John Hooper (1758 - 1838)

Born 1758 in England

Husband of Mary (Calder) Hooper — married 23 Apr 1789 in St Katherine-by-the-Tower, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 6 Mar 1838 at about age 80 in Mill Wall, Poplar, Essex, England, UK

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Biography

John Hooper: He would have been born in about 1758. Birthplace is unknown. There were Hooper families in Stepney and nearby areas, of various occupations and religions, and it is not possible to say if this John Hooper is from one of those families. There were Hoopers in Ratcliffe, and in Stepney, at least a century earlier. For example, there is a Middlesex Sessions record of a John Hooper, joiner, of Ratcliffe, "for the peace" in 1616/18.

So John Hooper could be from a local long-standing family, a more recently resident family, or newly arrived from absolutely anywhere else in the UK. The Hooper name was most common in Devon and Cornwall, hundreds of years ago, and the Hoopers have had many generations to spread all over the UK since then.

The first records of this John Hooper are the Land Tax records for Ratcliffe, first in Butcher's Row, then at 1 Cock Hill.

The directories reveal that John Hooper was a tailor and a slop seller, at 1 Cock Hill. In one entry he also sells perfumes. There are court records of a theft of 11 silk handkerchiefs (worth £2.3/-) from his shop on 18th October 1802. See Old Bailey online records, Case Ref. No. t18021027-96 of 27th October 1802. Accused is Michael Swaine, age 11 years (sentenced to transportation for 7 years for stealing goods worth 39 shillings). Witness is Samuel Cook who lives at Mr Pickering's, 125 Cock Hill, almost opposite John Hooper's shop and house. 39/- would be roughly equivalent to £90 in today's money.

Marriage: 23 Apr 1789. John Hooper married Mary Calder, whose father William Calder was a market gardener. The Calders had lived at Old Brentford, Middlesex. The market gardens of Brentford were vital for supplying London with fruit and veg, which would be sent by boat via the rivers Brent and Thames. The Calders moved to Stepney by 1763, where Mary Calder was born. There is a record of Wm Calder leasing 6 acres of land on the east side of Cambridge Road between Red Cow Lane and the Poor's Land, of 1765 and 1775, as a market garden (British History Online). Nowadays this is all under bricks and concrete; back then much of Stepney was very green and pleasant.

The Calder family were non-conformist Christians, and it is possible that John Hooper was as well. If not, he converted. The marriage and the births of John and Mary Hooper's children's births and baptisms were registered with Dr William's Library, Redcross Street, near Cripplegate, London. These can be found on Ancestry UK. Luckily for family history research, the birth & baptism records often record one or both maternal grandparents of the child, and sometimes the grandfather's occupation as well. Thus we know that the Hooper children's mother Mary was the daughter of William Calder.

John and Mary Hooper had five children - Samuel, Hannah, Georgiana, David, John and Joseph. What happened to Samuel is unknown. Hannah married independent minister James Vautin, of a Huguenot family, and migrated with him and their children to Tasmania. Georgiana married a linen draper, Benjamin Williams, who was from Kent. Son David was running a slop shop with his father, but may have been the David Hooper who fell on hard times and is in the Poor Law records.

Son John Hooper, who married Louisa Walker (daughter of an apothecary), became the agent for William Mellish (land and business owner in Mill Wall, Poplar), and for the Trustees of the Countess of Glengall (daughter of William Mellish). One of his tasks as William Mellish's agent, for 27 years, was supervision of Mellish's whalebone cleaning operations at Mill Wall. Mellish was then the sole importer at London, apparently.

In the 1841 Census for Mill Wall, John Hooper is referred to as a Gentleman; in the 1851 Census he is an estate agent and surveyor. He was active in local affairs. It is at John Hooper's home at Mill Wall that their father John Hooper died on 6th March 1838. Son Joseph Hooper was a bank clerk with the Bank of England.

Sources

Text: John Hooper of Ratcliffe, joiner, for the peace. Book: Additional Baptisms. (Baptism). Collection: Middlesex. From Ancestry UK search.

London, England, Land Tax Records, 1692-1932 For John Hooper, Ratcliffe, Stepney. 1782-1784 Butcher's Row, Ratcliffe 1785 - 1830 Cock Hill, Ratcliffe (cannot tell if some of these are John Hooper the son, of if it is the father all the time).

Dr William's Library, Redcross Street, near Cripplegate, London: England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths London Independent Piece 4414: Stepney, Bull Lane (Independent), 1644-1837 23 Jan 1766. Birth and baptism of Mary Calder, dau of William and Lydia Calder.

All John and Mary Hooper's children were in 1805 also listed in the Dr Williams' Library registry: Piece 4661-1: Dr Williams' Library Registry, Birth Certificates, 1805-1812

England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 for Hannah Hooper & siblings. RG5: Birth Certificates Protestant Dissenters´ Birth Registry, 1801-1810 Piece 0031: Certificate nos: D 1-250 (1805 May 29-Dec 12)

British History Online British History Online. Victoria County History - Middlesex A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green Bethnal Green: Economic History: Pages 168-190 www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp168-190#highligh
t-first

Text "William Calder, gardener, of Stepney, leased 6 a. on the east side of Cambridge Road between Red Cow Lane and the Poor's Land in 1765 (fn. 218) and took over from Hopkins on the Poor's Land in 1775. "

1803. Kent's Directory. Page 103. 1 Cock Hill, Ratcliffe, Stepney, Middlesex John Hooper. Slop seller and perfumier. NB Slops are ready-made clothing.

1811. London and Country Directory, vol 1: London Directory of Professions and Trades. Hooper, John, tailor. 1 Cock Hill, Ratcliffe,

INSURANCE RECORDS: Proof of second shop, 25 High Street, Shadwell.

12 February 1818 INSURED: JOHN HOOPER 25 HIGH STREET SHADWELL TAILOR AND SLOP SELLER London Metropolitan Archives: City of London REFERENCE CODE: CLC/B/192/F/001/MS11936/475/938667 FROM COLLECTION: - ROYAL AND SUN ALLIANCE INSURANCE GROUP / - SUN INSURANCE OFFICE LIMITED: POLICIES / - POLICY REGISTERS. OLD SERIES

Died at his son's house, Mill Wall, Poplar, Middlesex.

• Newspaper item:

Reported Thursday 08 March 1838, Morning Advertiser, London, England : "on the 6th instant, at the residence of his son at Millwall, Poplar, Mr John Hooper, aged 80".