Author: Cockle, Mary
Biography:
COCKLE, Mary formerly ROOPE (1772-1836: ancestry.co.uk)
The youngest daughter of Charles Roope, a surgeon and widower who had four children from his first marriage, and Eleanor (Collins) Roope, she was baptised at Pulham St Mary Magdalene, Norfolk. Her father died in 1780 and by the terms of his will she was to inherit from her maternal grandmother. In 1801 she married George Cockle, a widower and likely also a surgeon, but the couple separated (one source says this was on account of his ill-treatment of her). She worked as a governess, including for the illegitimate children of the Duke of Clarence. While governess to Miss Pearson of Unthank Hall, Northumberland, she published some shorter poems at Newcastle (Reply to Lord Byron’s “Fare Thee Well” [1817], Lines Addressed to Lady Byron [1817], Elegy on the Death of his late Majesty George the Third [1820], and Lines to a boy pursuing a butterfly [1826]). Her educational writings were well-regarded; published by Chapple at London, they include Juvenile Journal; or Tales of Truth (1807), Important Studies for the Female Sex (1809), and Moral Truths and Studies from Natural History (1810). She was also a regular contributor of poems to the Lady's Magazine and Museum. Her youngest brother, George Roope, was Barrack Master of Ipswich, she may have been living with him there at the time of her death. The memorial to her in the church of St Matthew, Ipswich, acknowledges her role “in inculcating the soundest principles of religion and morality in the female mind.” (ancestry.co.uk 24 July 2018; Notes and Queries, 3rd Ser [1862] 337)
Other Names:
- Mrs. Cockle
- Mrs. [Mary] Cockle