History of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea
John Waller Cockrell (otherwise Cockrill)
| Parents | William Cockrill Harriet Hawes Cockrill, nee Wellard |
| Born 1839 | Southtown, Gorleston. (At this time Southtown was in the ecclesiastical parish of Gorleston.) |
| Baptised | St. Andrew's Parish Church, Gorleston. (Monday 9th April 1838 ) |
| Married | Elizabeth Ann George St Nicholas' Parish Church, Great. Yarmouth. (Thursday 18 April 1861) |
| Children | Walter George Cockrell John William Cockrell Emma Cockrell Annie Cockrell Frederick Cockrell Albert Edward Cockrell Charles Cockrell Harry Cockrell. |
| Died | At Home, 189 High Street, Gorleston. (Saturday 17th August 1901) |
| Buried | Gorleston Old Cemetery. (Wednesday 21st August 1901) |
When the 1861 census was carried out, John was at the home of his widowed mother, Harriet Cockrill, in the High Street, he was aged 23 and working as a maltster. However, only a few weeks later, when he got married at St Nicholas' Church he was living on Russell Road, Gt. Yarmouth and employed as a carpenter. Cobb's Directory of 1863 lists him as a carpenter in Gorleston High Street: by the time of the 1871 census he was a carpenter employing 1 man and 2 boys and living next door to his brother, William, at 189 High Street (i.e. to the north of 'Drury House').
William and John were originally in business from a yard in the High Road, Gorleston, as Cockrill Bros., Builders. The exact date when they split and the precise cause are unclear but by the mid 1870s the distinction between Cockrill for William's surname and Cockrell for John's begins to appear in directories and census returns.
One of John Waller Cockrell's most prominent buildings is the 'Pier Hotel', completed in 1897, which replaced the old 'Anchor and Hope', but the name of Cockrell or Cockrell Bros. was largely associated with the latter part of the development of the housing in the vicinity of Upper and Lower Cliff Roads and other roads in that area plus much of the housing in Trafalgar and Frederick Roads. John Waller Cockrell, with others, had an interest from 1877 in the Danby Estate, which comprised the land between the High Street and Church Road from which Cross Road, Lovewell Road, etc. were developed, although it was probably his son Frederick Cockrell who eventually did much of the building work there after the turn of the century.
John and Elizabeth Cockrell had eight children of whom six reached adulthood, only two were christened in the parish church at Gorleston which would suggest that for much of their married life they adhered to a non-conformist church, quite probably one of the Methodist Churches of which Gorleston at that time had three or four.
The Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Times for 24 August, 1901, carries a very full obituary for John Waller Cockrell: for fifteen years he was a councillor for the St Andrew's Ward of Gorleston, chairman of Gorleston Regatta and at one time an overseer of Oulton (Poor Law) Union.
In November 1901 properties owned by John Waller Cockrell in Upper Cliff Rd, Trafalgar Road East, High Street Gorleston, Church Rd (Mafeking Terrace), High Street Gorleston (Britannia Terrace and Beaconsfield Terrace) were auctioned auctioned at 'Star Hotel', Great Yarmouth
Appendix
- Press and Council references to works of John Waller Cockrell and Sons:
- 1877 - Five cottages Bells Road and six cottages Englands Lane.
- 1878 - Shop Trafalgar Road.
- 1879 - Forty four cottages Trafalgar Road.
- 1881 - Seven cottages Bulls Lane, six cottages Church Road, sale of properties in Cliff Hill.
- 1882 - Ten cottages Trafalgar Road.
- 1883 - Houses in Trafalgar, Frederick and Upper Cliff Roads.
- 1884 - Twenty seven cottages and a shop Frederick and Trafalgar Roads.
- 1885 - Ninety one cottages in Frederick and Trafalgar Roads.
- 1885 - Fifteen cottages in Beccles Road.
- 1885 - White's 1885 directory John Waller Cockrell is listed not only as a joiner, builder and undertaker but also as surveyor to the 'Norfolk and Suffolk Permanent Building Society'
- 1886 - Five cottages Frederick Road
- 1888 - Sunday 1st January: sons Walter George and John William taken into the business to form J. Waller Cockrell and Sons.
- 1888/9 - Houses in Upper Cliff Road and New Roads, Danby Estate, Gorleston for J Waller Cockrell and Temporary Church in Church Lane for J W Cockrell
- 1896 - Colomb Road laid by John Waller Cockrell
- 1897 - Pier Hotel completed.
- 1890/5 - Houses in Upper Cliff, Beccles and John Roads
