CFHS code : AL46
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of JOHN WILLIAM COLE d April 29th 1911 aged 64 also EMILY LOUISA daughter of the above d Aug 14th 1886 aged 10 months also LOUISA wife of the above d Jan 18 1919 aged 78
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.204104, 0.13774799 – click here for location
Monument
Located midway between the path that leads to the north gate and the north wall. The headstone has started to crumble and the inscription is very eroded..
Inscription
In Loving Memory of JOHN WILLIAM COLE died April 29th 1911 aged 64 years
Also EMILY LOUISA daughter of the above died Aug 14th 1886 aged 10 months
Also LOUISA wife of the above died Jan 18 1919 aged 78 years
John William Cole (1846 – 29 April 1911)
John was born in the village of Kirtling, south east of Newmarket and was baptised there on 4 October 1846. He was the son of bricklayer John Cole and his wife Mary and grew up on the Green in Kirtling. John trained as a stonemason and married widow Louisa Godlington on 13 December 1876 at St. Mary’s Church, Battersea. Louisa had two sons from her first marriage and the couple had a further five children together: Annie Mary (1876-1950), Edith Reeder (1879-1967), Francis Ernest (known as Frank) (1881-), Percy John Shanks (1884-1978) and Emily Louisa (1885-1886). In 1881 John was running the Baker’s Arms pub, at 176-177 East Road and ran that until at least 1891. He continued to work as a stone mason and advertised in local newspapers ‘John W. Cole, Monumental Mason, monuments, tombs, gravestones, wall tablets and chimney pieces executed in stone, marble, granite and slate, imperishable lead letters. Brick graves and vaults on the shortest notice. Old tombs restored, estimated given for all kinds of stone work. Designs sent on application’.
By 1901 the family lived at 26 Portugal Street, where Louisa ran a Lodging House. In 1911 Louisa was running at University Lodging House at 54 Sidney Street, and John was documented as a superintendant stonemason. He died at Sidney Street and his funeral was held on 2 May.
Emily Louisa Cole (1885 – 14 August 1886)
Emily died at the Bakers Arms and her funeral was held on 17 August 1886.
Louisa Cole (née Cracknell) (1840 – 18 January 1919)
Louisa was born in Withersfield, near Haverhill, the daughter of Charles and Sarah (née Shanks). She was baptised there on 13 December 1840 and grew up at Gold Green, Withersfield where her father was a general dealer. She married James Godlington (1837-1876) at Christchurch, Cambridge on 22 September 1862 and they had at least two sons: William (1868-) and James Arthur (1871-). James (Snr) was a butcher, who also ran the Baker’s Arms on East Road and he died aged 39 years old. She married John Cole, three months after James’ death. After she was widowed for a second time she moved to live at Barry Villa, 32 Blinco Grove with eldest daughter Annie (at least 1914 onwards). Louisa died at home and her funeral was held on 23 January at St. John’s Church, Hills Road. The Master of Sidney Sussex College was ‘inavoidably prevented from attending’ and a bunch of laurels from Louisa’s garden was placed on the coffin as it was lowered in the grave. There were many wreaths, one of which read ‘to a self-sacrficing mother, from her loving childen, Annie, Frank and Percy’.
Louisa’s first husband James Godlington, died at East Road aged 39 years old and was buried in the St. Andrew the Less area of Mill Road Cemetery on 14 September 1876. His grave has not yet been identified.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]