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Reedman ancestry and the Cole connection in bricks and pots

Reedman ancestry in England and Australia

This page on the ancestry of the Reedman family in England and Australia shows how pottery and brickmaking permeated their lives in both countries. The Reedman/Cole connection comes from the Reedman marriage to a daughter of the founder of the Tottenham Cole Pottery. The marriage was so valued by the English family that the Reedman name was perpetuated in the name given to the founder's final child.

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by Bruce Bennett, a Reedman descendant and reseacher

Reedman ancestry in England

William Reedman and his young family moved from Cambridgeshire to Hackney between 1807 and 1810 to work at the early days of Rhodes Tile Kilns at Haggerston in St Leonard’s Shoreditch. This tile kilns was established in 1802 by William Rhodes, the grandfather of the Cecil Rhodes, financier, statesman, and empire builder of British South Africa, who owned the estate called Tile Kiln and Cold Harbour in Haggerston, near Hackney Road. The estate was probably near the present Tuilerie Street, Tuilerie being the French for Tile Kiln.

map showing Hackney Road, 1826

Hackney Road, detail of 1826 Cruchly map, courtesy of London Metropolitan Museum.
Rhodes tile kilns are in the centre of this map.

There is a record of this tile kilns in an 1822 advertisement which is interesting because it shows that the products were based on concrete which it called 'Roman cement' rather than on clay which it just called 'red ones' : The advertisment stated, 'The best and cheapest to be had at the manufactory, Tile Kilns, Hackney Road, cement chimney pots of superior manufacture, as cheap as red ones.'

Rhodes sold off the land in the early 1840s and closed the tile kilns.

John Reedman (1803-1886)

John Reedman, the son of the above William Reedman and the father of the John Edward Reedman of the South Australian Brickworks, was baptised on 6th March 1803 at Bourne, Cambridgeshire, the son of William Reedman and Catherine Farrington.

He appears to have moved to Middlesex quite early in life.

They were at Tottenham in 1832 and at Shoreditch in 1838, when John was a labourer of 8 Tile Kilns Gallery, Hackney Road. This was not the Tile Kilns worked by the Coles, but it does indicate his background in pottery. In fact, John remained in the pottery industry all his life, moving about with his wife and children in connection with his work.

In the 1841 census of Shoreditch, John was at at 8 Tile Kilns Road age 35 with Sarah 40, Mary 10, Edward 10, Elizabeth 5, Sarah 3 and Caroline 12 months. In the early 1840s when Rhodes sold up, John Reedman moved from Hackney to Randell’s tile kilns in Maiden Lane, now York Road.

There is also an image of the area of Maiden Lane in 1851 and the nearby kilns on the early brickworks page.

In the 1851 census, John was a labourer at Randall’s Tile Kilns, living amongst potters and tile makers at 5 Randall Tile kilns.

Adam's tile-kiln Maiden Lane

The tile kilns in Maiden Lane (now York Road), owned by Ralph Adams.

This watercolour is by the amateur artist, Miss Row, who lived in Cloudesley Square, Islington and would therefore have been in a good position to view the construction work taking place. [The London Museum]

There is also an 1851 image of the area of Maiden Lane and the nearby kilns on the early brickworks page.

In the 1861 census, John was a tile burner 58 living in Adams Road Islington St Mary. Adams's tile kilns or a predecessor was at Belle Isle by 1810, making garden and chimney pots.

In the 1871 censi, John Reidman (sic), 68 was a labourer from Bourne living at Adams Cottages.

In the 1881 census, John was still at Adam's Potteries, working at working as a brick kiln burner and journeyman (travelling salesman) and living in Brewery Road.

Sarah died at 56 Brewery Road Islington on 25 April 1886 aged 84.

John died 29th December 1890 aged 88 at the Islington Infirmary.

John Reedman, courtesy of Bruce Bennett

John Reedman

John and Sarah Reedman with a granddaugher

John and Sarah Reedman with a granddaughter

Edward Reedman and the Reedman/Cole connection

Edward Reedman, the eldest son of John Reedman, was baptised at Tottenham, Middlesex on 3 January 1832, and it is surprising that he doesn't appear in the census information for his father. Growing up, the family involvement in pottery must have rubbed off on him.

Edward was a farm labourer when, on 6 February 1853 he married Mary Ann Cole, the eldest daughter of the well-to-do potter, John Cole of Edmonton, at Edmonton Parish Church when Mary was still just eighteen.

John Cole decided to commemorate the new Reedman couple by giving the Reedman middle name to his last child. That child became James Reedman Cole and lived to become the live-in manager of the Cole Pottery in Tottenham.

The Reedmans in Australia

A few years after their marriage, Edward and Mary Ann decided to try their fortunes in the antipodies. They sailed for South Australia on the Monsoon, leaving England on 7 November 1856 and arriving at the Semaphore on 5 March 1857.

At this stage, all they owned of any value was a bullock wagon. On landing, Edward carried his wife ashore. They walked to Port Adelaide, then went farming on the Bremer River, Mt. Barker. However, the results were poor, and after a trial of twelve months they returned to Adelaide.

Edward was then employed as a brickmaker for Messrs. G. & J. Cox of Norwood. This was yet another link with the English Cole family - see the Cox/Cole connection on the Australian Brickworks page.

Edward stayed about four years with Messrs. G. & J. Cox. Then he entered into partnership with George Cox and they started making bricks at Tanundra. It was there that the well known cricketer and footballer Jack Reedman was born.

Two years later Edward and his family returned again to Adelaide where he settled as a brickmaker and carter in Gilberton. He stayed there for forty years.

By 1895 Edward had become a contractor, and rented the brickworks at Gilberton to George Mellowship.

In December 1895 came a memorable experience. William Gay who had been employed there for about three months, was engaged in undermining a bank with a view to letting down a large quantity of clay. He had been engaged in similar work before and it was dangerous. As a rule they carried the excavation as far as possible to save labour. The bank on which the deceased was working was more treacherous than usual, as it was an old working, and through exposure to the atmosphere was more friable. George Mellowship was watching to give warning when the bank should fall, and William Gay was tunelling. When George called out "Look out, Billy" the deceased immediately left his work and ran, but he fell and the bank of clay fell on him.[Chronicle, 21 Dec 1895] Edward John Reedman, the owner of the brickyard, assisted in releasing Gay from the fall of clay, stated he had had about fifty years' experience in brickyard and had always undermined his bank in working for clay.

On 8 February 1913 Edward and Mary Ann celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary.

Edward would still would tease his wife on occasion by calling her "Colley-Coley" because of her parental surnames.

On 8 February 1913 Mary Ann and Edward Reedman celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. They had the following children:

Mary Ann Reedman (née Cole) and Edward Reedman

Mary Ann Reedman (née Cole) and Edward Reedman

On 16 February 1917, a colonist of 65 Years, Edward died at his home in Gilbert Street, Gilberton. He was 85 and left seven living children.

Mary Ann died seventeen years after her husband, on 30 July 1927 aged 92, at Gilberton where she was widely known for her kindly disposition. One of her chief pleasures in life was to visit the sick and sorrowful, and help those in trouble. She was a constant visitor to the Cottage Homes at Stanley Street, for fifty years, where she was generally known as "mother". For 52 years she regularly attended meetings at the Congregational Church and always dressed in cap and black dress.


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