Mentions of rogues in Coulsdon, and thoughts might turn to current-day politicians who live or claim to represent the area.
Coulsdon scoundrel: James Cooper, hanged at Smitham Bottom nearly 300 years ago, now has his own finial
But a finial has been put in place for the new year that shows the area has a history of rascals going back nearly 300 years, including the notorious highwayman James Cooper, who was arrested, tried and executed at Smitham Bottom in August 1749.
The finial is part of the Coulsdon Art Trail, which commemorates the area’s history.
Finials are small, stylised metal models, and have been placed at the top of signposts and lampposts in Coulsdon town centre. The first three were unveiled in early 2021, with a further two put in place in 2022.
Two more went up during 2023, including one to commemorate John Logie Baird.
“These finials commemorate the history of Coulsdon and Smitham Bottom and were selected from a list of suggestions that were put together from a public consultation by East Coulsdon Residents’ Association,” Charlie King, one of the movers behind the project, said.
The latest finial has been placed atop the road sign as people enter Coulsdon.
Croydon parish register records that “James Cooper, a highwayman, was executed on a gibbet in Smitham Bottom, and there hanged in chains for the murdering and robbing of Robert Saxby near Crome Hurst.”
Close up: considerable craftsmanship goes into the making of the Coulsdon finials
A contemporary newspaper report stated that Cooper was also responsible for robbing Robert Boyd, the park keeper to Sir Kendrick Clayton at Marden Park in Surrey, as well as the shooting of Saxby.
Cooper had an accomplice, William Duncalf, who died in jail before the sentence could be carried out.
When the case of Cooper was reported in the paper, it carried with it a paragraph about a miscarriage of justice.
Before Cooper was hanged, he gave a full confession of other crimes which he and Duncalf had committed. This included a robbery in Addiscombe Lane, near Croydon, of Farmer Jackson. The victim, though, was adamant about the identification of his assailant. Because of his mistake he sent an innocent man, John Shelton, to the gallows at Guildford.
In some ways, Cooper’s Coulsdon finial is a counterpoint to one of the more recent introductions, placed outside Coulsdon Library to commemorate the visit of George, the Prince of Wales (who would go on to become King George IV).
At the height of the Regency period, on June 9, 1788, the Prince turned up at Lion Green to watch the bare-knuckle prize fight between “Gentleman” John Jackson and the grizzled veteran from Birmingham, Thomas Futtrell. Smitham Bottom was near enough to London for the Prince to attend, but far enough away for the police not to – bare-knuckle fighting was illegal.
Prize fights drew huge crowds, and were a focus for a large amount of betting, which will have also interested the Prince.
A picture of the boxing match between Thomas Futtrell and “Gentleman” John Jackson by the noted 18th-century caricaturist James Gillray is in the British Museum collection. In the background of Gillray’s picture there is visible a gallows – thought to be the execution site on Lion Green where Cooper is thought may have met his grisly end.
Public hangings were known to draw large crowds, too…
Regency entertainment: Gillray’s depiction of a prize fight at Smitham Bottom in 1788 (Prince George can be seen to the right) also shows the grisly gallows at Lion Green in the distance
The other Coulsdon Art Trail finials include portrayals of Cuthraed, the Saxon warrior after whom Coulsdon is named; John Logie Baird, the inventor of television; the greater yellow rattle, which grows prolifically on Farthing Downs and Happy Valley; the Surrey Iron Railway, Britain’s first public railway; the first cricket match on Lion Green in 1739; and Emmeline Pankhurst, who spoke on Votes from Women in April 1911 at Smitham Parish Hall.
Coulsdon Art Trail and the finials have been put together by East Coulsdon RA with additional donations from individuals and businesses of Coulsdon.
Charlie King said, “We are now collecting for the next finials, and welcome donations.”
If you would like to donate please contact East Coulsdon RA at info@eastcoulsdon.co.uk
Read more: How Dick Turpin’s life of crime included a hold-up in Shirley
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highway robbery still being conducted in the area…. see ULEZ!!!!!
You are mistaken, Hazel. What Cooper did was illegal.
ULEZ is entirely legal, as has been tested in the courts, and its charges can readily be avoided, by using public transport, for instance. Indeed, millions of pounds was offered to owners of non-compliant vehicles under a scrappage scheme.