I am descended from a family of ‘green thumbs,’ but sadly, I didn’t inherit any of their natural talent.
My 4xgreat grandfather Guy Cole was obviously an adventurous type because when he immigrated to Australia in 1849, he was 79 years old! He was baptised in 1773 at Oakham, Rutland, England and was the son of John COLE and Sarah NUTT who were married in 1769 at Uppingham, Rutland, England’s smallest historic county (147.4 sq/miles).
Not a lot is known of the early life of Guy Cole except that he married Elizabeth Nutt on 30 July 1803 at Montrose, Scotland and they had two sons and a daughter; 1. Guy Cole, born 1805, Scotland and died 1832 Madras, India; 2. Frances Ann, born at Ferryden near Montrose 1807, married William Bailey and died 1866 at Harrow, England and 3. Thomas Cornelius born at Sudbury near Harrow in 1810. Elizabeth Cole died 27 January 1813 and was buried 31 January at Harrow St Mary, Sudbury. In 1806 Guy Cole appears to be paying Land Tax on a property he is occupying at the Cross Over in Farrington Without, City of London. On the baptism of his son in 1810 he is listed as “gardener.” From 1816 until 1847 he was paying Land Tax on freehold property that he was occupying in Harrow-on-the-Hill, Sudbury.
After Elizabeth’s death, Guy Cole, widower, married Martha GEARING, spinster on 29 Aug 1814 at St Mary, Ealing, England. Guy and Martha had six children who were all born at Sudbury; 1. Robert (1816-1880), 2. Charlotte Mary (1819-1898), 3. Martha Elizabeth (1820-1905), 4. George (1822-1868), 5. Richard Charles (1825-1826) and 6. William Henry (1827-1910).
Guy and Martha COLE immigrated to Adelaide arriving on the 17th January 1849 on the barque John Woodhall. Some three weeks later, on 10th February 1849 they arrived in Melbourne on board the Halcyon.
Guy Cole 79, and wife Martha Cole nee Gearing, were travelling with their youngest son William Henry COLE, their eldest son Robert COLE and his wife Elizabeth nee WEBSTER and their four daughters Ellen Elizabeth 6, Martha Ann 4, Mary Charlotte 2, and infant Emma. When they arrived in Melbourne, they met up with their other children George, Charlotte, Martha, and Thomas Cornelius and his wife and three children, who had all arrived in Melbourne on the Himalaya on 26 February 1842. George and Thomas, along with their cousin John COLE (who arrived Dec 1839 on Westminster), had established nurseries, orchards and market gardens at Merri Creek.
The patriarch of the family, Guy Cole, gardener, died 6 January 1853 at his son’s house at Merri Creek and was buried the 7 January at St James Parish in the County of Bourke. He was 82 years old. Probate of Guy Cole was granted to his son Robert Cole of St Heliers on the River Yarra, gardener. Guy’s wife Martha, died 8 March 1869 at her daughter’s home, ‘Harrow-Hill’, Cheltenham, aged 83 and was buried at the Old Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery.
Children:
◊ The Australian Dictionary of Biography states that, Thomas Cornelius COLE (1810-1889), horticulturist and nursery proprietor, was son of Guy Cole, market gardener. In 1847 Thomas purchased land with a Yarra River frontage at Burnley where he established an orchard and nursery. He issued his first catalogue from the Richmond Nursery in 1850, making it one of the earliest produced in Victoria and was a prime mover behind the establishment of the Horticultural Society of Victoria’s experimental garden at Burnley. In 1853 Thomas purchased 38 acres of land in Upper Hawthorn and by 1860 he had established another orchard and nursery and erected a large, brick house on this estate, named Twyford. He also wrote a book Cole’s Gardening in Victoria (1860) containing “full directions for the formation and general management of a good garden; together with a comprehensive calendar for the operations of each month in the year.
In 1862 Thomas Cornelius Cole leased the Richmond Nursery to his son John Charles (1838-1891), who supplemented this in the mid-1880s wit generous land selection at Fern Tree Gully (Belgrave), which he named Glen Harrow. Another of Thomas’s sons, Rev. Thomas Cornelius junior (1836-1879), was also active in Melbourne horticultural circles. In 1864, Thomas snr, purchased a further 37 acres (15 ha), adjoining the Twyford estate, and leased it to his son Henry Ungerford (1843–1904), who established the Shorland orchard and nursery.
Thomas died on 31 July 1889 at Twyford aged 79 and was buried in Melbourne General Cemetery. His estate was valued at £85,200. Henry Cole’s Shorland Nursery carried on into the early decades of the twentieth century; by the 1930s Twyford had been demolished and subdivided for residential purposes. It was reported in the Argus, 30 September 1938 that “T.C. Cole came out to Australia as gardener to Governor La Trobe.” but we are unable to confirm this.
An article in The Herald, 22 November, 1935 described a house that sold for £9000 which was to be demolished and the land subdivided. It stood for eighty years and was built by the Cole family. It had two storeys, twenty rooms as well as a basement which contained store rooms for fruit that was grown on the estate.
◊ My ancestor, Robert COLE, son of Guy Cole and half-brother of Thomas Cornelius Cole, was baptised 6 October 1816, St Mary, Harrow-on-the-Hill, England and married Elizabeth WEBSTER on 5 October 1840 at Linslade, Buckinghamshire, England. They immigrated to Melbourne in 1849 with their four daughters, and seven more children were born in Melbourne between 1849 and 1863.
In 1852, Robert, along with his brother George and cousin John, were exhibiting fruits and nuts at the Victoria Horticultural Society Exhibition in the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne. The judging results were published in The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 – 1957) Fri 24 Dec 1852, page 6 where Robert received First Class prizes for his cherries, plums, pears, apples, walnuts and almonds.
In the Argus Tue 5 Jul 1853, page 7, Robert Cole was advertising fruit trees for sale from Mrs Curr’s garden, St Heliers, near Hodson Punt, Yarra. Mrs Curr was the widow of Edward Curr who was an early settler, grazier and M.P. who owned St Helier and was known as the “Father of Separation” of Port Phillip from N.S.W.
At some time during the 1860’s, Robert Cole was employed as an engineer/engine driver and this was confirmed on three of his daughter’s marriage certificates. Robert’s wife Elizabeth and five of his daughters pre-deceased him. Elizabeth died at Stawell Street, Hotham on 1 June 1876 of atrophy of the liver, aged 58 and was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery. In 1879, Robert Cole, engine-driver was awarded some kind of compensation, but further research will need to be done once the Covid-19 restrictions allow us to visit the PROV.
Robert was admitted to the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum in January 1880 in a delusional state caused by drink and sunstroke, and was assessed as suicidal. He was residing at La Trobe St, West Melbourne at the time. Robert died nine months later on 30 September 1880 at the asylum and was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery, 2 October 1880. No cemetery marker exists in 2021.
◊ Charlotte Mary COLE (1819-1898) married Francis HARRIS in Melbourne, NSW in 1842. On the 11 October 1861 an application was made to and granted by Mr Sturt, Police Magistrate for Charlotte Harris, a married woman, for protection, under the new Divorce Act. Charlotte was the head teacher of St Patrick’s Catholic School, Eastern Hill for 20 years. She died without issue in 1898 and was buried at the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery, Victoria.
◊ Martha Elizabeth COLE (1820-1905) married Henry Wells, gent. and resided at their farm called ‘Harrow-Hill’, Cheltenham, Victoria. When Henry Wells died in 1896, his estate was valued at £4930. Martha and Henry are buried at Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery. They had 10 children.
◊ George COLE, gardener (1822-1868) married Emma Lewis and they had 12 children. George died by suicide during an ‘aberration of the mind’ in 1868 aged 45.
◊ William Henry COLE (1827-1910) married Sarah Edwards in 1853 and had five children.
The Cole family took a great risk to establish themselves in a new country, but they all seemed to prosper and provide
good opportunities for their families in the Port Phillip District through hard work and determination.
Their descendants must be vast in numbers and I guess maybe one of them inherited that elusive ‘green thumb’ gene.
Contributed by Dianne Wheeler, PPPG member No 1505