{{Short description|British mayor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}{{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = William Cocker | image = | caption = | other names = | honorific_suffix = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1836|12|9|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1911|4|14|1836|12|9|df=y}} | death_place = | education = | occupation = | nationality = | spouse = Betsey Pilling (m. 1858) | children = | family = }}
'''William Henry Cocker''' (9 December 1836 – 14 April 1911) was the first mayor of Blackpool, Lancashire, England, serving, in his initial term, from 1876 to 1879.<ref>[https://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Your-Council/The-Council/The-Mayor/Mayors-of-Blackpool.aspx Mayors of Blackpool] – Blackpool Council</ref> He served again from 1884 to 1885 and from 1886 to 1887. He was selected as the first Freeman of the Borough in 1897.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2016-01-25 |title=Story of the man dubbed 'father of Blackpool' |url=https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/story-of-the-man-dubbed-father-of-blackpool-1274693 |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=Blackpool Gazette |language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Your-Council/The-Council/The-Mayor/Honorary-freeman-of-the-borough.aspx Honorary freeman freedom of the borough and Blackpool Medal] – Blackpool Council</ref> Cocker was noted for taking Blackpool from a "small coastal village into a major tourist destination,"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Ed |date=2024-09-03 |title=The Impact of William Cocker |url=https://www.blackpooltimeline.co.uk/the-impact-of-william-cocker/ |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=Blackpool Timeline |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Windsor_Magazine/X_5MAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+h.+cocker+blackpool&pg=PA399&printsec=frontcover |title=The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women |date=1896 |publisher=Ward, Lock and Bowden, Limited |pages=399 |language=en}}</ref> and has been called a founding father of Victorian Blackpool.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Lee |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Palaces_of_Pleasure/5bOPDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+h.+cocker+blackpool&pg=PA206&printsec=frontcover |title=Palaces of Pleasure: From Music Halls to the Seaside to Football, How the Victorians Invented Mass Entertainment |date=2019-06-25 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24509-7 |pages=206 |language=en}}</ref>
== Early life == Cocker was born in 1836 to John Cocker and Jane Banks, daughter of Henry Banks, in a house his father had built in Hygiene Terrace on Blackpool Promenade. His father had moved to Blackpool from Tockholes, near Darwen in east Lancashire, in 1828.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Famous Blackpool People - Famous Blackpool People - - Blackpool Postcards |url=https://www.blackpoolpostcards.co.uk/2012/05/famous-blackpool-people/ |access-date=2026-05-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> William was educated at Preston Grammar School.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tracy |first=William Burnett |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lancashire_at_the_opening_of_the_twentie/5f41AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+h.+cocker+blackpool&pg=PA164&printsec=frontcover |title=Lancashire at the opening of the twentieth century, by W.B. Tracy. Contemporary biographies, ed. by W.T. Pike |date=1903 |publisher=W. T. Pike |pages=164 |language=en}}</ref>
Cocker became a close friend of John Bickerstaffe, who went on to become another important figure in Blackpool's development.<ref>''Lancashire Evening Post'', 6 August 1930</ref>
In 1858, he married Betsey Pilling, a native of Rochdale.<ref name=":2" />
== Career == Cocker retired from his career as a surgeon in 1875. Two years earlier,<ref name="bartlett">{{Cite web |title=Closed collections - The Bartlett Society |url=http://www.zoohistory.co.uk/projects/closed_collections |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404054748/http://www.zoohistory.co.uk/projects/closed_collections |archive-date=4 April 2015 |access-date=17 August 2012}}</ref> he had opened a menagerie and aquarium in Blackpool's Prince of Wales Arcade, which later became the site of Blackpool Tower. The aquarium was incorporated into the tower building.<ref name=":3" />
== Personal life == In 1878, Cocker laid the foundation stone of Blackpool's St John's Parish Church, and had donated £1,000 towards the cost of the church's construction.<ref name="Gazette">Blackpool Gazette (2007), pp. 16–17</ref>
== Death == [[File:Blackpool , Blackpool Scenery - geograph.org.uk - 4205977.jpg|thumb|St John's Church, Blackpool, beside which Cocker is buried]] [[File:Clock Tower - geograph.org.uk - 1155852.jpg|thumb|Cocker Clock Tower, Stanley Park, Blackpool]] Cocker died in 1911,<ref name=":2" /> aged 74. Having survived his wife for three years,<ref name=":2" /> he was interred alongside her, his parents, brother and sister-in-law in a small grassy burial ground at the eastern end of St John's Parish Church. He was also buried beside the tomb of noted Blackpool historian Reverend William Thornber. Having died a poor man, living in relative poverty in a house on Whitegate Drive,<ref name=":2" /> there was no money to add an inscription to Cocker's marker.<ref name=":1" />
=== Legacy === The clock tower in Blackpool's Stanley Park is named for Cocker.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-05-19 |title=Blackpool clock tower revamp begins as part of £500k park works |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyp3wp3x1vo |access-date=2026-05-22 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> It was built in 1926 to honour his contributions to the town. John Bickerstaffe unveiled the clock.
Blackpool's Cocker Street is also named for him.<ref name=":0" /> A portrait of Cocker, by an unknown artist, hangs in Blackpool Town Hall.<ref>[https://artuk.org/visit/venues/blackpool-town-hall-6186 Blackpool Town Hall] – Art UK</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocker, William}} Category:1836 births Category:1911 deaths Category:Mayors of Blackpool Category:People from Blackpool Category:English surgeons