Cox

Lady Margaret

Whereas a number of Tamba-Tambamen proudly claim descent from Thomas Lazenby Cock the name Cock itself is now unknown on the island.
This is due to the genteel influence of Lady Margaret Sleight ( 1827- 1860). When Sir Brougham Sleight's first wife passed away he married the daughter of a cousin. 28 years his junior, Lady Margaret was the polar opposite of the earthy Sir Brougham. Arriving in 1848, she found life in Tamba- Tamba harsh and primitive, and was frequently ill. Lady Margaret carried Victorian gentility to the extreme, and was embarrassed by the immodesty and forthrightness of the islanders.
Amongst her affectations was the refusal to utter anything that alluded to profanity or indelicacy, for example, she referred to cockerels as 'hens companions'. In her letters and diaries she referred to Cocktown simply as 'the town'.
On learning that she would be expected to address a significant percentage of her new neighbours, regardless of age or sex by their surname, Cock, she fell into what her husband described as 'an hysterical apoplexy'.

John Cox Cock

In order to ease Lady Margaret's discomfort John Cock, the first Leading Citizen to realize the diplomatic potential of that position, (critics might label him ambitious and desiring of finding favour with the English) assumed the name Cox (with a silent x). Cox, it was argued, had none of the bawdy overtones of Cock. Lady Margaret had been familiar with the Cox family of Winchester in her childhood, and saw nothing improper in the name.
Such was the charismatic influence of John Cox that other members of The Island's First Family followed suite. When Jefferson Stock wrote the first history of Tamba- Tamba in 1880 he referred to Thomas Lazenby Cock as 'Thomas Cox' throughout.
Cox (with a silent x) is the most common name on Tamba- Tamba as of 2010.