John Cocker

John Cocker trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and became a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries in 1827. After moving to Blackpool in 1828, he married Jane Banks, daughter of Henry Banks, known as the 'Father of Blackpool'. In 1837 he opened the town's first assembly rooms, the Victoria Promenade. He received his MD from Erlangen in 1845 and worked as a medical referee for insurers and prudential societies. Cocker was a Fellow of the Obstetrical Society of London and published on gynaecological topics, including 'On diseases of the uterus', in The Lancet and the Medical and Surgical Journal. He died in Blackpool in 1872.