Thomas COULSON
(1826-1881)
(1826-1881)
Date of Birth: 27th September 1826
Date of Death: 21st February 1881
Age: 54 years
Grave No: 4
Latitude: 53.72064
Longitude: -0.85132
what3words: amount.surging.trump
Condition: Sound & in situ, but inscription has degraded.
Height including base (mm): 1660 mm
Width excluding base (mm): 730 mm
Thickness excluding base (mm):
100 mm
Mason: JACKSON
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO/
COME UNTO ME MARK 14/
SACRED/
TO THE MEMORY OF/
WILLIAM INFANT SON OF/
THOMAS AND JANE COULSON/
WHO DIED ON OCTOBER 25th 1865/
ALSO OF THE ABOVE NAME(D)/
THOMAS COULSON/
BORN SEPTEMBER 27 1826./
DIED FEBRUARY 21st 1881/
ALSO OF JANE/
THE BELOVED WIFE OF THE ABOVE/
BORN MARCH 13th 1834/
DIED JULY 11th 1909/
HER END WAS PEACE./
ALSO ELIZA BLANCHE THE BELOVED/
AND YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF THE ABOVE/
BORN OCTOBER 5th 1878/
DIED AUGUST 25th 1925/
PEACE PERFECT PEACE.
Thomas Coulson is the son of John Coulson, a labourer of Hook. He is christened in Hook on 23 November 1826. He loses his mother, Sarah, in March 1838. In the 1841 census father John still appears to be looking after the family single handed: young Thomas is now 15 but still with no occupation, and there are three even younger siblings at home, Eliza, 13, James 11, and little Sarah, only 5. There are other Coulsons around, hopefully John will have had some help.
Thomas becomes a bricklayer, always a useful trade in the growing town of Goole next door, and by the 1851 census he’s listed as a master bricklayer, 26 and single. Still living at home of course, with his father, agricultural labourer, his elder widowed brother William, a potato agent, and sisters Eliza and Sarah.
Jane Coulson‘s maiden name was Scutt. She was born on 13th March 1834 in Ousefleet , the second daughter and fifth child of Jonathan Scutt, a prominent farmer of 217 acres, and his wife Jane, née Bradley. We find them on the 1841 census: Jonathan , Jane, (both 40ish), with children John 15, Ann 12, Jane 8, Sarah 5, and baby Duke (possibly short for Marmaduke) 1. Plus some farm servants living in.
In 1846, little Jane’s mother, only in her 40s, dies, and is buried in Whitgift. In the 1851 census, Jonathan Scutt is still farming in Ousefleet, but has his elder unmarried sons John 27 and Jonathan 22 to help. Also at home are Ann, now 22, Jane 17, Sarah 15, and Duke 11. A couple of male farm servants also live in.
Time passes, somehow Thomas Coulson, master bricklayer, and Miss Scutt, daughter of a prosperous farmer, meet and match. Maybe Thomas is a refreshing change from the shy young farmers of the Marshlands. Definitely time for Thomas to found his own family. Whatever the case, Thomas and Jane marry on the 14th of March 1857 at Snaith Parish church. he’s 30 she’s 21.
In the 1861 census Thomas is still a bricklayer and his wife, Jane, is listed as bricklayer’s wife. They have a daughter, Sarah J age 3 and a son Thomas #3 , age one. No live in help.
By the time of the 1871 census Alice appears for the first time, aged 7 and the fourth of six siblings. Thomas is no longer a bricklayer, but now the farmer of 188 acres, but still living in Hook. He employs four labourers, all living in. No doubt Jane has a much clearer idea of how to manage a farm of this size than her husband, but that’s not how censuses work. There’s also a grown up domestic to help the farmer’s wife, and a 12 year old nursemaid to look after the tiny ones, although Alice’s big sister, aged 13, is still a “scholar “.
Since Thomas’s father-in-law doesn’t die until 1873, it looks like it was arranged in advance for Jane and Thomas to have the lease of most of his farm of 217 acres, which probably belonged to the Empsons. Jonathan Scutt‘s probate of 1873 leaves his son Marmaduke as sole executor, leaving only effects of under £600. It would be interesting to have a look at the will, and track down the leases.
At the 1881 census, still in Hook, Main Street, Alice‘s mother Jane has just been widowed. Her husband Thomas died on the 27th of February 1881 age 54 and is buried in Hook . She’s still farming 189 acres with 2 labourers , 4 farm boys, and her eldest son, Thomas, 21. There are six other children at home; the youngest, Eliza Blanche, is only 2, but Alice is missing from this census entry. She should be 17 years old. I wonder if she’s gone away to school, or visiting someone, and not recorded correctly on the census. There are still four male farm servants, mostly young lads, and a teenage female domestic living in to help run the household. The grown up labourers must be in their own homes.
In 1891, Jane Coulson is still running the farm with her younger son, William, aged 23. This is the second William, another William died in infancy. Only [Eliza] Blanche 12 is left at home , aged 12, and there’s still a full complement of servants living in.
1901, William is listed as head of the household, he’s 33, still single, and the servants are dwindling. Jane is still around, aged 68, listed as widowed mother, taking a back seat now. And Blanche is still at home, aged 22.
Jane dies in 1909, aged 74, and is buried in the same grave as her husband in Hook. Reunited after 27 years apart.
1911, William is keeping up the farm with Blanche as housekeeper, neither of them are in a hurry to get married.
What happens next: obviously the First World War changes the economics of farming forever. By the 1921 census, it looks like the farm has gone, and the remaining Coulsons are leading completely different, and separate, lives.
Eliza Blanche has moved out to Holme Road, Market Weighton, 41 years old, single, head of the household, living on own account, using both her given names. She has two single lady teachers boarding with her, plus a couple of visitors. It all sounds rather like a Winifred Holtby novel.
William, only 55, describes himself as a retired farmer. He’s still living in Hook, in Water Lane, but is now boarding at the home of Alexander Stones, a farm labourer, Mrs Stones, plus their nephew, their adopted son, and 5 visitors (a family with 3 children) on this busy census night.
Blanche dies in 25 August 1925 aged just 47. Probate records indicate her married sisters, Clara Cooper and Martha Edith Wright are the beneficiaries of her will. They make sure she’s buried with her parents in Hook. Unfortunately I have been unable to identify where and when William is buried.
(Thank you to J.I. for this amazing research!)