What we know about Edward Lawrence Cockell

Edward Lawrence Cockell (son of Henry and Grace Cockell) was born in 1874, in Deptford, Kent, England. The 1881 UK census for Henry and Grace Cockell and their children lists sons, Lewis Vincent and Edward Lawrence. Henry E. Cockell’s occupation is listed as “teacher of singing.” Apart from Edward and Lewis there are also two sisters, Dorothy and Grace and mother-in-law Hannah McDonnell living together in 1881.

Edward was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral Choir School between 1884 and 88.

At the time of the 1891 Census Henry and Grace, Edward and the two girls were in the Channel Islands, presumably visiting family as Grace came from there, but we find Lewis and a younger son, Allan, living with their grandmother Hannah and a family called Driver. In the census, Lewis and Allan are described as sons of this family but clearly they are not.

In the 1901 census the family is living together again but there’s no Edward.

The London Times: Jan 2, 1904 reported that a Mr. Charles Robert Morling and Mr. Edward Lawrence Cockell had been admitted partners in the firm of Collins and Co., a firm of shipping agents with substantial business in China. This would seem to be the beginning of Edward’s connection with China. Presumably he had already gone out there in the service of Collins and Co.  for a blog, “Piovano in China” , records a Mr. Cockell singing in a vocal recital at the Gordon Hall, Tientsin, with a Miss Currey on Saturday February 6th of that year. Later, Edward appears in the British Army WW1 Medal Rolls as serving in the Chinese Labour Corps and in a ship’s manifest in 1918 as a Lieutenant in the British Army, traveling on “Government Business” from France to China with his destination Tientsin. It seems likely that he was involved in the repatriation of Chinese labour after the War.

The partnership in Collins & Co was dissolved in August 1918 and in 1920 Edward appears in the ship’s manifest of the Empress of Russia from Hong Kong to Vancouver as Edward L. Cockell (45), government servant, born in London, with his wife, Katherine F. Cockell (45) born in Melbourne, Australia.

We do not know how or when Edward met and married Katherine but we believe her to be Katherine Florence Newbery, sister of Evelyn Newbery.

In 1921 the Cockells were visited in Peking by Lord Northcliffe the proprietor of The Times and the Daily Mail. He was on a world tour and a diary entry in November reads as follows:

After this I went out to see the Lama Temple with Mr.Cockell, an English resident, who has been trying to buy celadon for me here. Celadon is hard to get, and it is not much to look at when you get it, though the price is stiff enough. It is as heavy as lead. Up to now I have bought six pieces, of the Ming period. I shall make another endeavour to get more at Tientsin, where I stop for a few hours. I am fortunate in having the assistance of a great museum expert on celadon.
……….
After that, Mr. Cockell took me to the most delicious thing in houses I have ever seen: his Chinese house filled with lovely things, such things as I see in the Oriental Museum in Paris; a very delightful rambling house with all modern equipment.

In 1924 Edward again appears in a manifest as “Government Official” traveling from Southampton to the USA, final destination Peking. He and his wife, Katherine, are now 50, traveling with Diplomat status. Edward’s father is listed as H.E. Cockell residing at “14 Gwydyr Mansions Hove.”

Edward was awarded the OBE (Civil Division) for voluntary work in HM Legation, Commercial Counselor’s office, at Peking on January 1st 1930.

According to Miles Lampson’s diaries, the Cockells left Peking on 1st July 1931. Julia Boyd says: “They were clearly much liked and admired in the foreign community and generally treated as everyone’s gurus when it came to buying Chinese ‘curios’. (e-mail 7th Feb. 2010)

In 1935 there is a record of Edward and Katherine traveling from England to Genoa, apparently intending to reside in Italy. He died there on the 25th of July 1937.

In August 1939, Katherine Cockell donated Chinese objects to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. Among objects given by Mrs. E.L. Cockell in memory of her late husband, Edward Lawrence Cockell were two important additions to the Ceramic Department. The first was a tall Chinese black glazed earthenware vase of the Tz’u Chou type, dating from the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279). The second was a large tile of earthenware, modeled in high relief with green and yellow-brown glaze, showing the figure of a warrior clad in armour. This has an inscription on the back stating that it was made at Ma-Fhau, a village in the Ching-Hsing district of the Ting prefecture of the Chih-li province in 1548.

1 Times, Oct 26 1937. In his will Edward left 5 shillings per boy on Christmas day but not till after his wife’s death.
2 http://fotoarchivio-piovano.blogspot.com/ According to this blog, Luigi Piovano was born in Chieri in 1868. In 1900 he went to China where he took several photos. He came back to Italy on the 30 May 1905 and died in Chieri in 1952.

3 “MY JOURNEY ROUNDTHE WORLD” By ALFRED VISCOUNT NORTHCLIFFE
http://www.archive.org/stream/myjourneyroundth034940mbp/myjourneyroundth034940mbp_djvu.txt
From the London Times: Oct 27, 1937 Re: Edward Lawrence Cockell, deceased … late of Villa Savonarola, Arcetri, Florence, Italy, formerly Honorary Attaché to the British Legation at Peking, China died on the 25th day of July 1937.