Samuel Pepys Cockerell
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Samuel Pepys Cockerell (15 February 1753 – 12 July 1827) was an English architect. He was a son of John Cockerell, of Bishop's Hull, Somerset, and the elder brother of Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Baronet, for whom he designed the house he is best known for, Sezincote House, Gloucestershire, the uniquely Orientalising features of which inspired the more extravagant Brighton Pavilion. He was a great-great nephew of the diarist
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
.


Life

Cockerell received his training in the office of Sir Robert Taylor, to whom he allowed that he was indebted for his early advancements, which were largely in the sphere of official architecture. In 1774 he received his first such appointment, as Surveyor to the fashionable West End London parish of St George's Hanover Square. In 1775 he joined the Royal Office of Works as Clerk of Works at the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, largely a sinecure; in 1780 the clerkship at Newmarket was added. In spite of his reputation for diligence and competence, he lost these posts in the reorganisation of the Office of Works in 1782. At the death of Taylor in 1788, Cockerell succeeded Sir Robert as Surveyor to the Foundling Hospital and Pulteney estates. In 1790 he presented the board of governors of the
Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...
a project for the development of their considerable estate in
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
, London, which proceeded according to his plans, until he resigned and was succeeded in the post by his pupil Joseph Kay. He continued Taylor's work designing Admiralty House, Whitehall, as residence for the
First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
, 1786–88. Cockerell designed the architecture of much of the Bayswater area of London, including Sussex Gardens, but in other
urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
schemes he was less successful. As surveyor to the
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
he drew up plans for the building up of the diocesan estate in
Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...
, but the scheme had only been begun, with Connaught Square, at the time of Cockerell's death, and a different plan was completed under his successor as Surveyor, George Gutch. Another abortive development about the same time was for a "Carmarthen Square" on the Mortimer estate in Bloomsbury; eventually the land was purchased for the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. He designed a new tower for St Anne's Church, Soho in 1803. From 1806 he was employed as Surveyor to the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. Among country houses, besides Sezincote he designed Daylesford, Gloucestershire, a few miles distant from Sezincote, for another returned
nabob A nabob is a conspicuously wealthy man deriving his fortune in the east, especially in India during the 18th century with the privately held East India Company. Etymology ''Nabob'' is an Anglo-Indian term that came to English from Urdu, poss ...
,
Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...
. Cockerell was approached by Hastings in July 1788, before Cockerell's appointment as Surveyor to the Admiralty. He had built an entrance and bridge at Whiteknights, near Reading, in Berkshire, for William Byam Martin, an acquaintance of Hastings'. Cockerell received payments through 1793, amounting to £13,300, for the house, for which Hastings spent some £60,000. In the severely undecorated elevations finished in warm golden Stanway limestone, windows are simply pierced in the ashlar masonry without even moulded surrounds. The central three-bay feature of the three-storey garden front, between projecting two-storey end ranges, is a hemicircular projection crowns by a low dome, with an order of attached columns of a rich
Composite order The Composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order.Henig, Martin (ed.), ''A Handbook of Roman Art'', p. 50, Phaidon, 1983, In many versions the composite o ...
. The dome reverses curves to rise in the centre to a ball finial, a discreetly Indian feature. Cockerell's entrance front has been considerably altered. Cockerell also designed Middleton Hall, Carmarthenshire, now the home of the
National Botanic Garden of Wales The National Botanic Garden of Wales () is a botanical garden located in Llanarthney in the River Tywi valley, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The garden is both a visitor attraction and a centre for botanical research and conservation, and features t ...
. Cockerell's pupils included the architect
Benjamin Henry Latrobe Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was a British-American Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical architect who immigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in ...
(1764–1820), who emigrated to the United States in 1795 and worked on the
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and the
United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the United States Congress, the United States Congress, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, federal g ...
and Benjamin Gummow. His son, Charles Robert Cockerell, who trained in his office, also went on to become a famous architect. Samuel Pepys Cockerell is named on a plaque outside the OBE Chapel at St Paul's Cathedral as ' Surveyor to the Fabric of St Paul's Cathedral' between 1811 and 1819. In 1797, Cockerell handled the sale of the
Fotheringhay Fotheringhay is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, England. It is north-east of Oundle and around west of Peterborough. It is most noted for being the site of Fotheringhay (or Fotheringay) Castle which was razed in 1627. ...
, Northamptonshire, estate of Rev. Abraham Blackborne of
Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...
, Essex, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields,
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
.Account of Samuel Pepys Cockerell relating to the sale of the estate of the Rev. Abraham Blackborne at Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, Archbishops of Canterburys Archives, Lambeth Palace Library, The National Archives, nationalarchives.gov.uk
Rev. Blackborne, grandson of Sir Richard Levett,
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
, who had served Dagenham as its rector for 58 years, was likely son or nephew of Robert Blackborne, longtime Secretary of the Admiralty, and later Secretary of the
East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. It was Robert Blackborne who introduced Samuel Pepys the diarist to the son of Blackborne's sister, one William Hewer, who served Pepys as servant, then went on to work with him in the Admiralty and became a close friend. Finally, Samuel Pepys retired to his former servant's estate in
Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...
, London, where Pepys died, naming Hewer his executor. Pepys' nephew John Jackson, who inherited the extensive library of 3000 uniformly-bound volumes, followed his uncle's wishes in donating the library – including the then-unknown encoded personal journals of January 1660 to May 1669 – to their alma mater, Magdalene College,
Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, where they reside today (see Pepys' second Will and codicils of 1703, National Archives of England and Wales).


Family

He married Anne Whetham on 18 June 1782, and had issue eleven children (five sons and six daughters). Of them, Charles Robert Cockerell (1788–1863) became an architect; Richard Howe Cockerell (1798–1839) became a Captain RN, but died in Calcutta shortly before his projected return 1840. Richard's daughter Anna Theresa Cockerell (1836–1912) became Countess of Shrewsbury. His elder brother Colonel John Cockerell (1752–1798) bought the land at Sezincote, and left it to their younger brother Charles (1755–1837) MP between 1802 and 1837, who became Sir Charles Cockerell, 1st Bt on 25 September 1809, shortly after his 1808 remarriage to Hon. Harriet Rushout. Between 1805 and 1820, the Cockerell brothers designed and built Sezincote House together.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockerell, Samuel Pepys British neoclassical architects English surveyors 1753 births 1827 deaths British East India Company civil servants 18th-century English architects 19th-century English architects Tyburnia Architects from Somerset