Part of the Ingram-Green family tree (Great-great-grandmother)
Family background and early life
Lydia Cooper was born on 19 January 1831 at Haverhill in Suffolk. She was the fourth child of George Augustus Cooper (1805–1834) and his wife, Sarah née Elliot (1801–1894). She was baptised on 8 November 1831 in The Old Meeting House (Presbyterian) at Haverhill.
George Augustus Cooper and Sarah Elliot had been married at All Saints’ Church in her home town, Sudbury, on 6 June 1824, when they were both 19-years old. Their first child, John was born in April, followed by three daughters over the next ten years, although one died as an infant.
George Cooper, a grocer, died in December 1834, aged only 29, leaving Sarah as a widow with three children under 10, including 3-year old Lydia, and pregnant with her fifth child. Phoebe was born in June 1835, six months after the death of her father.
On 12 March 1837, at St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Haverhill, Sarah re-married to 19-year old Timothy Farrent, 13 years her junior. The couple had a further three children.
At the first national census in June 1841, Sarah and Timothy (an agricultural labourer) were living at High Street, Haverhill and their six children, including 10-year old Lydia.
Ten years later, the family were still at High Street, Haverhill, although Timothy was now a tinker. Lydia had now left the family home and was living at 63 Moorgate Street in the City of London, working as a servant for Joseph and Anne Chapman and their two daughters.
Marriage and children
On 8 August 1860, 29-year old Lydia Cooper married 37-year old Matthew Henry Fisher at St Matthew’s Church, Bethnal Green. On the marriage register, Matthew’s occupation is given as fishmonger and his address as 16 Love Lane (close to the former site of Billingsgate Fish Market). Her address was given as 43 King William Street, London (close to London Bridge).
The couple’s first child, Lydia was born on 12 November 1863, and baptised at St John’s Church, Stratford on 20 January 1864, followed by two further daughters: Sarah, born 23 October 1865, and Alice Hannah, born 27 May 1868. Sarah and Hannah were both baptised at St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Plaistow on 14 June 1868.
The couple’s fourth and final child, Henry Richard was born on 15 October 1870 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Plumstead on 12 May 1872.
At the 1871 census, the family (Matthew, Lydia and their four children) were living at 7 Derby Terrace in Plumstead in south-east London. Matthew’s occupation was still listed as fishmonger (shopkeeper).
Matthew died on 25 July 1880, aged 57, and was buried at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, East Ham on 28 July 1880.
Lydia was living at Crescent Road, East Ham in 1881 with her three youngest children. Aged 50, she was now a fish hawker.
On 15 March 1890, Lydia was admitted into the Essex County Lunatic Asylum in Brentwood, where she died on 18 August, aged 59. The cause of death was recorded as “Exhaustion of allamia” (fatigue). She was buried alongside her husband on 22 August 1890.
Sources
Ancestry.co.uk:
1841 England Census
1851 England Census
1861 England Census
1871 England Census
1881 England Census
Bexley, Kent, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1925
England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970
Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1918
London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
UK, Lunacy Patients Admission Registers, 1846-1921
Freereg.org.uk:
Plumstead St Nicholas parish register:
12 May 1872. Baptism of Henry Richard Fisher
Stratford St John parish register:
12 November 1863. Baptism of Lydia Fisher