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James
Cowper`s father, Benjamin Cowper, was born in Hereford in 1796, but
moved to
Ruyton in 1810 where he married Mary Lloyd of Great Ness, in Ruyton
Parish Church.
They
were to have six children, three boys and three girls, all the male
members of
the family worked as agricultural labourers and
later, bricklayers .There
was one exception, James their second son, who seems to have been a
remarkably
gifted child. Born in 1818 he was to come under the patronage of the
Kenyon family
of Pradoe, and continued with their friendship until old
age. Thomas
Kenyon sent him away to be educated and when he came back in 1838, aged
19, he
took over the position of School Master, following the retirement of
Mr. Davies.
His
salary was £10 per quarter, plus a new watch, at a cost of £5.5s and
the use of
the School House in School Road. James
married Lydia Edwards the same year and they moved to the School House,
where
they lived until 1872.
During
their time there, Lydia served as school mistress as well as raising
her own
six children. Emma1840 ~Rose1843~Julia1848~Clara1850~
Lucretia1852~Alfred.1858.
Before
1871 the system of teaching was, largely, one developed by Dr Andrew
Bell
(1753-1832) which was the Monitorial System. The brighter children were
taught
by the Master and Mistress in a module style. These Monitors then
taught other
groups of children.
In 1871
a new Act of Parliament was issued, which required all school teachers
to have
a formal qualification, if not, they could not continue to teach. This
meant
that at 53 James and his wife would have been too old to return to
college to qualify.
In the
minutes of a meeting of the Trustees which took place on 23rd
March
1871, it was noted that ”The Chairman is
requested to send a notice to Mr. and Mrs. Cowper , the present Master
and Mistress
of the School, that in consequence of the changes now rendered
necessary by
recent legislation and the requirements of the Privy Council their engagement as
schoolmaster and
schoolmistress must terminate at the commencement of the next summer
holidays”.
signed J.R.Kenyon. The school board had no
option but to dismiss
them.
As James
and Robert Lloyd Kenyon were also friends, this caused a great deal of
unrest
in the village, but it was not something that anyone could do anything
about. The people
in the Parish raised a petition, asking
the Trustees to provide the Cowper’s with some sort of pension from the
school
endowments. Mr.
Richard Brown of Ruyton
Hall Farm, presented the petition, being supported by Messrs Humphreys,
Basnet,
Oswell, Williams and Rogers, all prominent employers and Parishioners. The petitioners testifying
their due respect
for the faithful and trustworthy servants. Others signatures were
Richard
Philips of Ruyton Hall, eight farmers, a surgeon, two millers, a brewer
and a shopkeeper.
In
August of 1871 Mr. and Mrs. Cowper were presented with £52.10s (50
guineas), in
consideration of their past service. James
was also found a new position, as Librarian and Caretaker of the
Oswestry ‘Town
Library’, which was a ‘Subscription Library’ housed in The Public Hall,
which
stood at the corner of Oswald Road and King Street.
The
first ‘’Free Library’ meeting was held on7th June 1890 when
arrangements were
made with the owners of The Public Hall for its future management and
for the
purchase of books for the ‘Free Library’. By the 23rd
June it had
been agreed to pay £24 as a yearly rent which included £4 for rates,
but
excluding cleaning and lighting. Mr. Cowper was to be paid £30 a year
(to
include cleaning) to act as Librarian and Caretaker for one year,
providing
that he was appointed caretaker to the remainder of the building by the
Directors.
On 1st
August the first stage of the new ‘Free Library` ‘arrived with the
opening of
the Reading Room. By
the end of 1890
plans were well in hand for the building of the new Guildhall in which
the
‘Free Library’ was to occupy the top floor.
The new premises were not to become available until 1894
and between
1892 and 1894 there were various changes of Librarian.
In 1892
James Cowper resigned on the grounds of ill health but was permitted to
withdraw his resignation, and a boy was employed at 2s per week to
assist him,
but in December of the same year he was forced to resubmit his
resignation,
possibly due to the death of his wife Lydia, in the last quarter of the
year. In
January 1893,Mr. Charles Burroughs was
appointed to take his place.
After
his resignation, James Cowper moved to live at Clay Cross in
Derbyshire, the
home of his eldest daughter Emma and her husband John Smith, who was a
prosperous chemist in the town.
He
spent his last days writing to the Kenyon family about his boyhood
memories of
Ruyton and telling stories of his own adventures or those related to
him by
others in the village.
He died
on October 12th 1904 aged 87 and is buried in
Clay Cross cemetery
with his daughter Emma and her husband.
