Cockney is a rhythmic slang of East End’s Londoners

within earshot of Bow Bells, the bells of St Mary-le-Bow in the Cheapside district of the City of London.

Stuarts.
Cockney was a city subculture of treadspeople, workers and commoners.
Cockneies were sharp, skilful, enterprising, optimistic – so, like a tipical employer or businessman.