Cope Brothers, Liverpool
Cope Brothers began life in the Old Post Office Street, Liverpool in 1848. The company was started by brothers Thomas and George Cope. In 1853 the business moved to the Old Church for the Blind in Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool. The company grew quickly, and by the 1880s was employing nearly
1,500 people in Liverpool, producing Cigarettes, Cigars, Snuff and Tobacco. By 1884 the Cope Tobacco factory was the biggest in the world, producing 250-300,000 cigarettes a week.
The company had a reputation as an exemplar employer, with Charles Dickens and Emily Faithfull being just two of the eminent people of the time who singled them out for praise in this regard. Thomas Cope died in 1884, so when the company became a private limited liability company a year later, George Cope became the companies Managing Director. George Cope died in a few years later in 1888, at which point his nephew, Thomas Henry Cope became Managing Director.
The late 1800’s proved to be the companies heyday, and though it continued production through the first half of the 20 th Century, conditions became very challenging due to the America Tobacco Company (“ATC”) takeover of fellow Liverpool based Ogdens Tobacco. ATC ran Ogdens at a loss in
order to undercut its rivals in the UK, which the then Chairman of Cope, John A Willox to describe as “the deliberate and organised effort on the part of American Capitalist to destroy a British industry and create a selfish monopoly for themselves”.
Cope did launch something of a rearguard action by taking over a number of smaller UK producers in order to bolster its capacity, namely Richard Lloyd (Clerkenwell, London) in 1902, Robinson and Barnsdale (Nottingham) in 1905, and H. C. Lloyd & Sn (Exeter) in 1924, but ultimately it proved to be
too little too late.
A strike organised by the Unions in 1950 ended up lasting for 3 months, and resulted in the dismissal of 200 striking workers. Cope never recovered from this bout of industrial action, and was eventually sold to Gallaher, who almost immediately ceased all operations in Liverpool and moved production to Northern Ireland.
All Cope branded products ceased by 1965 and the company was consigned to history.
