There are several members of the Ostler family buried at Mill Road Cemetery. Their grave/graves have not yet been identified and are now thought to be lost.
Parishes: Holy Trinity
Relationship: Husband, wife and daughter in law
Cordelia Ostler (née Copperwheat) (1846 – January 1917)
Cordelia was the daughter of Charles (1821-1893) and Hannah (née Read) (1820-1898) and was born in Heigham, Norfolk. Her father was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and she married decorator/paper hanger Charles Ostler on 21 July 1868 at Holy Trinity Church, Heigham. The couple had twelve children: Edith Ernestine Mary (1865-1933), Charles Copperwheat (18701-876), Violet Maud (1872-1876), Ernest Harry (1873-1960), Florence Fanny (1874-1959), Herbert Arthur (1876-1973), Charles Copperwheat (1877-1961), Victor Frederick (1878-1940), Maria Cordelia (1881-1928), Leonard Cyril Charles (1882-1969), Ethel Gertrude (1884-1943) and Frank Gordon (1885-1947).
They started married life living in Heigham, before moving to London, where they lived between at least 1878 and 1885. By 1901 they were living at 10 New Court, King Street with youngest sons Leonard and Frank.
The marriage was turbulant. In March 1891 Cordelia was living in Heighham, whilst Charles was working away in London. She was charged with attempting to commit suicide by taking poison. She was taken to hospital by Charles, and once there told the staff that she was anxious to be separated from him and ‘my husband has behaved badly for years, and I could not stand his treatment any longer, and that was the reason I took the poison’. Some weeks later Charles was charged with threatening Cordelia in the family home. He pleaded guilty and the court was told of the very violent and troubling incident, which several neighbous had tried to stop. Neighbour Caroline Belding said that Cordelia often stayed at her house, to escape from Charles. Charle’s solicitor said he was sorry and hoped for a fine. He was sent to prision for 14 days and granted a judicial separation. Charles was earning 27s per week, and was ordered to pay Cordelia 10s per week. The separation does not appear to have taken place.
Charles Ostler appeared before local magistrates several times – in July 1903 he was summonsed for using bad language in King Street. He ‘seemed somewhat confused’ in court and whilst initially pleading guilty, then withdrew his plea. PC Waylett read out the evidence and Charles was fined 5s. In June 1904 he was charged with being drunk and disorderly and resisting the police. He was fined a total of 15s for the two offences. In February 1905 he was fined 5s for being found drunk in King Street and breaking a window in Sussex Street ‘by falling into it whilst intoxicated’. In May 1907 he was summonsed for ‘being drunk on the highway in King Street’ – PC Symonds stated ‘that the defendant had rolled against the window and smashed it. He was helplessly drunk’ – he was fined 2s, 6d and costs.
In September 1913 Cordelia was arrested for attemping suicide. She was rescued from the River Cam, near Trinity Boathouse and told her rescuers that ‘I was going to drown myself. My husband told me to do so becuase no one wanted me, no one cared for me’. When she was arrested Cordelia had asked the judge not to let her go home to her husband again, saying ‘I am not going back any more. I would sooner go to gaol’. Charles Ostler told the court that they had been married for 44 years and that for the last year Cordelia had begun ‘these tricks’ after a foot operation the previous year. When asked to explain what he meant by ‘tricks’ he said that Cordelia had started to drink ‘so that she could hardly crawl home’. He also said she pawned most of the family possessions in order to get hold of money to spend on alcohol. They had argued shortly before she went to the Cam over the size of a pudding she had cooked him – he had said she was lazy and ought to be ashamed of herself. She had replied that ‘she would not trouble him when she got her old age pension’. Charles had then said that ‘you may as well go and drown yourself for what good you are’ – but claimed he had no idea that she would carry this through. Cordelia was remanded for a week, and discharged with a caution. The Cambridge Independent Press reported that ‘her husband promised to take her back again and do what he could for her’.
Cordelia Ostler died at 10 New Court aged 70 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 11 January.
Charles Henry Ostler (29 August 1847 – 9 November 1923)
Charles was born in Norwich, the eldest son of John (1824-1909) and Hannah (née Crowfoot)(1823-1876). He was baptised at St. Peter Mancroft Church on 3 October 1846 and grew up in Heigham where his father worked as a paper hanger. He married Cordelia Copperwheat when he was 20 years old and died at Wray’s Court, King Street aged 76 years old after ‘a long illness’. His funeral was held on 12 November and was attended by many of his children and grandchildren. By the time Charles died five of the Ostler children were living in Canada. The Saffron Walden Weekly News reported his funeral and said he was ‘a well known and respected decorator and his very familiar figures will be greatly missed’.
Caroline Georgiana Ostler (née Hudson) (28 June 1884 – October 1918)
Caroline was born in Tamil Nadu, India and baptised there on 19 July 1884. Although she was baptised with the middle name Georgiana, she appears to have used the middle name of Mary. Caroline was the daughter of James and Charlotte Henrietta Hudson and she married Ernest Harry Ostler (known as Jack) (1873-1960) in India on 6 October 1902. Jack was a Sergeant with the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, serving from January 1893 – January 1914. The couple had four children: Victor Herbert (1904-1980), Queenie Lilian (known as Lily) (1906-1995), Ernest Harry (known as Harry) (1910-2001) and another who died at birth. Victor and Harry were born in India.
Jack Ostler was discharged from the army in January 1914, but was called up in September of the same year to serve in World War One. The family had settled in London, and he had been working as a time checker. Caroline died of influenza at 10 New Court, King Street, the home of her parents in law. She was 34 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 2 November 1918.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]
With many thanks to the family (B.Ostler) for permission to use the family photograph on this website