1916-1926

The Cowling Family

Frederick Cowling had married Susannah Elizabeth Gutteridge on 6^th June 1894 at St. Mary de Castro Church, Leicester.

Frederick Cowling was born 18^th March 1868 at Easingwold, Yorkshire. He was the eldest son of a tailor and had six brothers and two sisters. Whilst at least two of Frederick’s brothers went into the family tailoring business, Frederick and his younger brother Thomas went into teaching¹. By the end of 1891, Frederick had moved to Leicester to take a position as a teacher at Alderman Newton’s Boys’ School².

Suzannah Elizabeth Gutteridge was born 4^th January 1871 at Leicester. Her father, Jabez Gutteridge, started his adult life as a publican³ but went on to establish a cab business⁴. Suzannah had four brothers and two sisters. All of her brothers went into the family cab business, which seems to have specialised in furniture removing⁵ and later evolved into undertakers’ businesses⁶ including, following the marriage of Elizabeth’s brother William to Florence Emily Ginns, the formation of local firm Ginns & Gutteridge⁷. Prior to her marriage to Frederick, Susannah appears to have become a dressmaker whilst her two sisters went into teaching⁸ and one of which, her older sister Alice Matilda, married into a family of Leicester school teachers⁹.

Frederick and Susannah’s marriage certificate records that they were both living at 62 Great Holme Street at the time of their wedding¹⁰. In 1895, however, Frederick was appointed Headmaster of the science school in Clay Lane, Clay Cross, Derbyshire¹¹, and the Cowlings remained in Clay Cross¹² until they returned to Leicester, following the purchase of 141 Upperton Road, in 1916.

Frederick and Susannah had three children: Robert Gutteridge Cowling (b. 20^th February 1896¹³); Margherita Alice Julia Cowling (b. 24^th July 1899¹⁴); and Susan Kathleen Cowling (b. 18^th November 1902¹⁵). Although all three children appear to have been born in Clay Cross, they were each baptised at St. Peter’s Church, Belgrave, Leicester¹⁶.

Some of Frederick’s work at the Clay Cross school is recorded in a number of local newspaper articles over the late 1890s and early 1900s. The local newspapers also record Frederick’s involvement in local political affairs and in meetings debating the wider social and political issues of the day. From at least 1905 Frederick was an elected member of the Clay Cross Urban District Council. See APPENDIX A for further details.

Susannah’s father, Jabez Gutteridge, died in the Spring of 1910. His last Will and Testament, made on 5^th January that year, provided for his widow Julia Gutteridge to be endowed with a weekly income from the rent of a property in Abbey Lane and for that property to be sold (and the proceeds distributed equally amongst his children) upon her death. It also provided for 209 Loughborough Road and 72 Belgrave Road to be rented to his sons at annual rents of £30 and £10 respectively in order to pay-off a mortgage on 209 Loughborough Road, and upon that achievement for both of those properties to also be sold (and, again, for the proceeds to be distributed equally amongst his children). Julia Gutteridge died in 1913.

Britain declared war with Germany on 4^th August 1914. Frederick and Susannah’s son Robert enlisted (Regimental No. 2409) to the army at the Magazine, Leicester, on 31^st August 1914. He was assigned to the fourth battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment, part of the Territorial Force. His medical card records that he was 18 years, 6 months and 11 days old on the day of enlisting, that he was 5ft 8 inches in height and weighed 10 stone and 9 pounds. The records also reveal that he had a tattoo on his left arm and that he was an apprentice in the boots and shoes trade.

Robert’s war record shows that he was posted to France on 25^th June 1915 and that he was promoted from Private to Lance Corporal on 9^th August 1915. He was wounded and admitted to ambulance at Fonquieres on 14^th October 1915 and died of his wounds at 7.25am on 15^th October 1915. He was posthumously awarded the Star British War Victory Medal.

His death was reported in several local newspapers (see APPENDIX B for further details) and included the following photograph published in the Derbyshire Courier on Saturday 23rd October 1915:

A War Office file note of 7^th February 1916 states that any personal possessions of Lance Corporal Robert Cowling are to be dispatched to Mr. F. Cowling at Brinsley House, Clay Cross. The file also holds a handwritten letter from Frederick dated 21^st February and written at Brinsley House, Clay Cross:

Sadly, there is no record of whether the letter book referred to was ever recovered and returned to the family. A later file note, dated 15^th September 1919, updates that address to which any personal possessions should be dispatched to 141 Upperton Road, Leicester. And a further file note, signed by the family in the presence of Robert B. Disney M.A., at Belgrave Vicarage, and dated 15^th December 1919, records Frederick, Susannah, Marjorie and Kathleen as Robert’s living relatives for the purposes of the disposal of plaque and scroll in commemoration of the deceased.

Roberts remains are laid to rest at Sailly Labourse Communal Cemetery in France. He is remembered, along with other family members lost during World War 1, on the headstone of his grandparent’s grave and on a wall-mounted plaque inside St. John the Baptist Church at Easingwold, Yorkshire, on the Clay Cross war memorial, and on the headstone of his parents’ grave at Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester.

Frederick would have been 46 at the beginning of World War 1. The National Union of Teachers War Record includes Frederick’s name in its list of teachers who joined the forces (Derbyshire East) but I have found no further details. The British Army, British Red Cross Society Volunteers 1914-1918 documents Susannah’s contribution, from August 2014 to July 1916 in the Clay Cross Alfreton division, providing home worker, knitting, needlework and war hospital supplies services. Again however I have found no further details.

The Cowlings’ Clay Cross home, Brinsley House, was sold by auction on 19^th June 1917 for the sum of £410¹⁷. The sale was preceded by Frederick’s resignation from his post as headmaster at Clay Cross School as reported in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph on 8^th June 1917:

The 1921 Census finds Frederick and Susannah Cowling on holiday at St. Edmunds Boarding House in Hunstanton, Norfolk. Frederick is recorded as a retired secondary school headmaster. Meanwhile their eldest daughter, Margherita Cowling, was recorded by the Census as living with her uncle and aunt Harry & Alice Mason and their daughters at 191 Loughborough Road, Leicester, and working as a teacher at Lansdowne Road Council School¹⁸. The 1921 Census finds Frederick and Susannah’s youngest daughter, Susan Cowling, boarding at St. Wilfred’s School & Convent in Cale Street, Chelsea. In common with many of her fellow boarders, Susan Cowling is recorded as a physical culture student at the Polytechnic Institute Chelsea S.W.¹⁹.

On 30^th August 1924 Frederick Cowling was named in a public notice in the Leicester Mail as one of many allotment holders of the Braunstone Avenue Allotments Society, on land owned by Westcotes Estates Limited, the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order²⁰.

On 2^nd February 1926 an advert appeared in the Leicester Daily Mercury for the sale of a pleasantly situated two storey house on Upperton Road, for £899. The Cowlings were to leave 141 Upperton Road later in 1926, but it cannot be known for certain that this advert was for the sale of 141 or another house on the road:

On 27^th March 1926 Frederick and Susannah’s eldest daughter, Marguerita got married^21&22. The occasion was reported in the Leicester Evening Mail:

The Cowlings left 141 Upperton Road before the end of 1926, moving first to Dalby Avenue in Bushby²³ from where, in 1928, their younger daughter Susan Kathleen got married^24&25. Although the wedding took place at Thurnby and it was by now twelve years since the family had moved away from Clay Cross, the occasion was nonetheless reported in the Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald:

Frederick and Susannah Cowling subsequently returned to Leicester, principally 348 Hinckley Road²⁶, where they remained for the rest of Frederick’s life. Frederick died on 2^nd November 1947²⁷, aged 79. His death was reported in the Leicester Evening Mail:

Susannah died on 28^th November 1952²⁸, aged 81, by which time her home address was 11 Ainsdale Road, Leicester. Frederick and Susannah, along with their son Robert, are remembered on the headstone of a grave at Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester²⁹.

Marguerita Wright died 25^th February 1966³⁰, aged 67. Her probate record reveals that her sister Susan Kathleen Anderson was still alive, but widowed. Susan may have lived on until 2004³¹ (age 102).

Interior Decor 1926-1926

Vestibule:

Hall: white zinc enamel skirting; cream zinc door architrave, picture rail and overdoor; varnished ‘sanitary’ wallpaper.

Front Room: cream zinc skirting and picture rail; ochre zinc architrave and walls; other features unknown.

Back Room: white zinc enamel skirting, picture rail and doors; walls/other features unknown.

Kitchen: brown zinc pantry door; walls/other features unknown.

Landing:

Front Bedroom:

Back Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Rearmost Bedroom:

Attic Room:

Footnotes

1. The 1891 Census finds Frederick still residing at his parental home in Easingwold but employed as a teacher. ↩︎
2. The History of Alderman Newton’s Boy’s School, Leicester, 1836-1914 (I.A.W. Place), page 38. ↩︎
3. The 1871 Census finds the Gutteridge family living at 2 Bath Lane, Leicester, and Jabez’s occupation is recorded as publican of the Bow Bridge Inn. ↩︎
4. By the time of the 1881 Census the family had moved to 23 Kate Street, Leicester, and Jabez’s occupation was recorded as a cab proprietor. They were still at 23 Kate Street with the cab business in 1891, but the 1901 Census finds the family and business relocated to 209 Loughborough Road, Leicester. ↩︎
5. Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1880 and C. N. Wright’s Directory of Leicester, 1885 both record Jabez Gutteridge of 23 Kate Street as cab proprietor and furniture remover. ↩︎
6. By 1900 the Gutteridge family business had premises at 72 Belgrave Road aswell as 209 Loughborough Road, but the trade directories of 1900, 1904 and 1906 still listed ‘Gutteridge’s cab proprieters & furniture removers’ (C. N. Wright’s Directory of Leicester, 1900 and 1906; Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1904). From 1916 trade directories listed Isaac Gutteridge (one of Susannah’s brothers) as undertaker of 70 & 72 Belgrave Road (Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1916, 1922 and 1925) and after 1916 the premises at 209 Loughborough Road had changed hands. ↩︎
7. William Gutteridge of 209 Loughborough Road married Florence Emily Ginns of 109 Loughborough Road on 12^th February 1911 at St. Peter’s Church. The marriage certificate reveals that Florence was a widow and that her father, Arthur Cambers, was a hackmaster. Florence already had two children, Ann (b.1907) and Frank (b.1908) Ginns. It appears that the Ginns family were already well-established as undertakers  – an advertisement in C. N. Wright’s Directory of Leicester, 1906, refers to addresses at 98 Highcross Street and 18 St. Nicholas Street. The 1911 Census finds newly-wed William and Florence Gutteridge, with children Ann and Frank Ginns and Florence’s father Arthur Cambers, living at 98 Highcross Street. William’s occupation is recorded as a funeral director and Florence is recorded as ‘assisting in the business’. Kelly’s Directory of Leicestershire and Rutland, 1922, shows the firm of Ginns & Gutteridge continuing to operate from 98 Highcross Street and 18 St. Nicholas Street. ↩︎
8. The 1891 Census finds Susannah and Alice Matlida living with their aunt and uncle in Kegworth. Susannah’s occupation is recorded as a dressmaker and Alice’s as an assistant schoolmistress. Meanwhile, also in 1891, younger sister Clara is resident at the Gutteridge family home, then still 23 Kate Street, and her occupation is recorded as a board school teacher. ↩︎
9. Alice Matilda Gutteridge married Harry Mason at St Mary de Castro Leicester 24^th July 1894, just weeks after Susannah had married Frederick Cowling at the same church. Harry Mason’s occupation is recorded on the marriage certificate as a school master, and his father Harry Mason senior was also recorded as a school master. At the time of the 1891 Census Harry Mason junior was living with his parental family at 5 New Bridge Street, Leicester. Harry, his father and two sisters were all recorded as being board school teachers. ↩︎
10. As were Alice and Harry at the time of theirs (see previous footnote). ↩︎
11. Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald 29 March 1935 ‘NEW CLAY CROSS SECONDARY SCHOOL STONE-LAYING CEREMONY NEXT WEDNESDAY’. ↩︎
12. The 1901 Census finds the Cowlings living at a house in Flaxpiece Road, Clay Cross. The 1911 Census records them in Commonpiece Road. In both censuses no house name or number is specified. A 1916 letter from Frederick Cowling to the War Office, following the death in World War 1 of their son Robert, is addressed as Brinsley House, Clay Cross. ↩︎
13. Birth date calculated from World War 1 records. ↩︎
14. Birth date taken from the 1939 Register. ↩︎
15. Birth date taken from National School Admissions Registers and Log Books 1870-1914. ↩︎
16. Robert on 26^th January 1896; Marguerita on 11^th January 1901; and Susan on 30^th August 1903. ↩︎
17. As reported in the Derbyshire Courier, 23^rd June 1917, and the Belper News, 29^th June 1917. ↩︎
18. This was a household of teachers: Harry Mason is recorded as schoolmaster at Moat Road Council School and his eldest daughter Phyllis Mason was recorded as a teacher at Harrison Road Council School. ↩︎
19. More information about the history of the Institute can be found here: https://kingscollections.org/exhibitions/archives/studentdays/chelsea-college/chelsea-college-through-the-years/south-western-polytechnic-insititute-1895-1922 and here: https://kingscollections.org/exhibitions/archives/studentdays/chelsea-college/chelsea-college-through-the-years/chelsea-polytechnic-1922-1956 ↩︎
20. The public notice was made under The Housing Acts, 1890 to 1924, and is described as a compulsory acquisition of land for housing purposes. As the landholding refers to allotment gardens at Braunstone Avenue I assume this was an acquisition by Leicester Corporation for the construction of the Braunstone Estate. ↩︎
21. The wedding took place at the Church of the Martyrs in nearby Westcotes Drive. The marriage certificate records Marguerita’s address as 141 Upperton Road and the groom was  Ernest Marlow Wright, a clerk, of 186 Hinckley Road. ↩︎
22. The 1925 electoral register records Ernest Marlow Wright first living with his parents at 186 Hinckley Road, and then alone at 29 Upper King Street. The 1929 and 1930 electoral register records Ernest and Marguerita both at that address. By the time of the 1939 Register, Ernest and (now) Margaret Wright were living at 24 Eastfield Road, Leicester, and Ernest’s occupation was recorded as a leather manufacturer. I have not found any evidence that Ernest and Marguerita produced any children. ↩︎
23. The electoral register for 1927 finds Frederick and Susannah at a dwelling called ‘Rorolanda’, Dalby Avenue, in the Parish of Bushby, Leicestershire. The electoral register records them there again in 1932. ↩︎
24. The wedding took place on 5th April 1928 at Thurnby Parish Church. The marriage certificate records Susan Kathleen’s address simply as Bushby and the groom was George William Anderson of Redrow, Morpeth. ↩︎
25. The 1928 electoral register finds newly married George William and Susan Kathleen Anderson living at 46 Kirkstall Mount, Bramley, Leeds. Records suggest that they may have had two children: Robert J Anderson (b. 1931, Leeds); and Judith M Anderson (b. 1933, Norwich). The next available record is the 1939 Register, by which time (now) Kathleen Anderson is found residing with her Uncle Henry at 57 Chapel Street, Easingwold, Yorkshire. As well as her Uncle Henry, also residing at the address is a housekeeper, one other resident (redacted but I presume to be Robert J Anderson ) and Judith Anderson. Kathleen’s marital status is recorded as married, but I am unable to pinpoint George William Anderson on the register. ↩︎
26. The 1939 Register shows Frederick Cowling (retired school master) and Susannah E Cowling (unpaid domestic duties) at 348 Hinckley Road, Leicester. ↩︎
27. Frederick Cowling of 348 Hinckley Road, Leicester, died 2^nd November 1947. Probate Leicester 21^st January to Marguerita Alice Julia Wright (wife of Ernest Marlow Wright). Effects £4,435 17s 1d. ↩︎
28. Susannah Elizabeth Cowling of 11 Ainsdale Road, Leicester, widow, died 28^th November 1952 at 31 Western Park Road, Leicester. Probate Leicester 20^th January to Marguerita Alice Julia Wright (wife of Ernest Marlow Wright). Effects £2,422 4s 1d. ↩︎
29. The headstone inscription shows that the grave is shared with Frank and Mary Watwood Johnson, who died in the latter part of the 19^th Century. The inscription for the Cowlings is counter-chronological, with Susannah’s name first, then Frederick and finally Robert. ↩︎
30. Marguerita Alice Julia Wright of 24 Eastfield Road, Leicester, died 25^th February 1966. Probate Leicester 29^th March 1966 to Ernest Marlow Wright, sales manager, and Susan Kathleen Anderson, widow. £9,175. ↩︎
31. There is a record of a death for a Susan Kathleen Anderson in 2004 in Winchester, Hampshire, however the recorded birthdate of the deceased is 1^st November 1902, not 18^th November 1902. ↩︎