George Cole

Partner until 1828 with William and James Eccles (q.v.) in Robert Eccles & Co.

1. George Cole, son of Sanford and Mary Cole, was born 06/02/1785 and baptised 28/02/1785 in Dawlish, Devon. By 1807, Cole was working for Archibald Speirs in Glasgow - Cole had presumably come to Speirs' attention while staying in Dawlish a few years earlier (his son Thomas Dundas Speirs was born there c. 1805). By 1809 he was working for Robert Eccles & Co. in Glasgow. The first known record of him in the West Indies is a letter to his mother from Trinidad in 1820. He married Ann Campbell Colquhoun in Glasgow, 28/10/1824. She was the only daughter of the late Humphrey Colquhoun, Esquire, merchant in Glasgow. The marriage was also noted in the parish record for Inverchaolain in Argyllshire, the birth place of John Lamont, giving Ann Campbell Colquhoun as 'of Kirkmichael in this parish'. Ann died in Glasgow in 1832.

2. In 1841 he was living at May Cottage, Sidmouth, age 55, of independent means, born in county, with two female servants. He married Sarah Maria Mogridge in Sidmouth in 1842. In 1851 George Cole 'retired merchant' aged 66 born Dawlish was living at The Cottage, Weech, Dawlish with his wife Maria aged 30 and son George Cole a clergyman born Scotland aged 25.

3. The will of George Cole [late of the City of Glasgow but now] of Dawlish Devon was proved 02/07/1853: the will identifies his son and heir as the Rev. George Lamont Cole. The will is an elaborate trust will conveying estates in the south-west of England, but including monetary legacies to members of George Cole's family. A codicil of 1853 shows him as of Wellisford in Somerset.

4. The Rev. George Lamont Cole, son of George Cole merchant of Glasgow, was born there, was hence the same man as the clergyman son George Cole shown at Dawlish in the 1851 census, and possibly the namesake of John Lamont (q.v.). George Cole of Glasgow was an executor of Boyden Lamont (q.v.), John Lamont's half-brother. The baptism record of George Lamont Cole in Glasgow 29/09/1825 gives his parents as George Cole, merchant, and Ann Campbell Colquhoun, with the sponsors Alexander Lamont (John and Boyden's brother) and Lieut. Humphry Colquoun.

5. George Cole died 25/04/1853 aged 68 and was buried at Langford Budville, near Wellington, Somerset. The previous year, as George Cole of Dawlish (though this was conceivably his son Rev. George) he had purchased Wellingford Manor, near Wellington.

1. Findmypast.co.uk, Devon Baptisms [database online]; Familysearch.org, England, Devon Bishop's Transcripts, 1558-1887 [database online]; Peter Cole, 'George Cole, adventurer' Part 1: Family, Part 2: Glasgow and Part 3: Trinidad; GROS OPR Marriages 514 20 60 Inverchaolain; Perthshire Courier 05/11/1824; Royal Devonport Telegraph, and Plymouth Chronicle 01/09/1832.

2. 1841 census online; Familysearch.org, England, Devon and Cornwall Marriages, 1660-1912 [database online]; 1851 census online.

3. PROB 11/2175/120.

4. Ancestry.com Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online]; GROS OPR Births 644/1 320 50.

5. Peter Cole, 'George Cole, adventurer' Part 4: Second Marriage and Retirement; Somerset Heritage Centre, DD\TBR/18/9, Draft agreement, Relating to the Conveyance of Wellisford (Gardiner & Burridge to Geo. Cole of Dawlish, co. Devon), 1851.

We are grateful to Peter Cole for his assistance with compiling this entry.