I don’t think I have anyone in my tree with an occupation
which would be considered out of the ordinary.
Farmers, ag labs, railway employees, tailors, builders,
engineers, teachers, nurses, domestics, grooms, coachmen, taxi drivers, truck
drivers, mechanics, publicans, gardeners, sailcloth weavers, glovers, fitters,
bakers, millers, labourers, clerks, cordial manufacturers and nurserymen can
all be found scattered through my tree.
When my Cooper ancestors came to New Zealand in 1841
Samuel the head of the family was a tailor. A trade he had worked at in
Montacute, Somerset before emigration. I don’t know where he learnt this trade,
perhaps from his father although he died when Samuel was quite young; so maybe
not.
Samuel and Elizabeth bought with them seven children.
John the eldest was my great great grandfather. He was about twenty when they
left England and followed his father and became a tailor. Two other sons began
ginger beer and cordial manufacture businesses. Thomas was reputed to be the
first to do so in New Zealand. Frederick who was just fourteen months old when
they emigrated went on to establish a firm which operated for over 100 years.
F. Cooper Ltd.
It was recognized as a world leader in the production of
seed peas for freezing and canning as well as a well established reputation as
a producer of other quality seeds.
Fred married Ellen Carpenter in 1863. She was born in Wellington
in 1842 shortly after her parents had arrived. Together they set up shop in
Manners Street, near Herbert Street. Herbert Street no longer exists, but their
shop was on the site, or very close to, where McDonalds now operate on the
corner of Manners and Victoria Streets. They sold groceries, fruit and other
needs of early settlers as well as seeds and plants from a nursery which Fred
had already established between Taranaki and Hooper Streets. In 1866 they
placed a half page advertisement in the Wellington Almanac. Their business
prospered and four years later in the same publication they advertised that
they had been able to erect a large building adjoining the shop where they
intended to conduct all of their business.
By 1880, they had outgrown the space between Taranaki and
Hopper Streets and extended their interests to Alicetown, south of the present
Ewen bridge on the western side of the Hutt Valley. Here they established the
Bijou Nurseries. In spite of economic fluctuations they were able to build on
their early steady solid growth and in 1890 were obliged to find a larger
building. This time on the east of Manners Street near the junction of St Hill
St (today this is the laneway running between ASB Bank and Subway on Manners
Street through to Bond Street).
Ellen and Fred had a family of eight children. Their two
sons and three of their daughters joined the family business. In 1899 their son
George aged twenty was sent to England to investigate prospects and returned with
a contract to export seeds to the United Kingdom.
Fred died in 1908 but the business continued to grow in
the hands of the two sons. In 1909 they erected a five storey building on the
corner of Mercer and Willis Street; in 1913 they needed another building, this
time in Dixon Street, near Willis Street. They operated from this site until at
least the 1960s. The business passed to another Fred Cooper, grandson of the
founder in the 1950s.
Coopers were at one time the largest seed house in New
Zealand. In 1974 F Cooper Ltd was sold to Arthur Yates & Co Ltd. Yates had
begun a similar business in Auckland in 1883, expanding to Australia in 1887.
The Yates Seed Division was sold to South Pacific Seeds in 2003. The brand name for commercial growers was changed to Terranova
Seeds. Today Terranova Seeds are still the largest vegetable seed supplier in
New Zealand.
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