History of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea
William Cockrill Snr
| Parents | William Cockrill Harriet Hawes Cockrill, nee Wellard |
| Born | Gorleston. (Friday 30th December 1825) |
| Baptised | St. Andrew's Parish Church, Gorleston. (Monday 9th January 1826) |
| Married | Sarah Scott Ballard St Nicholas' Parish Church, Great. Yarmouth. (Tuesday 22nd September 1846) |
| Children | William Cockrill John William Cockrill Edward Cockrill William Ballard Cockrill Joseph James Cockrill Thomas Cockrill Septimus Waller Cockrill Harriet Hannah Mary Cockrill James Shattock Cockrill. |
| Died | At Home, 'Drury House', 190 High Street, Gorleston. (Monday 11th December 1911 ) |
| Buried | Gorleston Old Cemetery. (Monday 18th December 1911) Service: Wesleyan Methodist Church, Lowestoft Road, Gorleston |
I know nothing of William Cockrill's childhood or early years except that the 1841 census shows him at home with his parents and his two youngest siblings, then aged ten years old and three years old. William was fifteen years of age, with no occupation indicated although he must have been well beyond normal school years. Whether or not he was assisting his father (listed as a fish merchant), at this time, is questionable. However, at some time as a youth or as a young man he was apprenticed as a bricklayer to James Bull, a well-established builder based in Gorleston High Street.
William Cockrill Snr.
After William married Sarah Ballard their first home was a tall three storied house (long since demolished) next door to, and on the cliff side of the Missions to Deep Sea Fishermen. Just into Blackwall Reach, this property had been in the Wragg family since about 1805 and came to William Cockrill via the Ballard family on his marriage. Before long he had acquired a business premises with a yard at the Yarmouth end of Gorleston High Road, not far from its junction with Burnt Lane. Oral tradition has it that it was an old dilapidated thatched cottage which he completely renovated and extensively altered. It is unclear for how long he conducted a building business from this Yard because some directories list him as "Builder, of Southtown", indeed Morris's of 1868 lists his business address as being at Ferry Hill, Southtown, which certainly was not his private address at that time.
Whether William Cockrill ever lived at his Yard in the Gorleston High Road is not known as for a decade or more (at least 1851 to 1861) his home was at the High Street end of Bull's Lane, by which time his yard was located in Southtown. For a brief spell the family lived in Ferry Boat Hill then, in about 1865 he moved to 'Drury House'. Initially he was a tenant, probably acquiring the property from Harvey and Hudson, bankrupts, via Spelman's around March 1873. 'Drury House' was situated in what is now the northeast corner of Priory Gardens, opposite the Queen Victoria's Jubilee memorial tower. It had outbuildings and the builder's yard was to the rear. He remained there for the rest of his life.
In addition to being a builder he was also an undertaker and, in old age, used to recount the times when as a young undertaker he needed to assist in the prevention of body snatching from graves in the old churchyard. This involved setting on watches and erecting wire entanglements as well as protecting new graves with heaps of brambles cut from the hedgerows of adjacent lanes.
William Cockrill's brother John Waller Cockrell (sic) had his carpenters' shop immediately to the north of 'Drury House' for a very long time. At some point in time the two brothers fell out with one another and conducted their building work separately. The cause of the split will probably never now be known but it was severe enough for John to change the spelling of his surname.
From about 1870 and up to and beyond the turn of the century, William Cockrill, his brother John Waller Cockrell along with their sons were the only really big builders in Gorleston. They had the good fortune to be riding high at a time when Gorleston was expanding rapidly, as is shown in the official census population figures for successive decades shown below.
| 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 |
| 1728 | 2471 | 2967 | 3420 | 3779 | 3999 | 4472 | 6653 | 9008 | 11589 | 13586 | 17981 | 20391 |
In his youth, William Cockrill was able to recall everything beyond Englands Lane, south of Gorleston as being open fields. Between 1870 and 1900 his firm constructed Springfield Road, Lower Cliff Road, Avondale Road, Clarence Road, Bell View Road, Nile Road and Bell's Road. The firm built a substantial quantity of the houses in these roads as well as some houses on the Lowestoft Road.
Premises that may be attributed specifically to him are houses in Springfield Road, Nile Road (including one that was a shop about half way up on the south side), houses in Lower and Upper Cliff Roads, Lowestoft Road, cottages in Beach Road and Pier Plain, four houses on Cliff Hill, several houses and at least three shops in the High Street. Also built in the Hight Street were 'Glencoe House' (1878), the School Room for the United Methodist Chapel (1885) also two houses on High Road right on its corner with the Beccles Road. One of these two houses according to family oral history, was called 'Toddenham House' and was built for the Mr Shattock after whom his last child, James Shattock Cockrill, was reputedly named.
In the main part of Gorleston he undertook quite a lot of individual jobs, including several in the High Street and to the north of the town in the Burnt Lane and Trafalgar Road areas.
The firm of Cockrill Bros and later the separate firms of Wm Cockrill and J W Cockrell, along with their sons, built as many as 80% of the houses in Gorleston by the time of the death of William Cockrill in 1911. William Cockrill was actively in business for all bar his last few years, during which time he was represented by his son Septimus, his other children having become independent of their father's business.
Golden Wedding of William and Sara Cockrill, Drury House, Gorleston. 1896
Standing: John William, William Ballard, James Shattock, Joseph James.
Sitting: Thomas, William, Harriet Hannah Mary, Sarah Scott, Septimus Waller.
William Cockrill's funeral service was held at the Wesleyan Chapel, Lowestoft Road and was attended by a wide range of church and civic representatives. Interment followed in the Gorleston Cemetery. The pallbearers were eight of his oldest apprentices, some of whom were now in business themselves as local builders. There were no flowers by request. On the day of his death and on the day of his funeral, flags in various places were struck to half-mast and shops in the High Street were shaded in respect to his memory.
