Life History

Notes

• BIOGRAPHY: George Edward Coggins was born in Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire, England on 22 March 1856.
  
  His parents were Thomas Coggins, a stonemason, and Mary Surman, a laundress. Thomas Coggins was born in Middleton Stoney in 1817, part of a large clan of Cogginses in the village dating back to the 18th century and possibly earlier. The prevalent family calling seems to have been stonemasonry. Mary Surman was born in 1815 in Wiltshire; they married on 25 October 1837 in nearby Bicester (more about Middleton Stoney below).
  
  George Edward was the seventh of eight children. His father, Thomas, died shortly after the birth of the couple's eighth child in 1859, when George was 3 years old. The family stayed together despite losing their breadwinner; Mary continued working as a laundress, and the older children were probably working as well. The family may have also received help from other members of the extended family.
  
  In the circumstances, it was unusual that George remained at school into his teens. In the 1871 census he was shown as a scholar at 15 years of age; the additional study would have allowed him to take up his later vocation.
  
  George married Jane Elizabeth Scales, 21 years of age, on 21 May 1878 in Kensington; he was then 22 years of age and already a schoolmaster in the London area. One year later, in May 1879, George took up the position as Master at Cardington School in Bedfordshire.
  
  By the time of the 1881 census, George and Jane had two children - Gertrude & Sydney. Also living with them in the School House at Cardington was Jane's brother, an unemployed butler, and his wife and her sister, plus their baby daughter and another niece.
  
  George and Jane had a total of six children, but one (Winifred) lived only a few months. In the 1901 census only the youngest two (Madge and Elsie) remained at Cardington. The eldest three were living and working in London (more details of George's children below).
  
  George remained as head master for 26 years at Cardington until 1906, when he resigned to move to the Folkestone area for Jane's health. He was very artistic and musical - he was the organist and choirmaster at St. Mary's Church of England Cardington for many years. Those artistic and musical abilities have been echoed in many of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
  
  In Kelly's directory of 1903, George Edward Coggins is shown as the keeper of a boarding house at 4 Castle Ave, Folkestone, Kent. This is somewhat of a mystery, as he was officially still headmaster of Cardington School in Bedford at the time - perhaps Jane had already moved to Folkestone and was running the boarding house.
  
  After moving to Kent, George taught at Sydney Street School in Folkestone until about 1911. In the census of 1911, he is living at 26 Clifton Gardens with his wife Jane, now an Apartment House keeper. Also living at the address were two of their daughters, four servants and five visitors.
  
  In 1911, George commenced teaching at Dover Road School in Folkestone. On 25 May 1918, his wife Jane died, presumably from her chronic health problems. In August of the same year George (then 62) married Ethel Maude Browne, who was about 37 years of age. George and Ethel moved to 89a Sandgate Rd, Folkestone after their marriage. After a lifetime service to the profession, George retired completely from teaching at Dover Road School on 29 April 1921, aged 65.
  
  After one stillbirth, Ethel gave birth to a son, Robert George, on 8 September 1921. On 28 June 1925, while on a holiday trip to Norfolk, George attended the evening church service where he was noticed singing with a strong deep voice by the local rector. After the service he suddenly collapsed and died at the age of 69; he was buried two days later in the churchyard at Walton, Norfolk. Robert was only 3 u years old.
  
  Ethel continued living at Sandgate Rd after George's death, raising their son Robert alone. She worked 6 days a week as a florist until her 74th year, and died in May 1965 at the age of 84 years.
• Middleton Stoney
• Cardington School
• GECoggins
• George Coggins
• George Edward Coggins

Sources

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  • Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data - Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Rec
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