Copestake, Moore, Crampton & Co, London
History
Sampson Copestake was born in 1800 in Nottingham, UK. In 1825, after moving to the London area, he established a drapery and lace warehouse company with his partner named Groucock & Copestake. During the firm’s early days, Copestake acted as the main clerk and warehouseman whereas Groucock was responsible for travelling around the country collecting orders.
George Moore was born in Cumberland, UK in 1807, the second son of a small landholder. Since the custom at the time was for the eldest son to inherit the paternal estate, George went to the town of Wigton where he completed a four year apprenticeship as a draper. In 1825, at age eighteen, he decided to seek his fortune in London. Although his goal was to become a linen draper, due to the poor economy, he assumed a position as an assistant in a fashionable retail establishment. Within a few days of accepting the position, the owner’s wife and nine year old daughter visited the store. After they departed, Moore, an ambitious man, declared that someday the young girl would be his wife. Within six months he discovered he didn’t like the retail trade and with his employer’s help secured a position as a travelling salesman at Fischer’s, one of the largest drapery warehouse firms in London.
Within a few years Moore became one of the most successful salesmen in the country. As a result he made the acquaintance of Mr. Groucock, a competitor. Groucock was so impressed with the young industrious Moore that he offered him a position with an income more than three times his current salary. Moore refused and only after much negotiation agreed to join the firm as a partner in 1830 at the age of twenty-three. Consequently, the company was renamed Groucock, Copestake & Moore. During his early years with the firm Moore spent considerable time traveling throughout the UK, France and Belgium, often working sixteen hours a day, buying and selling lace and searching for new business opportunities. Sales increased significantly due to his hard work and also to the fact that lace became quite popular during this time period. In 1839, nine years after becoming a partner with the firm, Mr. Moore was united in marriage to the woman he originally met as a young girl, the daughter of his previous employer.
Groucock, Copestake & Moore became one of the largest drapery and lace warehouses in London. In 1844, Mr. Moore traveled to the USA and Canada and in 1845 the company built a lace factory and warehouse in Nottingham that employed approximately 390 people. The company name changed again in 1847 when Mr. Crampton joined the firm and once more in 1853 after Groucock died. In 1865 Copestake, Moore, Crampton & Co was listed in business and trade directories as wholesale warehousemen for lace, muslins, curtains and embroidery. By 1874 they had manufacturing facilities or warehouses in London, Glasgow, Nottingham, Paris, New York and Philadelphia where they produced many of the products they sold. In addition they had seventeen branch offices and over thirty traveling sales representatives, many who were personally trained by Moore himself. When Copestake died in 1874, his son, Sampson, became a partner and after Moore’s death in 1876, the firm became Copestake, Crampton & Hughes and later still Copestake, Lindsay, Crampton & Co.
George Moore
Needle Cases
Probably in the late 1860’s early 1870’s Copestake, Moore, Crampton & Co entered into license agreements with W. Avery & Son so they could distribute customized needle cases filled with Avery needles to their customers. However, rather than a coat of arms, they selected the head of Minerva as the symbol of their company. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, arts, commerce and war. She is also known as the Roman version of the Greek Goddess Athena. It seems likely that Copestake, Moore, Crampton & Co selected Minerva to represent their company as she is often associated with weaving and trade, two main components of the firm’s business. A stylized Minerva head was designed for the company and appears on all needle cases that bear their name. All of these needle cases were patented or registered to Avery and in one example, the Athena Golden Needle Case, the word “licencees” is listed under the Copestake company name.
Again it seems most probable that Avery used the company as a way to distribute his needles to a wide variety of places. Perhaps because Copestake had offices in New York, the company provided Avery with an opportunity to distribute his needles to customers in a new market, North America. Avery’s Quad and Demi-Quad needle cases were both patented in the USA around this time. Due to the primitive nature of these early flat-style needle cases, it appears likely that Avery was marketing to companies that would use his needles in a manufacturing or business environment. Another possibility was that during the early days of their relationship, Copestake used needle cases as promotions; for example any customer who purchased a certain amount of product from Copestake would receive a flat-style needle case as a reward. This would have given both Copestake and Avery visibility as a buyer was bound to remember the salesman who gave them a needle case, filled with needles, that was not only attractive, but also served a functional purpose. Avery also allowed Copestake to distribute his first figural needle cases; the Butterfly, Scallop Shell, Butterfly Box – Oval Tub and Pyramid which certainly were more appealing to middle class ladies. Although one will never know the exact details of the relationship between the two companies or what their marketing plans were, it is fun to speculate.
Sources
Allen, A. P. The Ambassadors of Commerce, 1885. Pages 226-240. Available on Google Books.
The British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre, London - Patents:
- #3517 dated Nov. 19, 1868 – Quad - Minerva Lever Casket and Minerva Lever patent to William Avery & Albert Fenton, Redditch.
- #2998 dated Oct 14, 1869 – Athena Golden Needle Case and Demi-Quad - Minerva patent to William Avery & Albert Fenton, Redditch.
- #1473 dated May 21, 1870 – Minerva Pincer patent to William Avery
Copestake. Crampton Et Al – www.angelfire.com/pr/perfinsoc/abstracts/2446.pdf
Copestake, Moore & Co - www.nottshistory.org.uk/monographs/mellors1924/manufacturers1.htm
The Firm of a Merchant Prince - George Moore’s Business- http://www.mealsgate.org.uk/firm-of-a-merchant-prince.php
George Moore - http://www.mealsgate.org.uk/george-moore.php
Hayley, R. M. Sixty-Five Biographies of Great and Famous Men and Women of the Present Period, 1881. No pages numbers listed. Available on Google Books.
The Innkeeper and Traveller: Organ of Intercommunication and Journal of Information and Amusement for the Proprietors and Visitor of Hotels, Inns, Taverns, Coffee, Dining, and Boarding Houses, 1861. Pages 139-141. Available on Google Books.
Minerva – Available on Wikipedia in April 2013.
Monument to Sampson Copestake, London – gohistoric.com/sites/monument-sampson-copestake-london
The National Archives in Kew, UK – Design Registrations:
- #254656 dated Aug. 4, 1871 (in BT 43/30 and BT 44/2) – Butterfly registered to William Avery & Son, Redditch
- #257721 dated Nov. 14, 1871 (in BT 43/31 and BT 44/2) – Scallop Shell registered to William Avery & Son Redditch
- #267191 dated March 16, 1872 (in BT 43/31 and BT 44/2) – Butterfly Box – Oval Tub registered to W. Avery & Son, Redditch
- #5367 (non-ornamental design) dated June 28, 1872 (in BT45/27) – Pyramid registered to W. Avery & Son, Redditch
Needle cases - http://www.mealsgate.org.uk/needlework-cases.php
Sampson Copestake - www.nottshistory.org.uk/articles/mellorsarticles/radford7.htm
Smith, G. Barnett. Eminent Christian Workers of the Nineteenth Century, 1893. Pages 322-324. Available on Google Books.
