Birth: 1853 Beccles, Suffolk, UK
Father: William Cowles 1823-1893
Mother: Ellen Steel 1824-1911
Christening: 15 January 1853 Beccles, Suffolk, UK
Marriage: April-June 1878 Islington, Middlesex, UK
Wife: Fanny Georgina Keep 1854-1915
Death: 18 April 1906 142b Norwood Road, Tulse Hill, London
George Frank William John Cowles 1879-1960
Herbert Cowles 1880-1956
Ellen Elizabeth Cowles [Starkey] 1882-1970
Frederick Cecil Cowles 1884-1909
Charles Clifford Cowles 1887-1973
Harry Cowles 1889-a1909
Reginald Sidney Cowles 1890-1981
Ethel Maud Cowles 1893-1910
Birth of William John Cowles in FreeBMD in January-March 1853 in Wangford (4a 659) which included Beccles.
In the 1861 census as William L Carsles (sic - in the index, original illegible) aged 8, born in Beccles, Suffolk, and living with his parents (William and Ellen), brother (George), a governess, cook, two housemaids, four assistant masters, and some 40 boys aged 8 to 14 at Northgate Street, Beccles, Suffolk.
In the 1871 census as William John Corales (sic - in the index, original illegible) aged 17, born in Beccles, single, employed as an ironmonger's apprentice and living with Clara? Bowles (aged 42, born in Witchingham, Norfolk, and employed as an ironmonger and founder), his wife (Susannah aged 38 and born in Holt, Norfolk), their four daughters (Alice Anna aged 4, Clare aged 10, Edith Emma aged 8, and Harrriet Ann aged 9, all born in born in East Dereham), another ironmonger's apprentice (Clement E Conder aged 20, born in Ipswich, Suffolk and single) and a servant (Georgiana Walker aged 21, born in Bawdeswell, Norfolk and single) in 18 High Street, East Dereham , Norfolk.
Marriage of William John Cowles and Eliza Hannah Horton in FreeBMD in April-June 1878 in Islington (1b 510).
In the 1881 census as William J Cowles aged 38 (sic - on the original but ten years too old), born in Beccles, Suffolk, employed as an ironmonger master employing five men and two boys, and living with his wife (Eliza H), daughter (Ellen M) and a servant (Emily Tebbutt aged 18, born in Newton, Northamptonshire and unmarried) at 28 High Street, South Mimms, Middlesex.
The four children were born in Barnet (on the border of Middlesex and Hertfordshire).
In the 1891 census as William J Cowles aged 38, born in Beccles, Suffolk, an ironmonger and employer, and living with his wife (Elisa H), son (William A), two daughters (Ellen M and Jessie H), parents (William and Ellen Cowles), a governess (Edith Gregory aged 26, born in Nassington, Northamptonshire and single), and two servants (Elizabeth F Barton aged 18 and born in Harlton, Cambridgeshire, and Fanny C Knightly aged 18 and born in Barnet, Middlesex) at 65 Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
In the 1901 census as William John Cowles aged 49, born in Beccles, Suffolk, an ironmonger and employer, and living with his wife (Eliza Hannah), two daughters (Ellen Mary and Jessie Hannah), widowed grandmother (Ellen Cowles), aunt (Louisa Ann Steel), and three servants (Betsey Fernia 59, born in Thornton, Fife, Scotland and employed as a sick nurse, Gertrude Hart aged 22 and born in Long Meadow, Cambridgeshire, and Rose Sillett aged 19 and born in Bury, Suffolk, all single) at 65 Wood Street, Chipping Barnet, Hertfordshire.
Entry in the FreeBMD for the death of William John Cowles in April-June 1906 aged 53 in Lambeth (1d 242) which included Norwood.
There is a submitted entry in the IGI for the marriage of William John Cowles and Eliza Hannah Horton (but no date or place), and their three children (excluding Ellen).
Maureen Kristjanson has an entry in RootsWeb WorldConnect for William John Cowles born about 1853 in Beccles, Suffolk, and christened on 15 January 1853 in Beccles, parents William Cowles and Ellen Steel, married to Eliza Hannah Horton in Islington in about June 1878 and three children (not William Albert). She also has a similar entry in Ancestry Public Member Trees adding all four children, and his death on 18 April 1906 at 142b Norwood Road (now the A215), Tulee (sic - Tulse) Hill, South London.
William John Cowles was my four cousin once removed.
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