The lusty love life of Henry Cocks, the Squire of Middleton St George

A profile of his village of Middleton St George in the Darlington & Stockton Times exactly 100 years ago this week tells how the squire “was a virile type of man who lived his life to the full”.

This must be a sniggering allusion to the fact that, although unmarried, he acknowledged having plenty of “reputed” children, and a handful of close female “friends”. Indeed, it is said that he built two identical houses for his two favourites on either side of the Methodist chapel in Middleton One Row.

Middleton One Row chapel, with identical houses on either side - it is said that Squire Cocks built these for two of his most favourite mistresses

Henry Andrew William Cocks died on November 8, 1894, aged 89. His line of the family had owned the Middleton district since 1801, but his ancestors, the Killinghalls and the Pembertons, had been in charge for six centuries. Their manor house was Low Middleton Hall, but bachelor Cocks was the last of the legitimate line.

Henry Andrew William Cocks

He was very generous, and not just with his affections.

He created the first ironworks in 1864 and when this notoriously cyclical industry was plunged into depression, he employed the idle men on 1s 9d a day to build up the riverbank around his hall to prevent flooding.

He gave money to the village school, to the new church of St Laurence and to the ancient church of St George. To this day, the almshouses built in his memory still bear his name.

The Cocks Memorial Homes in Middleton St George on a 1960s postcard, with Squire Cocks's name mis-spelled

In his will, he named two executors to take care of his estate: Thomas Metcalfe Barron (the respected 1890 mayor of Darlington who has a street named after him) and "and my reputed son Henry William Graham of Whessoe, farmer".

Mr Graham was left £1,000, as were "my two reputed sons, Charles Robinson of Home Farm, Low Middleton, and Arthur Robinson of Oak Tree Farm, Middleton Saint George".

There was another £1,000 "to my reputed son Henry Wilkinson of Middleton One Row, postmaster".

Then, to "my three reputed daughters, Harrietta Eliza (or Henrietta) Graham, Louisa Graham and Patience Matilda Graham, children of my friend the late Margaret Ann Graham of Middleton One Row", there was £2,000 each.

Middleton One Row, in the 1960s, with the Methodist chapel, and the houses, in the middle

READ MORE: ALL CHANGE AT FIGHTING COCKS STATION THIS WEEKEND

Another beneficiary was Wilmot Warmington, "son of Mrs Sarah Warmington of Lower Church Street, Tetton Hall, Wolverhampton" who was left £500. So perhaps Mrs Warmington had been warming Squire Cocks on his nights in Wolverhampton and the wonderfully-named Wilmot had some of his genes.

There were no conditions attached to the inheritances of these three reputed daughters, four reputed sons or Wilmot.

However, the will goes on to say: "I give all the household furniture and effects belonging to me and in the possession of my reputed son Frederick Robinson of Killinghall…to his wife Mary Robinson absolutely."

He left Frederick, who lived near the ironworks, £1,000 which had to be invested with the interest paid to him quarterly.

The father clearly didn’t trust the reputed son, for he says that if Frederick became bankrupt or got into debt, or committed an offence that caused him to be fined, his money would instead be paid directly "for the maintenance or otherwise for the benefit of his wife and children".

Elsewhere in his will, Squire Cocks left £200 to his housekeeper Alice Slater "as an acknowledgement of her kindness and attention to me", and £10 to each of his domestic servants.

He donated to the Church of England all of the tithes that his family had collected for the last 600 years, and £200 was left to the trustees of the Wesleyan Chapel at Middleton One Row.

Middleton One Row chapel with identical houses on either side

This must have been especially interesting for village gossips. The chapel, which has been a private house since 1985, was built in 1872 with Squire Cocks footing the bill. As he was paying, he asked for identical houses to be built on either side of it for the two mistresses who shared his attentions and his “reputed” children.

Mistress Robinson lived in one and Mistress Graham in the other, and they were just up the road from Low Middleton Hall for whenever the squire needed to call on their affections.

Low Middleton Hall, Squire Cocks's home. The view cannot be seen from the road, from where it looks like an eccentric collection of turrets and towers rather than this grand 17th Century hall

WE touched on Squire Cocks last week because today, at the former Fighting Cocks station behind the new Sainsbury’s Local, the Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway are holding an open day from 10.30am to 2.30pm to show off the new mural that has been painted overlooking the trackbed. Everybody is invited.

Of the station, the D&S Times article in 1924 said: “There is no mystery as to the origin of its name. In olden days, cock fighting was a fashionable pastime, and it was at this spot that the gentlemen of Darlington and Stockton met and brought their feathered champions with them. Many a game bird died fighting at this rendezvous, but there are no records of any notable encounters for big purses, such as there must have been.”

An alternative derivation of the name is that comes from the coat-of arms of Squire Cocks which featured three fighting cock birds.

Low Middleton Hall dovecote, with a "ferocious" sheep

THE 1924 article says that Squire Cocks had once survived “a ferocious attack by a sheep”, which had repeatedly knocked him to the ground, injuring him quite badly. It was only when he lay perfectly still, pretending to be dead, that the sadistic sheep ended its terrifying assault.

THE 1924 article was triggered by a Roman find in Pountneys Lane – we think this is now Church Lane, next to St Laurence’s.

Builders had been excavating cellars for a house to be called the Friary when they discovered two Roman lamps with “Anniser” stamped on the bottom. This was the mark of a potter called Annus Serapiodorus who worked from Ostia, a port near Rome, in the 3rd or 4th Centuries.

Middleton One Row is said to have been where a Roman road crossed the River Tees – although the village does have one principal row in it, its name could be a reference to its Roman origins as “Middleton-on-the-Road”.

Tower Hill overlooks the crossing. It is believed that on this high spot there was a fort or camp, known locally as a “castle”, that guarded the crossing, and the luxurious lamps, which burned imported olive oil, would have come from the fort commandant’s quarters.

• Are there any other relics, either Roman or related to Squire Cocks, in the village?

READ MORE: BURKING, SCORPING AND COWHOUSE-BUILDING: DUBIOUS ELECTIONS OF THE 19TH CENTURY