Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coppock, James
COPPOCK, JAMES (1798–1857), electioneering agent, born at Stockport on 2 Sept. 1798, was the eldest son of William Coppock, mercer, of that town. He was educated at the school of the Rev. Mr. Higginson, unitarian minister of Stockport, and, after serving an apprenticeship to his father's business, was placed as a clerk with a wholesale haberdasher in London. He afterwards ventured a small capital as a partner in a silk firm, but, owing to commercial disasters following on the French revolution of 1830, he lost all. He married in 1829. After careful consideration he resolved to enter the legal profession, and in 1832 articled himself to a solicitor in Furnival's Inn. He was admitted on the roll of attorneys in 1836. He had always been an active politician, and on the occurrence of the first election for Finsbury after the Reform Act of 1832 he took a prominent part in the contest. After the second general election under the act, on the formation of a county registration society by the liberal party, with branches throughout England, Coppock was appointed secretary, with a residence in the society's rooms at 3 Cleveland Row, St. James's. These rooms were the rendezvous of agents and solicitors from all parts of the country, and from his rapid decision and sound judgment Coppock quickly became a power in politics. When, a few years later, the society's operations ceased, he took the lease of the premises in Cleveland Row, and established himself as a solicitor and parliamentary agent. From this time forward there was scarcely a contested return before the House of Commons in which he had not an active interest. The coolness and daring with which he fought his opponents with their own weapons have become proverbial. He helped to establish the London Reform Club, and was elected an honorary life member and appointed solicitor. Although in his day no man was a fiercer partisan, Coppock was respected by friend and foe. In the August before his death he received the appointment of county court treasurer, but business, both private and public, of a harassing nature accumulated, and the strain of overwork was too great. He died at his house in Cleveland Row on 19 Dec. 1857. Well-executed and excellent portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Coppock (lithographs) were published in London in 1850.
[Stockport Advertiser, 23 Dec. 1857; Times, 21 Dec. 1857; private information.]