CFHS code : AG339
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Loving Memory of our dear parents ESTHER COULSON d 17.5.1917 aged 67 THOMAS COULSON d Jan 24 1918 aged 78 also of ESTHER BEVIS our dear sister d 30.5.1934 aged 60 also of MARGUERITE our dear sister d 26.9.1924 aged 39
Monument : Stone cross/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.203155, 0.13656088 – click here for location
Monument
Inscription
east face
In Loving Memory of our dear parents ESTHER COULSON who died May 17. 1917 aged 67 years
other faces
THOMAS COULSON d Jan 24 1918 aged 78
Also of ESTHER BEVIS our dear sister d 30.5.1934 aged 60
Also of MARGUERITE our dear sister d 26.9.1924 aged 39
Esther Coulson (née Bevis) (1849 – 17 May 1917)
Esther was the daughter of agricultural labourer Edmund Bevis and Elizabeth, sister of Thomas and was born in Swanton Morley, Norfolk. She was baptised on 5 August 1849 and married Thomas Coulson in Cambridge in 1870. Thomas was a baker, and in 1871 the couple were living at 28 Clarendon Street, where he employed one boy in his business. By 1881 he had gone into business with Esther’s brother Thomas, and the bakery Bevis & Coulson was based at 28 Clarendon Street. Thomas and Esther meanwhile had relocated to 16 Clarendon Street, where he was noted as being a baker/publican.
The couple had six children: Esther Bevis (1873-1934), Lillie (1880-1963), Marguerite (1885-1924), Thomas Reginald Edmund (1887-1956), Mary Eleanor (1895-1990) and one more child who died as an infant. They lived at 16 Clarendon Street until at least 1891, and then moved to 13 Parkside. Esther died at home ‘after a long illness’ and her funeral was held on 21 May. A service was held at St. Andrew the Great Church, before interment, where the hymns sung were: ‘For all the saints who from their labours rest’ and ‘How bright these glorious spirits shine’. Thomas left a wreath which read ‘in loving memory of the sweetest and most devoted wife and mother’.
Thomas Coulson (1839 – 24 January 1918)
Thomas was the son of Thomas and Susan (née Allensby) and brother of Elizabeth. He was baptised on 14 August 1847 and grew up at Northampton Street, where his father was a journeyman baker. Aged 18, Thomas joined the Merchant Navy, where it was said he visited ‘most parts of the world’. He returned to Cambridge c.1868 where he was a baker and was in partnership with his brother in law Thomas Bevis (who had married his sister Elizabeth).
In April 1882 Thomas and his business partner Thomas Bevis were summonsed for selling bread of the incorrect weight. Joseph Wright, the inspector of weights and measures had weighed various loaves and found them varying in weight. The bakers defense was that some of the loaves were ‘fancy’ loaves and therefore exempt from being a certain weight, but the Mayor rejected this and fined the men 20s and costs. In April 1896 Thomas Coulson and Thomas Bevis were again summonsed ‘to recover the apportionment due from them to the Corporation of the amount expended in making up Great Eastern Street’. The men were ordered to pay the outstanding amount of £14, and 2s, with interest of 5% to accrue if not paid.
Thomas was a Conservative councillor, representing St. Andrew’s ward from 1889 to 1913, when he was made an Alderman. He was a member of the Board of Guardians and was said to have been instrumental in the founding of the Salisbury Club, Mill Road, where he was President. He was said to be an untiring worker for the Conservatives and his ‘energy at election times being unsurpassed by any, whether friends or opponents’. He was also a ‘loyal churchman and acted as a sidesman at Great St. Andrews’, as well as a director of the Sawston Parchment Co, the Improved Industrial Dwellings and the Romsey Town Cement Works. He was also a keen gardener and served as President of the Mill Road Horticultural Society for 18 years.
Thomas died at home aged 78 years old, and newspapers reported he ‘had been in very indifferent health for some time and during the past few weeks he had been confined to the house. The death of his wife about six months ago came as a heavy blow and since then he gradually got more frail, his death being not unexpected’. His funeral was held at St. Andrew the Great on 28 January and was attended by many of the town’s prominent inhabitants: ‘the Mayor and Corporation assembled at the Guildhall and marched in procession to the church, headed by the Mace Bearer (Mr W.G. Robinson) carrying the Great Mace, draped in crepe and took their seats before the funeral procession arrived’.
His obituary reported ‘many and excellent were the stories that Ald. Coulson could tell of his adventures and experiences while in the merchant service. He could relate some stirring tales of visits to New Zealand during a Maori War and he always found a ready audience when inclined for a talk. He will be greatly missed in Cambridge in general, and in Romsey Town in particular’ and ‘he always displayed the highest sense of duty in his performance of public work and earned the esteem, affection and goodwill of all who knew him. He was of a most kindly and amiable disposition, which qualities however, did not prevent him being a keen fighter for any causes which he upheld’.
Esther Bevis Coulson (1873 – 30 May 1934)
Esther was the eldest daughter of Esther and Thomas. She lived in Cambridge after her parents death, but moved to live at the White House, Buckingham, where her brother Thomas had a bakery in the town. She died in Buckingham
Marguerite Coulson (1885 – 26 September 1924)
Marguerite attended Cambridge Technical Institute and in 1900 was wated Stage 1 in Mathematics (1st Class). In 1911 she was working as a secretary and living with her parents and sisters at Parkside. Her death was registered in Linton, she was 39 years old.
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