To Mark Ratford, labourer, and Sarah Jays, on April 25, 1843 at 7 Southampton Street West, Nine Elms, a daughter, Isabella Hannah.
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Henry Barraclough, bachelor, farrier, and Sarah Emma Coles, spinster, both of full age, were married at the parish church in the Parish of St Botolph Without Bishopsgate, London on June 25, 1843. The marriage was witnessed by John Clark and Jane Witt (1).
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Eliza Hancock, daughter of James Joseph Hancock, potter, died at High Street, Lambeth on May 13, 1839, aged 6 months, of consumption.
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I have finally managed to find some time to transcribe some of the documents I photographed on my recent visit to the Somerset Record Office in Taunton. The first is a report into the conduct of my 4 × great grandfather Joseph Coles as an apprentice to the tinsmith George Adcock. The report was provided to the Committee of the Somersetshire Society in London by John Moore—a copy of which was written into the minutes of the committee meeting held at Albion House on Monday, 15 March 1819 (Somersetshire Society, 1819, March 15).
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The London Metropolitan Archives are in the process of digitising their genealogical resources in association with Ancestry.com. These resources are being progressively made available, and having recently upgraded my subscription to Ancestry, searches for Benjamin Coles have uncovered some new information.
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Today I finally found a reference to Benjamin Coles in the records of the India Office held at the British Library. Benjamin was appointed as a labourer in the Tea Warehouse on March 10, 1802. His appointment is recorded as entry no. 292 in List of Laborers Appointed, 1801-1832 (IOR:L/AG/30/5). He was nominated by T. T. Metcalfe, Esq.; his previous occupation was recorded as servant; and he was 33 years of age at the time. This would reckon his year of birth as about 1769.

I have recently been corresponding with a newly discovered cousin. Our common ancestors are Benjamin Coles and his wife Elizabeth. Robyn is descended from Henry Boyde Coles, Benjamin and Elizabeth’s firstborn, while I’m descended from Henry’s younger brother Joseph.
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A couple of weeks ago I googled my 4 × great grandfather Joseph Coles and was pleasantly surprised to see an entry in the results that looked suspiciously like a reference to an article in a scholarly journal. Following the link proved my suspicions correct but unfortunately the full-text of the article (Keane, 1975) was not available to me online without paying a hefty fee. Luckily my local university library held the journal in print format so I was not inconvenienced too much.
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