HOME    SEARCH   ALL TOPICS

Edward George Cole (1853‑1920), potteries owner and public figure

E.G.Cole, one-time pottery owner

This page explores the life and successes E.G.Cole (1853-1920) as a public figure, pottery owner and family man

____

by the webmaster from family recollections and research

All existing records of the Cole Pottery in Tottenham put its first formal ownership in the name of Edward George Cole - E.G. as he was generally known. (Although the family notes of E.G.Cole II put the ownership further back, that is a topic for the later pages on John Cole and Daniel Cole.) This page is about E.G. Cole.

E.G.Cole's early life

E.G. was born on 22 August 1853 to parents John Cole and his wife Mary. The birth as at the Tile Kilns and it was doubtless there where he learnt the pottery trade.

His education was probably the same as that of his younger brother, James Reedman Cole, namely the Hermitage Road School in Tottenham, as records show that that was James's school.

The Hermitage was a National School with fees at that time of between 1d (one old penny) and 3d (three old pence) a week for infants and between 2d (2 old pence) and 6d (six old pence) a week for older children. There was no free education at that time.

E.G.'s first career was in the police force. Images show that he certainly had the build for it.

However, E.G. gave this up to rescue the Cole Pottery which was running into difficulties in the hands of his older brothers. E.G.'s younger brother, James, similarly gave up his school-teaching career for the same purpose. The agreement between the two brothers was that E.G. would take on the risk along with the ownership and a share of the profits whereas James would take a salary and be the live-in manager.

At the time, the business was in a bad way, but E.G. was a brilliant manager and administrator, and the business became highly profitable.

E.G.'s living arrangements

E.G. did not live at the pottery, although he was frequently there. The pottery house was left for James and his large family. He lived in an up-market Victorian house in nearby Pellatt Grove.

One summer, my mother had to go to E.G.'s house in Pellatt Grove. This was because when he was at breakfast in the pottery house, he had said to her grandmother, "Send one of the children up to the house to get some windfall apples". Her grandmother wasn't particularly interested as she knew they would only be bruised, and she was only interested in best quality produce – but, as E.G. had asked, my mother and her brother had to go.

E.G.'s appearance

As child, my mother saw E.G. frequently at the pottery. She described him as a big florid-faced man who wore leather gaiters.

However, as he was also active in local affairs, no doubt his dress code then was like in the above photo.

E.G.'s wife and children

On 8 April 1877 E.G. married Elizabeth Brandon at St Johns Parish Church, Bognor, and the couple went on to have the following children:

Edward died suddenly on 17 June 1915, at the age of only 37, in the office of the White Hart Lane Pottery. Foul play was not suspected.

In 1954 Eric’s wife, May Rachel England, was knocked down by a cyclist and killed. It is not known whether the couple had any children. In 1970, Edith M. England was listed in her own name in the London Phone Book as living at 2 Lodge Close, Edmonton. She was presumably then a widow.

All E.G.'s children were well educated, which is testimony to the financial success of the pottery business.

I am hoping that some of their descendants may hit on a name and be able to provide some family photos. Because of the rift with Sid, none have survived in my family, and all the photos on this page come from elsewhere, particularly museums and press cuttings.

E.G's public life

Through the support of his brother at the pottery, E.G. was able to be very active indeed in public life. It was written of him that it would be difficult to find an area of public life in which he had not been involved.

photo of E.G.Cole which hung in the committee room where the Board of Guardians

It would be pointless to attempt to describe E.G.'s life when vividly written contemporary press cuttings report in such detail. Here is one of them, in full.

END OF REMARKABLE CAREER

Tottenham Weekly Herald, June 25th 1920

Wood Green, Tottenham and Edmonton will be the poorer by the death of Mr. Edward George Cole, which we regret to announce took place at his residence, Glencaien, Pellatt Grove, Wood Green, on Tuesday evening. A few weeks ago, Mr. Cole was stricken down with pneumonia, and anxious enquiries have been constantly made by scores of his neighbours. Later he was reported to be better. Then he relapsed, but again last Sunday he was reported by Col. Spencer Mort and his own local doctor to be out of danger. But the improvement was only artificial, and the strain upon the heart proved too much. He collapsed on Monday, became unconscious at mid-day on Tuesday, and succumbed peacefully at 9.15 in the evening.

Mr. Cole was 67 years of age, and was one of those men whose character was framed amid the hardships of life. He had no “silver spoon”, and no great education, but he served his day and generation well. His “school” was the school of experience, and having learned his lessons he applied them to the best purposes, and inspired many another to take up public service. Born at the old potteries at the foot of the Manor House Hill, he went to work in the potteries at the age of ten. All did not go well with the business, and he was compelled to look around for another vocation, which he found by joining the Metropolitan Police as a constable. About 47 years ago – when he had been a policeman scarcely a year – he found it possible to open the present White Hart Lane Potteries. For years, in fact, right up to the last, he worked hard, and even when public work demanded his attention, he was to be found working among the flower pots early and late. Some folk can remember the time when he made the pots, put them in the kiln, burnt them, sold them, and brought home the money himself to pay his two or three men.

He had two sons and three daughters. The older son died suddenly just five years ago. Extra burdens were thrown upon “the old boy” as he was affectionately known, and there was a visible decline in his vigour. Sidney, the younger son, who was away, as an officer in the Air Force at that time, was discharged soon after the Armistice, and lately had assisted his father.

Mr. Cole had a long and honourable record of public service. His nature was sometimes tactless and undiplomatic, his hard hitting and blunt speaking frequently stirred up the feelings of his colleagues, but he had a wonderful grasp of local administration. Above everything else he was a specialist in everything appertaining to the Poor Law. He was a personal friend of Mr John Burns, and it was no secret that Mr Burns on many occasions leant useful lessons from Mr. Cole’s practical experience. Mr. Cole was a member of the Edmonton Board of Guardians continuously for 25 years, and was for some years its chairman. He was also for several years a member of the County Council, and between the two offices he was enabled to take an active part in such matters as lunacy, vagrancy and Poor Law generally. He was on the Asylums, Highways, Industrial Schools, County Rates Basis, Standing Joint, and Light Railways and Tramways Committees of the County Council. In 1919, however, the local Labour Party put up a strong fight, and Mr R. C. Morrison ousted him from the seat.

At Wood Green, Mr. Cole took an active part in the separation from the parent district of Tottenham, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the District Council in 1897 and 1898, but was returned in 1899, and remained a member till he voluntarily dropped out in 1911. He again entered the arena in 1914, and remained a member till his death. He represented Hornsey and Wood Green on the Metropolitan Water Board for a time, and was afterwards selected to represent the County Council on the same body. He was also a Wood Green Overseer, a member of the Joint Drainage Committee and the Middlesex Joint Hospital Board, and occupied the chair of the Tottenham and Wood Green Burial Board. He was a delegate to the District Council's Association. It would be hard, in fact, to find any branch of public life that Mr. Cole did not participate in. He was for a long time Chairman of the Wood Green Education Committee, and was Chairman of the Council for one year, although he scarcely ever exercised his magisterial rights which the office bestowed upon him. He had his eye on Parliament in 1918, but stood aside for Mr. Godfrey Locker Lamson, of whom he was a supporter. At one time he was a member of the National Liberal Club, but gave it up during the war.

Mr. Cole's great war-time service was associated with the Edmonton Military Hospital. Despite opposition, he persuaded the Guardians to hand it over as a hospital, and he was from the first to last Chairman of the Hospital Committee. Very few will ever know the amount of hard work Mr. Cole put into this undertaking. It was in recognition of these services that he was decorated with the M.B.E., and as a further recognition, the Hospital will be strongly represented at the funeral today. The medical and nursing staffs, with a number of patients, will attend.

Apart from the official aspect of public life, Mr. Cole was a member of St. James's Presbyterian Church. One of his proudest boasts was that he was President for many years of the Canning Hall Adult School. He was also President of the Wood Green Horticultural Society, and the Wood Green Bowling Club, and had an interest in all kinds of recreation. He was very generous to the Wood Green Town Football Club in the old days when it used to play in a field opposite the potteries.

The funeral takes place today. There will be a service at St. James’ Presbyterian Church at 2.30, conducted by the Rev. E. Richie, and the interment will be at the Tottenham Cemetery at 3.30. It will be a military funeral (by virtue of Mr. Cole’s connection with the Military Hospital), with firing party, etc. Messrs Nodes of Wood Green and Palmers Green, are making the arrangements.

The funeral of E.G.Cole

The report of E.G.'s funeral gives an indication of how well he was regarded.

FUNERAL OF MR E.G..COLE

Tottenham Weekly Herald, July 2nd 1920

The funerals of few local public men have provoked such widespread manifestations of sympathy as were displayed on Friday, when the mortal remains of Councillor E. G. Cole were conveyed to their resting place at Tottenham Cemetery. St James's Presbyterian Church, Wood Green, where the service was held, was packed; the route to the cemetery was lined by thousands of onlookers, and the crowd around the grave was a very large one. Some time ago when Mr Cole and the Rev. Winston Haines were strolling round the cemetery, Mr. Cole remarked to his colleague, “That's the place for me – and you shall be my chaplain.” His two-fold wish was satisfied, for Mr. Haines took a prominent part in the service, the Rev. Ritchie sharing mournful duties.

The body was placed in an elm shell, enclosed in a panelled oak coffin, and the cortege consisted of a Victoria car, drawn by four black horses, a heavily laden floral car, six carriages for the family mourners, and numerous other carriages and motors conveying public men from the various bodies with which deceased was associated. During the service in the church, a Union Jack was removed from the pulpit and draped over the coffin. Mr Jas Crowley presided at the organ, and the special music included Mr. Cole’s favourite hymns, "Nearer my God to Thee" and "The Homeland".

The Rev. Winston Haines, in a feeling address, said Mr. Cole was born of humble, good, honest parents, and bred not in the lap of luxury and ease, but in a home of industry and frugality, and his character was shaped on the anvil of hard experience. The boy was truly the father of the man as they knew him. Beneath his feet no grass grew, nor did genuine distress ever appeal to him in vain; but the false and the fraudulent with scornful speech were sent often empty away. It had been said that a college education would have opened to him the doors to high places, and made him an influence and power colossal. It might have been so, but he through other results might have followed – the polishing away of those qualities which made him a great, strong, intensive man in his life’s work. His characteristics were duty, faith, love, service and sacrifice. They knew his strong and vigorous side best, as he was a strong man with a gentle soul. The whole district mourned to-day the loss of a truly great citizen.

The cortege to the cemetery was followed by the employees from the Potteries, a squad of nurses from the hospital, a company of wounded soldiers (who attended at their own request), members of the R.A.M.C., and various other bodies.

The ceremony closed with the sounding of the "Last Pos" by the buglers.

Besides the widow, Mr Sidney Cole (son) and the other family mourners, those present at the funeral included Cr. Tudor Rhys (Chairman of the Wood Green Council), Mr. W. P. Harding (Clerk) and Crs Bain, Irvine, Salt, Leake, Ricketts, Peasant, Erskine, James Brown, Mrs Bolster, Dr. Porter, the Rev. D. Stevens, Messrs. J. Rushforth, W. Raven, A. E. Adams, C. H. Croxford, H. Fowler, F. Deans (Wood Green Council officials). Mr David Weston (Chairman of the Edmonton Board of Guardians), Mrs Mason, Sadler Knight, Bangs and Metivier (Guardians), Mr. F. Shelton (Clerk of the Guardians), Master and Matron of the Enfield House, Mrs Benjafield, Col. Spencer Mort, Mr. A. J. Brown (representing the Wood Green Council outdoor employees, Mr W. H. Cruddas (representing Mr Locker-Lampson, M. P.), Dr Allan, the Rev.. C. G. A. Midwinter, Mr J. R. Spence (representing the Wood Green Bowling Club), Messrs E. G. Hayward, A. Hainsworth, H. Hext, G. T. Brown, W. J. Palmer, W. W. Lewin, W. F. Bradshaw, H. J. Rigden, W. Barrett, F. E. Morgan, J. Bruce and Percy Whellock.

Floral tributes were sent by the following: - The Widow, the Children Kath, Bert, Pat and Peggy; Bess, Bill and the Boys Syd, Jeanette and little Betty; Emmie and the Girls; Kit, Grace and Ethel Johnston; Grace and Alf; Major and Mrs. Batchelor Taylor; Mrs. Wansborough; Messrs. H. Evans and Sons, Wood Green P. S. A.; Mr. and Mrs. C. Grimes; Mr. and Mrs. S. Mummery; S. Pickett, Outdoor Workers of the Wood Green District Council; Mr. and Mrs Culpeck; Lieut-Col. and Mrs Spencer Mort; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest England; Mr. and Mrs John Cole and Family; Nurses Cole and Macleod; Mr. and Mrs. Jack England; Dr. A. G. Allan; Wood Green Education Committee; Mr. P. Whellock; Mr. Alfred Tooke; Mr. and Mrs. A. Horner; Edmonton Board of Guardians; Tottenham and Wood Green Burial Board; Mr. and Mrs. Roydon; Dr Gegerson; Mr. James Cole and Family; Fore Street Slate Club; Committee of Wood Green Horticultural Society; the Employees at the Pottery; Members of Wood Green District Council; Chief Officers and Staff at Town Hall Wood Green; Wood Green Bowling Club; the Caretakers of Wood Green Schools, Mr. and Mrs. Petts; Tottenham District Council and Tottenham and Wood Green Joint Drainage Committee; Mr. and Mrs. George Cramp; “76 Pellatt Grove”; Mrs. Samuel South and Family; H. Mordle and Sons; the employees of Messrs. South and Sons; Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Muskett; Mr. Mrs. and Miss Andrews; Mr. and Mrs. Hendry; London and South-Eastern Counties Pottery Manufacturers; Lady Clerks at Edmonton Military Hospital Stewards and Staff; Nursing Staff and Maids; R. A. M. C. Detachment Officers Mess; Mr. and Mrs. A. T. Ralstonu; Mr. F. E. Morgan; Bramley House Staff; Mr Wensbury; Wood Green Liberal Club; Frank W. Ladds; Mr. and Mrs. Bowerman; Mr. and Mrs. Wyett.

The arrangements for the funeral were carried out by Mr. C. B. Peters, of Messrs. Nodes, Ltd., and the cemetery arrangements were under the direction of Mr. Bird, the Superintendent who had lined the grave with laurels and white roses.

MESSAGE FROM THE QUEEN

Spencer Mort received the following message from the Queen's private secretary:

"I am commanded by the Queen to thank you for your telegram. The Queen would be glad if you will convey to Mrs. Cole an expression of her Majesty's deep sympathy with her and her children in the great loss which they have suffered through he death of Mr. E. G. Cole."


Looking for family graves in Tottenham Cemetery

Looking for family graves in Tottenham Cemetery. E.G. and his wife are on the left and his father John and family are on the left

The will of E.G.Cole

E.G's will was dated 1902, and much had changed by the time he died in 1920 - in particular, his son Edward was dead. Nevertheless, the will did faithfully reflect a man who had done well for himself and cared for his family.

Assets included the White Hart Lane Pottery (left to son Edward who had by then died); surrounding land (left to son Sidney); houses in Seaford Road, Carlingford Road and Northumberland Park, Tottenham (left to wife Elizabeth); a pottery in Arkley/Barnet (left to brother Thomas William); as well as personal effects and monies (left to Elizabeth). Note that the Tottenham Cole Pottery was referred to as the White Hart Lane Pottery, possibly to distinguish it from the other potteries that he owned.

E.G.'s stated intention was that Sidney was to rent his land back to Edward for pottery use and that Sidney and Edward should eventually become partners.

E.G.'s brother James was to be kept on at the pottery [as live-in manager] and 'pensioned off' at a time of his own choosing.


sources webmaster contact

what visitors say

cookie policy    privacy policy

Text and images are copyright

If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, please contact me.

facebook icon   linkedin icon