Son The Founding The War Years Post War
William Joshua Bernard Cooper, the founder of W. J. Cooper, was born on 6th April 1855. He was the second son to Dorothy and William Cooper, of 11 Cannon Street, Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, who was a potter and moulder in the Staffordshire Potteries. Dorothy passed away when William Joshua was 11 years old.
In 1871, William Joshua, his father and brother Frederick lived at 20 Bower Street on Stoke, and somewhere between 1871 and 1881, William Cooper remarried, and William Joshua had a new Stepmother.
At around 1872, as family legend has it, William Joshua couldn't get on with his new Stepmother and ran away to London. The story goes on to say that William Cooper sent a horse and carriage to London and brought William Joshua home to Stoke. Shortly after this, William Joshua ran away a second time and this time stayed in London. He worked for a firm called Evans and was employed as a packer; skills he had learned in the potteries.
In 1879, William married Mary Ann Holding, and was living in St. James Holloway. On his wedding certificate his occupation was described as 'Painter'. Mary Ann came from a family of Masons that were building houses in Muswell Hill. Presumably, William had a new job at Holding and Sons as a painter and had married the governor's daughter. In 1881, they are known to have lived at 12 Eastfield Road, Hornsey, and in 1886, William and Mary Ann had a son - William John Cooper.
In 1887, and at the age of 32, William Joshua set up his own business as a house decorator, presumably sub-contracting work from his Father in Law, John Holding. In 1891, they had moved to 210 Fairbridge Road, Islington with daughters Dorothy, aged 9 and Eleanor Edith, William John, and Mary Ann's sister, Emma.

Sometime after the loss of Dorothy to Typhoid in 1894, both families of Coopers and Holdings moved from their home in Hornsey to Southend-on-Sea, and then Holding and Sons were building houses in MIlton Street by 1901, and William Joshua and his family lived at No. 4 St. Thomas Terrace in Milton Street. William was carrying on his business as a house decorator.
In 1907, William John Cooper, at the age of 21, married Ada Foster. It is understood that William John worked with his father in the decorating business.
In 1909, William Joshua built the 'Fairy Windmill' next to the clift lift. It was erected as part of the celebrations for the forthcoming visit to Southend of the Atlantic and Home Fleet in July - some 700 warships including the Dreadnought Class of 'All-Big-Gun' battleships. The windmill was actually an ornamental 'covering' for the water pumping station that served five houses down on the seafront. It was constructed of wood, and covered with canvas. Please note that the illustration on the right is of a colourised postcard produced at the time and therefore do not accurately depict the colours as they perhaps were.

During the years of the First World War, William John was called up to serve, but was gassed and was invalided out. After the war, there was plenty of work for the company as the Zeppeliin airships had bombed the town severely.
At around 1919, Frederick Foster, Ada Cooper's 15 year-old brother started working for William Joshua.
In 1923, and at the age of 68, William Joshua retired and gave his business by Deed of Gift to his son William John, who was then aged 37. He lived at 107 Milton Street with his wife Ada and three boys, William Walter, Frederick John, and Geoffrey Lenard, and two daughters, Daisy and Win. All the boys started work for the firm as soon as they left school. William Joshua Cooper died in 1928, aged 73.

William John continued the business throughout the Second World War with the help of his brother-in-law; his three sons had been called up to serve in the Army and Navy. The firm then was run from the rear of 107 Milton Street.

In 1946, William John sold the family business to his three sons, William Walter, the eldest, Frederick, aged 31, and Geoffrey, aged 24, and to his brother-in-law, Frederick Foster, aged 42. The boys had been demobbed and returned home with their demob suits and money, and were ready for action - of the building variety. The demob money was used to buy the firm from their father - despite their father having been given the firm by his father for nothing.
The business was sold to them for £750. £500 for the goodwill and £250 for the plant and stock in trade, namely:

Wall Brackets and Irons
£
12-10-0
Ladder Cripples
5-0-0
Cords and Guy Ropes  
4-10-0
Wheel and Tackle  
2-5-0
Three Trucks  
65-0-0
Mortice Machine  
35-0-0
Carpenter's bench and Vice  
25-0-0
5 Ladders  
20-0-0
New Wheels and Springs  
10-0-0
Scaffold Boards  
3-0-0
1 pair of Tall Trestles  
4-0-0
2 pairs of Paperhangers' Trestles and Boards  
2-10-0
Wheelbarrow  
1-0-0
4 Pairs of Steps  
5-0-0
2 Sieves  
1-0-0
1 Cramp  
1-0-0
Sundries  
47-15-0
TOTAL
£
250-0-0
     
The £750-0-0 to be paid in instalments over seven years.

This shrewd business acumen was instilled in the sons, together with then Uncle Fred, whose subsequent building success brought them to bigger premises in Howards Chase. Although the Coopers no longer build houses, they have an army of clientele, built up over many years, and it is there that they work in the decoration, repairs and maintenance of their properties. Their unmistakable trademark vehicle, is a thirty-plus year-old Mini van with the Cooper firm logo on its sides.

From 1946 to 1965, the family firm prospered for these many years with profits from the building business being chanelled into purchasing local property. At one time the four partners, familly members and the business of W. J. Cooper and Son owned a total of 63 houses and 51 garages.
The firm was run from William Walter's home at 201 Central Avenue, which had a side entrance, a rear yard and workshop.
The office was Frederick's home at 6 Woodgrange Drive. At one time the firm had 24 employees.
During this period also, four Great Grandsons of William Joshua worked at one time or another for the family firm. William Walter's sons, William Cooper (Billy), and David Cooper; Frederick's son, Colin Cooper; and Geoffrey's son, Duncan Cooper.

Around 1957, a new (bigger) yard and workshop premises were purchased at Howards Chase in Prittlewell.
In 1965 the partnership agreement was altered and the properties shared out to allow individuals to retire or to follow separate interests.

1968 saw the retirement of William Walter Cooper and Frederick Foster, and Geoffrey Cooper left the partnership to start his own central heating and plumbing business with his son, Duncan.

Around 1970, the council compulsorily purchased the workshop and part of the yard at Howards Chase, which was then owned by Frederick Cooper. The council allowed them to build a new workshop, office and store on another part of the same yard so that the firm could continue trading.
The house at 174 North Road was purchased by Frederick in 1973 to provide a separate entrance to the new yard and workshop. At this time the firm had only two employees; a decorator named Ted Ladd, who was nearing retirement age, and Frederick's son, Colin. Colin gradually took over the running of the firm whilst Frederick made a name for himself in the local Bowls world, playing some 200 games for Essex and becoming President of the Essex Bowls Club in the 1980s.

In 1983, Frederick John Cooper retired at the age of 68, and gave the business by Deed of Gift to his son, Colin John Cooper, who had been working for the firm since he left school in 1958. Colin by this time was 40 years of age.
With the new workshop and offices, Colin built the firm up again, gaining two large renovation contracts at Nos. 3 & 4 Royal Terrace, Southend-on-Sea, and at one time had 13 employees working for him. He believed in the training ethos and doesn't believe in making a 'quick buck' by shoddy workmanship.
The firm has always been careful about who it sub-contacted work out to. G. P. Mason was its electrical sub contractor who had the same working ethics as Colin. The relationship between the two firms started with Tommy's father in 1945 and Tommy's son now works with Cooper & Son - a sixty five-year old connection that has spanned three generations.
Colin Cooper in his office, April 2009
Colin steered away from expansion of the business, happy to enjoy what he has. He once said that, "If you've got a firm that blossoms into something you don't want it to be, ie, a conglomerate when you are essentially a tradesman, it starts to use you rather than the other way round."
This attitude is common throughout all the members of the family. They seemingly have the attitude of not owning the firm but merely being custodians of it for future generations of Coopers.

1987 was their Centenary and a celebration party was held at 112 Alexandra Road; Colin and Sue Cooper's family home. Many old clients and employees came and joined in the Anniversary event. That year also saw John Cooper, the next and fifth generation, join the firm.
In 2005, Colin John Cooper retired at the age of 62 and gave the business by Deed of Gift to his eldest son, James Cooper, who by this time had been working for the firm for 18 years and was 33 years old.

He was the youngest Cooper to take over the reigns of the business since William Joshua in 1887, and with such a long-running business, its connections with Southend are extensive.
Available for general building but specialising in painting mainly, the firm has three signwritten vans. The oldest is a 30+ year-old Mini van (LPU529P) (not a Mini Cooper though), and the newer vehicles include a Datsun Cabsta and a Toyota Hiace.
The old vehicle fleet included a Sherpa
Duncan Cooper, a family cousin, runs his own painting and decorating firm, although it has always been closely linked with the W. J. Cooper concern.
He remembers fondly that, "In the 1920s," they both told me, "grandad built some houses along the road just over Warners Bridge. He carted all the water from the pump at Prittlewell and humped the sand from Roots Hall - very, very hard work, as it really was, back then. The thing is that when he had almost finished the job, he dug a cesspit out back, and when he got down to about six feet or so, he came to all the sand he would have needed. After another foot he came to lots of water, too."

Duncan recalled his father Geoff always insisting on wearing a white shirt and tie. "You could bet that the first job of the day he'd get would be pulling out an old fireplace amid all the dirt and soot."
Colin remembers that his grandad would not answer the phone unless he was in his dicky and tie, and both remember the family tale of the fifty or so sweep's chimney rods that disappeared up a flue that had been war-damaged without anyone realising. The pliable rods then went up and right around a bedroom at picture-rail height, sweeping aside all the newly ironed white shirts suspended on hangers.
And then there was the case of the blocked soil pipe dealt with by Colin's father. He arrived at the job in his smart suit and trilby hat, assuming it was just a minor blockage. He stood by as Uncle Fred Foster chipped an opening in a clay drain. At that moment it exploded - because the blockage was backed-up for four floors of the building and the pressure was tremendous. Mr. Cooper was bathed totally in warm effluent.

Colin and Paul, April 2009
The continuing success story
Duncan Cooper

Photo taken on 10th January 2012 in Sutton Road, Southend.

Information courtesy of Duncan and Colin Cooper, September 2008

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