Mary’s stepchildren and Ikin, Carr and Cockell (Leeds wool merchants)

Before Mary Vickers married Joseph Vickers, his first wife, Mercy Carr, died aged 38, less than a month after her youngest child, Joseph Cockell Vickers’, baptism.  She was buried on 15 June 1796, leaving her husband Joseph – then 43 - with two daughters (Sarah Vickers and Harriet Vickers) aged 10 and 8, one son (John Ash Vickers) aged 5, and an infant son (Joseph Cockell Vickers) just a few weeks old. 

But through the marriages of an aunt and (possibly) a sister of Mercy’s, those four children had a strong familial connection to a partnership of Leeds cloth merchants – Ikins, Cockell and Carr Co.  This would ultimately benefit some of her children. 

Leeds was the principal market for woollen broad cloths (both dyed and undyed) manufactured locally and became an entrepot for fancy cloths and worsteds. By the 1770s, Leeds merchants handled approximately one-third of all the woollen cloth exported from England, which made up half England’s of home-produced exports.  In other words, Leeds merchants were generating about one sixth of Britain’s exports – an extraordinary statistic.  The Leeds wool merchants were both wealthy and important. 

One of these merchants, Arthur Ikin, was Mayor of the Borough of Leeds in 1783  and is listed in the 1784 Directory as being based in Park Row, Leeds.  He became a significant benefactor to the people of Leeds: following his death in 1791, he bequeathed substantial sums both to renovate & extend the alms-houses established by John Harrison (the first and arguably greatest benefactor of Leeds) and to increase the stipends paid to the alms-people who lived there. 

The connection to Mary Randall Vickers’ story (via Mercy Carr/Vickers) is that on 22nd December 1755 Arthur Ikin had married Mary Carr (believed to be an aunt of Mercy’s). Both Arthur and his wife Mary died in 1791. But their cloth merchanting business continued to prosper as Ikins, Cockell and Carr Co, operating from the top of Park Row (Leeds).  They traded internationally – there is evidence (in the Lapsley Family Business Records, 1805-1817, Philadelphia) in September 1810 of business between Ikins, Cockell and Carr Co with merchants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. 

Joseph Cockell, one of the partners in Ikins, Cockell and Carr Co, was born in 1751.  He married, in 1787, another Mary Carr – presumably (see next paragraph) a sister of Mercy Carr, Joseph Vickers’ first wife.   

Joseph Cockell died in 1814, leaving an estate of £10,000 (by one means of calculation, c £13 million now) to his widow Mary who continued to live in their house on Park Row until her death in 1822. 

Mary Randall Vickers’ first will, made in 1817, specifically stated that although (following the Chancery case) her legacy will be relatively small, “that will be amply made up by the part [which my stepchildren] will come into possession of at the demise of Mr Carr & Mrs Mary Cockell, Uncle and Aunt of four of my children.”  

Excerpt from Mary Vickers' draft of her will, 1817 (Click image to view more)

This clearly implies that Ikin, Carr and Cockell were related to each other by marriage; that they also were close relations of Mercy (Carr) Vickers; and that Mercy’s children were to be among their legatees.   

Interestingly, Mary’s last will – originally made in 1825 – includes this wording: “My [step]son Joseph Cockell Vickers (JCV) and [step]daughter Harriet will not, I am persuaded, think it wrong that my three sons should divide my Trifle when they shared a much larger sum bequeathed by Mrs Cockell.”   

 

Excerpt from Mary Vickers' will, 1826 referencing Joseph Cockell Vickers and Harriet Vickers (Click image to view)

This confirms the expectations that they would be beneficiaries from Mr. & Mrs Cockell. 

But it is striking that Mary refers only to her youngest stepson, JCV, and to the younger of her two stepdaughters, Harriet, as having benefitted from this provision. The older two step-children, John Ash Vickers and Sarah Carpmael, seem implicitly to have been excluded.  It is clear from the archives that Mary had given substantial financial support to both John Ash Vickers (“JAV” who in return had behaved pretty badly to her), and also to Sarah Carpmael and her husband when they were indigent and wishing to buy an Inn near Halifax.  So perhaps Mrs Cockell felt that the other two were more “deserving” of help, and / or that she did not trust JAV and Sarah with money? Who knows.