The British Historical Taxidermy Society

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John Cooper began his taxidermy business in St. Luke's in 1825, at the age of 19.
He had been practising taxidermy as a hobby since boyhood and was entirely
self taught. His original job has been as a watchmaker in Clerkenwell, but
he didn't enjoy this work, and so decided to follow his dream. It must have been
quite a big step back in 1825, taxidermy was still in it's infancy, and reliable
methods of preservation had not been fully developed. But in spite of these problems he went ahead, and he even found enough work to employ a young lad
who had moved down from Northampton. This young man went on to become a
successful taxidermist, setting up his own business in competition with Cooper.
(More details in forthcoming book!)
In the early years of the business much of Coopers work involved bird taxidermy,
it was not until his son, also named John joined the business in 1850 that they
started to produce fish cases. John Cooper 2nd was only 10 years old when he began to work full time for his father, but right from those early years, fish were
his main interest. His father taught him the basics of fish taxidermy, but it was John Cooper 2nd who developed Coopers as the fish taxidermy business that was to be the biggest and best in that field for another 110 years. By 1865 John Cooper Snr was too ill to work, and John 2nd took over the business. John 2nd
continued the business from his fathers address, 28 Radnor St, St. Luke's although he was by now married and living in Islington.

The style of the cases at this time 1850 – 1870 were flat fronted, with a gold border, but very rarely with gold lettering, usually with a hand written label of the catch details. The bottom of the case would have red sand glued directly to the wood, no modelled rock work and a fan of reeds either side of the fish with a pale blue background.

John Cooper Snr. died in September 1872, aged 66. John Cooper 2nd moved his young family into the Radnor St address. The business continued to flourish and the firm began to use bow fronted glass, the case interiors were more heavily reeded, and they began to have gold lettering on the glass.
Around 1880 John Coopers sons joined the business, John 3rd and Fred. By 1885
the business had grown so much that all of 28 Radnor St was needed for workspace, and so the family moved out to Norfolk Rd, Dalston. For the next 30 years the style of cases hardly changed, although the trade labels did change a few times. Until 1890 the label simply said J Cooper, it then said J Cooper and Son and then around 1894 until the firm closed it was J Cooper and Sons.

John Cooper 2nd died of acute pneumonia in September 1916, he was 76 years old. His two surviving sons John 3rd and Frederick carried on the business. The style of the cases began to change around 1917. The background was painted a pale green and the fish themselves were painted with a little more detail. Other cases from this period until 1920 were faded down to pink, and had reeds only on one side.

Throughout the early 1920s the background went back to pale green and the heads of the fish were more heavily filled.

Then in the late 1920s came quite a dramatic change. The back of the case was painted turquoise, the groundwork was red sand, the heads of the fish very heavily filled. All of the fish were painted green on the back. Going down to a yellow ochre and then to white on the belly, whatever the species. This was not a very popular move as far as the anglers were concerned, and Coopers began to lose a lot of work to W. F. Homer of Forest Gate.

By 1933 the Coopers had begun to think about closing the business, or looking for someone to take over. They found a willing customer. W. B. Griggs had a taxidermy business on the Staines Road in Hounslow and was looking to expand.
W. B. Griggs immediately made his mark, although he retained the name of John Cooper and Sons.
The case interiors remained turquoise, but faded down to a very dark grey. The base of the case became very heavily covered with pigeon grit containing lots of broken shells. The fish also changed, the painting was much nearer to life, with each scale being picked out and the eye changed from glass to tin, painted to suit
the individual species. During this time he mounted many famous fish including the record Rudd and Tench for the Rev. Alston.
The business remained at Radnor Street until 1940. W. B. Griggs had continued to live in Staines Road, Hounslow and commuted to Radnor St daily, but found this quite a chore.
When 78 Bath Road, Hounslow came onto the market, it was just what W. B. Griggs needed. It had a ready made workshop at the bottom of the garden, and cut out the need for the long journey across London every day.

Cases from the war years are less common, although the mounting of the fish remained the same; the backs were painted an olive green and heavily reeded.
Around 1944 came another change. Reeds were abandoned and conifer and plumbers tow were used. This style remained up until the firm closed.

In 1952 saw the great London smog, where a great many people died, W. B. Griggs thought he had escaped it, but on the 1st February 1953 he began to feel ill, and was bed ridden the following day. He died of Bronchopneumonia and flu on the 3rd February 1953, aged 69 years.

W. B. Griggs' son, L. G. Griggs had been working with his father for many years and he took over the business. During this time very little changed, Len Griggs continued very much as his late father had run the business.
By the late 1950's demand for taxidermy had begun to decline and Len found it harder to make a living. In January 1961, a letter was sent out to all customers stating that the business was to close.
And so came the end of one of Britain's best known taxidermy businesses.

Our thanks to Barry Williams, the leading authority on fish taxidermists for submitting
this article to the society for inclusion.

Cooper Birds