COPERS COPE FARM
By Pat Manning

Part III - Some notable residents

Among the many well known residents of the Copers Cope area, there are some who cannot be forgotten. Living at the lower end of Copers Cope Rd was Cllr George Charles William White, a founder member of the Copers Cope Rd Ratepayers Association. He was the senior fireguard at Post 7 during the war and represented the Ward on the Beckenham Council. Elected Mayor for 1952/53, his civic service was held at St Paul’s church which was decorated throughout by the Beckenham Horticultural Society of which he had been Deputy President. His main duty during his Mayoralty was to prepare for the Coronation of the Queen but two major national events that occurred were the 1952 London smog and the 1953 east coast floods that overwhelmed Canvey Island.

William Syme and John Duncan formed the building firm partnership of Syme & Duncan in 1870 when the Copers Cope farmland was being developed for high class housing. The founder’s grandson, William Duncan, became a director of the firm in 1925 and was Mayor of Beckenham for 1955/56. During this time, poliomyelitis was the scourge of young adults and William Duncan was President of the National Fund for Polio Research. He was made Alderman in 1959.

Born at Elm Cottage near to the Three Tuns in the village in 1864, Robert Borrowman lived with his sister Elizabeth and their parents at number 5 Brackley Rd until his marriage to Agnes Milner Tolhurst when they moved to number 4 Copers Cope Rd. He served the town in every possible way as solicitor to the Council and the Beckenham Cottage Hospital, a member of the Education Committee, founder member of the Beckenham Swimming Club and Churchwarden of St George’s church. He wrote the definitive book, Beckenham Past & Present, which was published and printed by T W Thornton of the Beckenham Journal just before Robert died prematurely from a heart attack in August 1910 while on holiday, leaving no descendants. One of Robert’s services to the parish church was the preservation of the church registers which are some of the oldest in the country dating from 1538. Present day relatives of Copers Cope farm’s last tenant farmer, Michael Mathew, (1788-1863) have good reason to be grateful to Robert for his work.

Michael married twice, first to Elizabeth Hubbard in 1808 when he had a number of children and then to Mary Ann Stewart by whom he had one child, Walter Mathew, born in 1850 at Copers Cope farm. Michael’s father was John Mathew born 1737 who also married twice, first to Mary Wright in 1760 and then to Mary Blackwell in 1783. John’s parents were Mark born 1707 and Sarah Oatley.

Walter’s half brother, Michael born 1811, farmed Kent House farm before becoming the publican of the Crooked Billet in Penge, where his widow, Maria Moorey born 1814, continued after his death. (Shirley Bird who supplied much of the history of the Mathew clan is descended from this line.)

Walter Mathew was well known in Beckenham. He married Sarah Elizabeth Andrews in 1871. Here they are standing at the gate of their house in Mackenzie Rd.

Walter was a bell ringer at St George’s at the age of 12 and after leaving Copers Cope farm the family lived at Brook Cottage where the telephone exchange is today. He was a telegraph clerk at Beckenham Junction station at the time of the collapse of the railway bridge over Blakeney Rd. The young Walter was one of the first to crawl under the wreckage to try to help the crew of the goods’ train. He ran a coal business with Mr Moore for twenty years before he retired to Hatfield Peverill, Essex in 1938.

Walter and Sarah had six children, two boys and four girls. Annie May born 1871 became a missionary nurse in Africa with the Leakeys. Lizzie Louisa born 1874 married Jim Honey who ran a cycle business with one of the boys, Arthur, until 1909. Walter Andrew was born 1876, Arthur in 1879, Margaret in 1883 and Elsie Beatrice in 1885. (Judy d’Albert and Pat Rainbird are their descendants and have passed on to me stories and photos of the Mathews shown here.)

Perhaps Arthur was the most exciting member of the family. Just before he married his Emily, he was one of four intrepid cyclists who crossed the desert terrain from Cairo to Port Said, covering the 160 miles in 3 days. They used 26’’wooden rims to the wheels that would not buckle and 2’’solid rubber tyres. They were often heading into a strong wind which blew sand over the camel tracks so that they lost their way. They had trouble finding a bridge over the canal and the weather was unspeakably hot. There were pleasant incidents too like when they were treated to Scotch whisky by the French railway surveyors and fed a great supper by an Italian station master. Arthur never really settled down to raising his family of three children, although dearly loved by them nevertheless.

The picture shows L to R Isabel Helen born 1904, (Judy’s mother), Ivy Lavinia known as Veen born 1902 and George Eric born 1905.

Back to Members' Contribution Page