John Francis Cowell 1881 - 1928

A general carman and the eldest of 4 children of John Cowell (a police constable) and Emma Mills, John Cowell, the third cousin twice-removed on the mother's side of Nigel Horne, was born in Chatham, Kent, England on Sep 16, 1881, baptised there at St Paul's Church on Oct 5, 1881 and married Ethel Kilsby (with whom he had 3 children: John F Albert, Bertram S and Lillian Ethel) in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England on Mar 28, 19143.

During his life, he was living at 71 Victoria Road, Willesden, London, England on Apr 5, 18914; at 28 Claremont Road, Kilburn, London on Mar 31, 19015; and in Africa on Apr 2, 19116. On Aug 15, 1914 he was serving in the military (12th Lancers (The Prince of Wales's Royal), Corps of Lancers Also recorded as the same regiment in the 1911 census).

He died on Sep 26, 1928 in Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire, England2.

John Cowell - WWI record

Northampton Mercury 21-9-1928

JohnFrancisCowell

Rugby Advertiser 21 September 1928

England & Wales births 1837-2006 - BMD/B/1881/3/AZ/000122/205

England & Wales marriages 1837-2008 - BMD/M/1914/1/AZ/000164/069

England & Wales deaths 1837-2007 - BMD/D/1928/3/AZ/000152/100

1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census - GBC/1891/0007931682

1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census - GBC/1901/0008349756

1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription - GBC-1911-RG14-34993-0008-27

England, Births & Baptisms 1538-1975 Transcription - R_873101948

Kent Baptisms - PRS/MEDWAY/BAP/0121059

This is a story of how John Francis Cowell (b. 1881) and Ethel Blanche Kilsby (b. 1891) met. There is some conjecture, but due the fact that she was housebound as a result of contracting childhood polio, this is more likely than not. The Metropolitan Police were recruiting in the 1880s, and two of the recruits were John Charles Cowell (b. 1862 from Ramsgate, joined May 1885) and William Wills (b. 1864 from Everdon, Northamptonshire, joined May 1886. Their reasons for joining were probably that the Met policed the Royal Dockyards at the time, so the Cowell family would have been aware of them, and William Wills had been an agricultural labourer, but had lost both his parents, so was probably looking for afresh start. Both of them completed 25 years service in the same division of the Met. At around the same time they both retired (1910 / 1911), John Francis Cowell, b. 1881 Chatham, son of John Charles Cowell, was stationed at Weedon Barracks, Northamptonshire, with the 12th Lancers. You can throw a stone from Everdon to Weedon, indeed, William Wills's mother, Sarah Loveday (b. 1827), was born in Weedon. Sarah had a much older sister, Elizabeth Loveday (b. 1809). Elizabeth married Thomas Kilsby. Their son George (b.1831) married Rosanna Cooper. Their daughter Rosina (b. 1870) was the mother of Ethel Blanche Kilsby (b. 1891). So the assumption is that John Francis had either previously met, or used the opportunity to meet up with the family of his father's fellow Constable. Another possibility for that first meeting is that at the time of the 1911 Census, Ethel Blanche was living with her uncle John Fenwick and her aunt, Sarah Maria at Woolwich, where John Fenwick was an Acting Sergeant Major. Woolwich Arsenal was at that time policed by the Met. John Francis and Ethel Blanche were married in March 1914. Their son, John Albert Cowell, was born in November 1914

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