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Taking the Cole line back

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This page describes how a chance find of an 1805 will from in Bristol enabled the ancestral line of the Cole family of the Cole Pottery in Tottenham to be tracked back two generations to Thomas Cole, born 1704

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by Bruce Bennett, a Cole descendant, from family recollections and research

One of the stories told to me was that our Cole family in Middlesex had connections in Bristol. I followed this possibility and came across a pedigree by Freda Pope1 which revealed her ancestors, John Cole and his wife Frances, who had been master potters in London, until about 1805 when they came to Bristol and established a pottery there.

This led to the possibility that this John could be a brother of who we regarded at that time as our Daniel Cole RN. However, no baptisms or parents could be found, and no link between the two. I did find the marriages of each of the brothers, and baptisms of children. It seemed likely that John married Frances Inks in 1798 and Daniel married Ann Moss in 1792 at St. Pancras.

St Pancras Old Church 1815

St Pancras Old Church where Daniel Cole and Ann Moss were married in 1792. Sketch dated 1815. Note rural setting.

It was then I uncovered the story of Thomas Tarzey who provided a link between Daniel's daughter and Bristol. Thomas had married Daniel’s eldest child, Ann Marie Cole, in 1813. He then fled to Bristol when sought in connection with a robbery, for which his son was transported to Australia in 1835.

Thomas Tarzey took the surname Moss (his wife’s mother’s maiden name) and lived near and worked for the rest of his life with the Bristol Cole family in the St Phillips Marsh Pottery.

1805 Will of Thomas Cole

I persisted looking for a Bristol connection, and discovered an 1805 will of a Thomas Cole gentleman of Bedminster, near Bristol. This exciting document names his deceased brother Daniel’s two sons, John Cole potter and Daniel Cole tile maker2. What follows is the essence of this will.

Prerogative Court of Canterbury will of Thomas Cole of Totterdown in the parish of Bedminster, Somerset, gentleman 28 Nov 1805.

He appointed John Bannister the elder of Bristol, rectifier and his son the Rev. John Bannister the younger of Dorset his trustees for four tenements in Kilgrove street, St, James, two in St. James street, two in West Street, two in Lower Easton, St. Philip and St. James, and one in the Broad Plain, to sell them all. The trustees were to distribute all the monies raised as follows; to Mary Tyler, wife of Francis Tyler currier, daughter of my late wife £200, the rest equally between nine nephews and nieces, John Cole potter and Daniel Cole tilemaker, sons of my brother Daniel Cole deceased, Elizabeth Lee spinster daughter of my sister Elizabeth Lee deceased, William John Duzell, Harriott Duzell and Elizabeth Treasurer, son and daughters of my sister Sarah Duzell widow, and William Sheppard potter, John Sheppard bricklayer and Amy Wilbraham, sons and daughter of my sister Amy Sheppard deceased. Interest on £800 in stock was to be paid as an annuity to sister Sarah Duzell for life then to the nine.

From there I was able to piece together the following story.

Our earliest Cole to date: Thomas Cole (1704 -1767)

Our earliest record so far is the baptism of Thomas Cole, on 30 Jan 1704 in London, son of yet another Daniel and Elizabeth.

Thomas Cole, son of this Daniel Cole grocer, was apprenticed to Thomas Aubone mariner in the City of London in 1720.

Thomas Cole of Fore Street, Lambeth was buried January 15, 1767. Thomas Cole and Amey his wife had seven children baptized at St Mary Lambeth. His two sons, Thomas and Daniel, seem to have taken an interest in pottery, and his daughter Amy married a potter, William Shepard.

If viewing this chart on a narrow screen like a phone, pinch out to enlarge the text

Descendancy chart from Thomas Cole 1704 for two

Descendancy chart from Thomas Cole 1704 for two generations in image form

You can also view the children and grandchilden of Thomas Cole 1704 -1767 and Amey in text form:

Lower Fore Street existed on the Lambeth foreshore until the arrival of Albert Embankment. Fore street comprised Upper Fore Street running beside the Thames from Vauxhall Gardens, and Lower Fore Street, which continued on after the White Hart Dock as to Lambeth Bridge. The potteries, or pothouses as they were known, were concentrated near the river in the area between Vauxhall Bridge and Lambeth Bridge.

Close to the junction and intersection with Broad Street, was the Lambeth Pottery. I wonder if this is where Daniel Cole (1772-1840) worked.

Detail from 1860 map of Lambeth

Detail from 1860 map of Lambeth. Here there was the advantage of the supply of water, easy access to transportation and the low-lying location, which provided the most perfectly humid atmosphere for making pots and most importantly was the supply of London clay.

 

Thomas Cole (1732 -1805)

Thomas Cole was born in 1732 at Lambeth. For some reason he moved to Bristol before 1761. Presumably in the 1750s, after he turned 18. In the early eighteenth century, Bristol was second only to London in the production of decorative pottery. We next find him as Thomas Cole potter married Mary Bickham widow of James Bracey of Bristol mason, on 25 May 1761 at Bristol. He became a free potter (freemason) because of this marriage, and was enrolled on 25 April 1767 as a Bristol Burgess. I think Thomas being the eldest son of Thomas and Amey had probably inherited much of his father’s estate in January 1767. Thomas was a potter at St Mary Redcliffe parish in 1774, and at Bedminster in 1781 and 1784.

Thomas seems to have been quite an an entrepreneur as he took on other businesses. In 1793 a partnership between six men including Thomas Cole, as malt distillers and rectifiers, was dissolved, Thomas Cross, William Cross and William Fry were departing, but the distillery was continued by Thomas Cole, William Parry and Martin Petrie, as Parry, Cole and Co3. In his will in 1793 William Cross made Thomas Cole of Bedminster, distiller, his executor. Moore, William & Co.: Rectifying Distillers; Lewins Mead, c.1783-1801. (William Moore, Philip George & Thomas Cole, dissolved 29 Sept. c.1801). After Thomas died, the remaining estates belonging to the late firm of Messrs Parry, Cole and Co were for sale in 1806 by private contract, including Bedminster Malt Distillery, a cooper’s yard and bacon factory at Bedminster4.

By the time that Thomas died, he seems to have been both wealthy and highly-regarded in the community of Bedminster, styling himself gentleman, leaving the PCC that is so important to our family history. He left eleven tenements in Bristol to be sold for the benefit of his nine nephews and nieces. These included John Cole potter and Daniel Cole tile maker, listed as 'sons of my brother Daniel Cole deceased'. These two young men are pivotal in our family history: Daniel as the seaman and potter in the story of the Cole Pottery in Tottenham and John as will be shown shortly.

Daniel Cole 1738 -1789

This Daniel is the father of the Daniel and John, described above as pivotal in our family history, the brother described as deceased in the 1805 will.

Daniel Cole was baptized 18 Feb 1738 at St Mary Lambeth, the second son of Thomas and Amey his wife. He married Elizabeth, possibly the banns of Daniel Coyle and Elizabeth Landers both of the parish, published at St Martin in the Fields on 27 Nov 1768, and marriage 25 Dec 1768

The couple had at least four children baptised at St Clement Danes, Westminster.

Elizabeth was buried 18 October 1777 aged 47 at Clement Danes. When she died, she left Daniel with two small children. Several other children had died as infants at Fore Street, Lambeth. His father Thomas had died at this same Fore street address in 1767. So it seems most likely that Daniel 1738 was a potter there, and his brother Thomas of the 1805 will was a potter in Bristol.

As Daniel was listed as deceased in the 1805 will, he was probably the one buried 7 Sept 1789 at St Clement Danes which would have made him 51. Presumably his now orphan sons Daniel 17 and John 13 had to make do. There is no sign of them on parish relief, but were they apprenticed to potters? Probably their uncle of the 1805 will helped them in some way. By 1805 son Daniel had married, was a tile maker and served in the Royal Navy, and son John had married and became a master potter in London - more of which later. Both had children baptized at Lambeth.

This inheritance from their uncle in Bristol in 1805 was probably what funded Daniel's son, another John, to set up the Cole pottery in Tottenham, and to prompt brother John to move to Bristol to take over or establish a pottery there. After this date Daniel had children baptized at Tottenham and John had children in Bristol.

This is the point where the descendancy lines brothers Daniel and John continue on separate pages: Daniel continues with his own Daniel Cole (1772-1840) page with his descendants in associated pages on the top menu. John continues on the Bristol Potteries page.

References

1 Freda94 on RootsChat and subsequent emails from 2015 to 2018 from Petrina Pope

2 Ancestry record

3 Bath Chronicle, 4 April 1793

4 Bristol Times, 3 May 1806



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