CFHS code : AG335
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Memory of JOHN NOBLE COWARD son of T COWARD Esq MA b May 30 1850 d July 11 1871
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.203192, 0.13647487 – click here for location
Monument
Headstone, with a cross and leaves in a trefoil. In the parish area of St Andrew the Great, this grave is located against the west wall close to the boundary with the St Edward area.
Inscription
‘In memory of John Noble Coward
student of Queens’ College
son of T. Coward Esq MA
born May 30 1850
died July 11 1871′
John Noble Coward (1850-71)
John was the son of Thomas Coward (1808 – 1877) and Alice (née Holford) (1810-1859) and grew up at New Square, Cambridge. His father was a Queen’s College graduate and private tutor, as well as being an academic author, landlord and local Councillor. John attended the Perse School and then went up to Queen’s College in October 1869 to study medicine. in September 1862, aged 12 he won the juvenile mile race in a time of 5m 55s, at a meet held by The Cambridgeshire Amateur Foot races and Athletic Sports at Fenner’s Ground. Newspapers reported ‘The winner was Master Coward, who ran in a graceful and easy style’. In the ‘Freshman’s Sports’ held in November 1869 at Fenner’s, he entered a number of races, and was second in the Quarter Mile in a tight run race. He was also a keen swimmer and member of the Cambridge University Swimming Committee. At the swim races held in June 1871 he was 2nd in the Quarter mile race in a time of 9 minutes, 10 seconds, and 2nd in the ‘running headers’.
He died at New Square of Typhoid fever and his funeral was held on 15 July where ‘members of Queens’ College who are in residence propose with a number of his old school fellows and others to join the funeral procession at the Cemetery gates to pay the last rites of friendship to deceased’. The Cambridge Independent Press printed a short obituary where they noted ‘the early death of Mr. Coward will be deeply regretted as he was a fine athletic young fellow, well and creditably known of Fenner’s Ground, on the Cam and at the University swimming shed. The plucky and disinterested way in which he dived into the Cam after the last martyr to canoe paddling on the Granta will be remembered’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Cambridge University Alumni Database
by Claire Martinsen