Dear Cousin,

Last year I used the words “my aging computer”; well I’m glad to say I have changed it for a brand new one with all the latest software, but more of that later.

For the Family Historian the most important event of the Year was the release of the 1901 British Census Returns. They were supposed to have been available in January 2002 and in an indexed version on the Internet as well. However it was not to be, so many Family Historians tried to log on during the first day that the entire system collapsed and had to be shut down. All those in the know said “We told you so” but it made no difference and it was not until September, without any fanfare that it returned. Anyone can now look up your ancestors free of charge (full details cost £0·75 per sheet from the original return document.) on http://www.census.pro.gov.uk/. Needless to say I tried, without success, in January and again in September. There are 236 COTGROVEs listed but several have been miss indexed and are not immediately visible. The Isle of Wight branch is missing in its entirety and Charles the gardener is listed as COLGROVE but he is the only one with that miss spelling. So that makes 237. I’m slowly checking all 236 to see if they are on my Tree but so far I have only found three young children that I knew of but I had been unable to place on the tree with the correct parents. Now Victor, Connie and Ethel are correctly shown as the children of Robert and Rosetta Cotgrove who by 1901 had moved to Southend. Several of their sons entered the retail fish trade. When I have had enough time to check all the 237 names I hope to put a few more names into their correct place on the tree.

The Internet is a good place for researchers to record their finding for others to benefit. Such is the case with the web site showing the Public Houses, Taverns and Inns of Essex. Under the Sutton Arms of Southend is listed the names associated with this establishment between 1875 and 1908. These include for the 1891 Census a barmaid, a domestic servant and a Groom/coach driver; all Cotgroves. The Landlord was, and had been for many years, William Lungley. Now all these are known to me but this website has made me look again and reveals the fact that Coachman Herbert went on to become Southend’s last horse cab driver who died in 1946 and the two girls were his sisters, one of whom married a Harvey Langley. Was he the landlord’s son ? This little story needs further research as I know that their mother Eliza Cotgrove, nee White was widowed in 1880, aged 36, when her husband Stephen James died. I have no record of a further marriage but there were at least two more children by unknown fathers during the next few years. Another son, George William, was in the Rochford Workhouse for a few years after his father died, his mother being unable to care for him. For the copy of the Essex Pubs Web site I am grateful to the New Zealand Cotgroves.

William upon the leading horse: on the extreme left.

This year also brought a sad occasion, the death of a First World War Hero, William George Cotgrove, Military Medal and Légion d’honneur. He was 105 and had been presented to HM The Queen at Ypres in November 1998. I was honoured to attend his funeral at a crematorium high up on the hills over looking the Thames were both he and his father before him had worked around the docks. It was a funeral that reflected his past, a splendid glass sided hearse drawn by four black horses as befitted a man who had won his decoration as a ammunition wagon driver of the Royal Field Artillery at Ypres; his medals upon the coffin draped with a Union Flag and carried into the Chapel between two Colour Parties of the Royal Artillery Association. The Chapel was full and he went to his Maker to the sounds of the Last Post and the Reveille. Afterwards his son Brian, over from Australia, related the story of his father’s last horse ride, in Australia, when he was well pass 90. In spite of his age he was the winner of the race back home.

(To see a picture of William CLICK HERE. It may take awhile to load).

Over the years I have related some of the stories about the Cotgrove family as they appear in the written record but what about the houses in which they lived. Most Family members who still live in the area will know of The Leigh Heritage Centre and its connection with the family; in fact there is a framed chart inside that traces the owners back to 1766 and this shows the Cotgroves as the earliest occupiers. We are fortunate that several important documents dealing with the house still survive and these enable us to trace the history with some accuracy. For those who do not know the area the Cotgrove home is in the Old Town High Street just to the east of the Strand and backing on to the sea. In the 1850s the Strand was a square open to the sea on the south side and lined on the north with houses which formed part of the north side of the High Street. In the centre stood one of the town pumps and to the west a number of cottages with the entrance to the Alley Dock running between them. On the east side, starting by the Thames was a large house, dating back to at least 1615 when it was the home of Richard Chester, Master of Trinity House. By 1850 it had been subdivided into at least four dwellings. These were destroyed after the Second World War. Adjoining this large house were two small cottages which ended at the corner with the High St. The position of these is still marked by stone posts in the ground at the corner of the Strand. It was in the first of these that Golden Thompson lived, whose son was to marry Eliza Cotgrove and become my great grand parents. Leaving the square and turning east into the High Street one went along the side of the two small cottages and then came to the first two cottages in the High Street. It is these two that form the present day Heritage Centre but in 1850 they were still two separate cottages and it was the second one that was the Cotgrove home from 1693 when Mary Cotgrove, Benjamin’s widow married Henry Bateman up to 1838 when Sarah Cotgrove, also the widow of a Benjamin, the fifth in the line, died.

The records of the Lord of the Manor of Leigh, the Manor Court Rolls, show the changes in tenancy over the entire period and as the Lord of the Manor was the landlord for the entire period the various generations of Cotgrove are recorded as son succeeds son for 150 years. The type of tenancy was Copyhold which in modern terms we would call leasehold. It meant that the tenant could buy and sell or take out a mortgage on the house so long as he informed and got permission from the Lord. He then received a copy of the record and become a Copyholder. Wills also record the transfer of the house to the widow or the next generation, all with the Lord’s consent.

The first documents do not record the location of the house so one must go through the whole lot until an almost modern deed shows a plan which positively identifies the house. So what happened ?

It starts in 1693 when Benjamin’s widow marries Henry Bateman. When he dies in 1699 she was left the house which was to go to Bateman’s step son, Benjamin II. For the next 50 years the picture is unclear but in 1761 Benjamin II’s son came before the Court and waving his Copyhold said he was the son of the late Benjamin II and claimed his right of occupation which the Lord granted. At one time a 14 year old boy became the Copyholder with his mother as guardian but in 1825 the last Benjamin to live there took over on condition that his widowed mother could have the use of one room rent free for life. She was still there when she died in 1838 although Benjamin had sold the house over her head in 1830. Documents for this transaction record the Cotgrove occupation since 1761. In 1841 the Family were spread throughout the village in ten different properties; the old cottage in the High Street was theirs no more.

Turning back to my opening remark, I have now got a state of the art computer which will enable we to access the internet from home, this means that I have already changed my E-mail address - see the top of the Home Page - and that within a few days there will a Cotgrove Web site. The address is not yet known but search with Yahoo under “Cotgrove Family” and that should find it. I am having trouble getting the new machine to print out the family tree but I hope to overcome the problems shortly.

May I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year for 2003.

Yours sincerely,

Norman Holding

PS. If this all comes as a great surprise to you, may I say that I am the great grand son of Eliza Cotgrove and for the last 18 years I have been researching the origins of the Cotgrove Family of Leigh from its arrival in Essex in about 1674 until the present day. I have a complete family tree and I’m of always interested in hearing from Cotgroves world wide. Any anecdotes and any pre 1900 photographs would be much appreciated. NHH.

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Christmas News Letter 2001

Dear Cousin,

Another year has passed and once again I sit at my ageing computer to relate a few tales of the Cotgrove Family that may be unknown to many of you but filled with apprehension that a few of you may have more accurate personal recollections of the facts I am going to relate. Let us hope that I have got it right.

Of one fact I am certain, the Internet will be busy on Wednesday 2nd January 2002. It is on this date that the Census Returns for 31st March 1901 are being made available for public access. Those of you with Internet access will find details on www. census.pro.gov.uk. This will lead you to the 1901 name index. There is no charge to use the index nor to see a brief summary of the recorded data. However a full transcript of the entry or a look at the actual hand written page will be charged. Probably less than one pound a screen. I estimate that there should be about 200 COTGROVEs in the index. [Actually 236 Cotgroves were found. NHH March 2003]

The Census is a most important source of information on our ancestors and shows them in the context of the family as well as, with these modern indexes, tracing those away from home in domestic service or even those at sea. I'm hoping to find a few more Cotgroves that have so far escaped my searches but these will mainly be single men or women who later died without marrying.

Nearly all my work on the Family Tree deals with the male line but one should not forget that we all have two parents even if the identity of a few is clouded in mystery. Therefore let me relate a few details about some of the Cotgrove wives and mothers.

There is an old saying which claimed that a fisherman, and all Cotgrove were fishermen, at least up to about 1860, should only marry fishermen's' daughters as only they could boil shrimps or mend nets. While many Cotgrove sons did marry into fisher families I think that the saying lacks truth. The 1851 Census records only three female shrimp or cockle boilers, all elderly widows, and any rate shrimps were boiled on board the bawley while still fresh. There were also only two net makers. What the Census does not reveal is how many "fishermen's' wives", of which there were a great number, did these jobs as spare time activity. In general in the Leigh area there were very few occupations open to women in Victorian and pre Victorian England. Domestic service, teaching, sick nursing, midwifery and the laying out the dead. The last three being unqualified jobs and mostly done part time by skilled local women. With very large families there was little time for paid occupation. In Leigh the elderly and young could earn a little by picking up shell fish on the Marsh. One of the pastimes practised by women in Leigh even up to modern times was the knitting of Fishermens' jerseys in the traditional Leigh pattern. In the 1851 Census the most popular woman's job was hat or bonnet making (5) or dress making (9).

As the fishing trade had been confined to a few families for several hundred years the same names occur time and time again as wives to the Cotgroves.

That being said may I relate two stories about Leigh wives. In 1828 Ann Smith, the 21 year old daughter of George Smith and his wife Susan Stagg married William Peter Cotgrove, known as "Old Coggery" (or "Old Cockalarey"). Ann's mother, Susan married twice , first to George Smith, Ann's father, and then to Peter Samuel, a carpenter. Peter was the owner of a large building on the quay near to the Crooked Billet Inn, opposite the start of Billet Lane. He was a man of some wealth as he also owned a row of houses half way up Billet Lane in what became known as West End Terrace; in fact he lived there but later moved down the hill to his wharf property. He also owned a boat , the "Emberton" which was used by his son-in-law, William Peter Cotgrove.

Peter and Ann had 13 children, eight of whom survived childhood. Three had a second Christian name "Smith" and three had the name "Samuel" after their grand mother's two husbands. The "Smith" name was carried into a third generation but then appears to have died out.

When Peter Samuel the carpenter died he left his property to his step-daughter, Ann. She then arranged for her Cotgrove relatives to move out of the old cottages near Bilton Hill farm and into the new houses in West End Terrace. Two of Ann and William's daughters married Cotgrove cousins but son George Smith Cotgrove married into a non fisher family, the Suckling's. Now the maiden name of Lord Nelson's mother was also Suckling ! Was there a connection ? I've been in touch with a Suckling researcher but he can not tell me if a connection does exist. Pity.

Another fisher family was the Thompson's. In 1832 Henry Cotgrove the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Osborn was to marry Sarah Ann Thompson, a daughter of Goldspring and Elizabeth Thompson and a sister to Golden Thompson, my great great grand father. Golden married a Cotgrove and his brothers and sisters married into the well known Leigh fisher families of Little, twice, and Murrell. In the next generation , Emily, Golden's daughter , married Alfred Cotgrove who survived the shipwreck of the "GMAC" . Henry and Sarah moved to Great Wakering but the two families kept in touch because 25 years later when their daughter married, a cousin, Ann Thompson was a witness. This is an example of a family friendship lasting over many years; a relationship that is often very difficult to prove without family letters or other inside information.

One of the Leigh fisher families who have been in the village since before the arrival of the Cotgroves in about 1680 is the Osborn family. They were involved with oysters before Hutton made his discovery on the breeding of oysters and to this day they are still active in the trade. Their cockle boats "Renown 4 & 5" are still to be seen on the sea shore and one can taste the catch at their Sea Food Restaurant near the Crooked Billet.

By 1755 Thomas Osborn was a leading oyster merchant importing oyster from Cancale in France and now lived in William Hutton's old house in the High Street. Almost a hundred years earlier his name sake was an assistant Customs Officer in Leigh. By 1811 young Benjamin Cotgrove, still only 24, was Captain of one of John Osborn's fleet of boats, the 11 ton "Two Sisters" . This boat was most likely used for trips to France to bring back the young oysters to be fattened up in the Ray where Osborn had his beds. This was not surprising as Ben's uncle, Thomas had married Elizabeth Osborn in 1788. A few years later in 1875 Ben's grand son was to marry Carolyne Osborn, whose father kept the "King's Head". In all there are about five Osborn / Cotgrove marriages. It pays to marry the boss's daughter.

I raised the question of friendships between families in the paragraph about the Thompsons but there must have been others. I know of only two others; The Cotgrove / Leslie families, Thames Tug boats and the Thames whale. There is also the friendship between the Whurs, builders, and the Cotgroves that goes back at least to 1890 when young Arthur David Cotgrove was an apprentice with the building firm.

Those familiar with the names of Leigh Fisher families will recognise the following; all married to the Cotgroves. Harvey, Gisby, Johnson, Axcell, Robinson, Rand, Partridge, Oliver, Little, Tomlin, Turnnidge and Noakes.

As you no doubt already know the old fishermen all had nick names that were used to the exclusion of both normal Christian names and surnames. This applied to their wives and daughters as well, so that we have Martha Tottles who was the daughter of Thomas, known as Tottles. Other were Soocky (or Snooky) and Jenny Nonney. But did they change names when they got married ? Does any one know ? Does anyone know any more of these unusual nick names as used by Cotgrove females ?

During the year I have had contact with several members of the family either by 'phone, E-mail or letter. This has kept me up to date with some of the births, marriages and deaths. Remember to let me know your new address if you move otherwise your copy of the News Letter may not reach you..

E-mails. If you send me an E-mail on COTGROVE@TESCO.NET please make sure that you put a good clear message in the "Subject" space so that I can immediately see it is a genuine E-mail and not a lot of advertising rubbish. The other day I had 132 new E-Mails and only one was genuine ! Those messages without a clear "Subject" were erased without being looked out.

May I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year for 2002.

Yours sincerely,

Norman Holding

Christmas News Letter 2000

Dear Cousin,

During this last year I have had several contacts with cousins who are descended from the Cotgrove tree via the female line. For me, doing a "one name study", these people are not easy to find as their names are no longer listed as Cotgrove. It is often the case that the Cotgrove connection goes back to, say, great grand mother who changed her name from Cotgrove upon marriage as did the daughter in the succeeding generation. With Victorian families having large numbers of children it is easy to see that there must be very many people who can claim to have Cotgrove blood; many still live in Leigh.

The Family History world has many lists and indexes to help those curious about their origins. Besides Family History Societies in every British County there is a Society for those who like myself concentrate on tracing all those bearing the same surname.. It is called the Guild of One-Name-Studies or to use the usual short form, "The Goons" . It has nearly 2000 members who are each researching a registered surname, usually an unusual or rare one. With an ever increasing number of the population with Internet connection it is not long before they locate the Goons' Website at www.one-name.org Here they will notice that Norman Holding is researching the Cotgroves and I'm soon receiving a letter from somebody who has Cotgrove ancestry.

One of my contacts was Jean who told me that her mother was a Cotgrove but she had been fostered and had never known her mother. As soon as she gave me her true mother's name I was able to find her location on my master tree. Unfortunately her mother was dead and there were no brothers or sisters and those first cousins that I contacted had no knowledge of their aunt's child or of her marriage.

There are today several Cotgrove children, some now grown up, who have been adopted by their present day parents. There is a register in the Family History Centre in London of all registered adoptions but this gives only the child's new name and his new parents. Through my family contacts I'm aware of the position of these children on the tree. However I have no wish nor have I tried to find the birth parents of these children as only the children themselves can obtain this information and then only after counselling by a social worker. It is not possible for the birth mother to find out what happened to her child after it has been adopted. This information is never released but it is possible for the determined mother, with the aid of some detective work and the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, to overcome the rules imposed by the State. In both cases it is often not the finding of the name that is the problem but tracing that person after a lapse of perhaps of 60 years. How many John Smiths are there ? A friend of mine did succeed in finding the mother of an adoptee even when her maiden surname was indeed Smith.

It is only since 1926 that Adoption as we know it today was allowed; before that a child could only be fostered, a completely unofficial procedure. At the same time this new law allowed a child born out of wedlock, who was usually given its mother's maiden name at birth, to be reregistered in the father's name when and if the parents married. I know of at least two children who were born to the wife of a Cotgrove after she had divorced him but before she married her 2nd husband. The children were at first registered as Cotgroves but when a few years later she married the father they were reregistered in his name.

Going back over one hundred years we find several cases where the father was lost at sea and then the children were threatened with the possibility of fostering. Fortunately the large families of those days gave the chance to be fostered by an aunt or uncle or other close family member.

In 1901 Eliza Jane née Wells, the wife of Thomas Wm. Cotgrove, known as "Black Tom", died leaving a son and two young daughters. The two girls Edith Sarah and Rose May were brought up by neighbours including Elizabeth Robinson. The son, also Thomas Wm., "Big Tom", was apparently brought up by his father. All three married and had children themselves. "Big Tom" served in the Navy during WW1.

Going back a few more years there was a Ernest Archer Cotgrove born about 1895 who was brought up by Archer and Ester Cotgrove but it is believed that Ernest was in fact a nephew.

On Wednesday 11th November 1891 John Cotgrove of Southend son of J. B. Cotgrove the Southend fishmonger was lost at sea from his boat "Fions" while going to the assistance of a schooner aground on Maplin Sands. His dingy was capsized by a large wave and John was washed overboard.

He left a wife and five young children, 3 girls and 2 boys with ages between 1 and 11 years. Moreover, although she probably did not know it at the time his widow was a few weeks pregnant with a sixth child that was born in the following August.

The town opened a fund for the family and arrangements were made for the children to be fostered at the Clacton Home and the Training Ship "Mercury". A concert was arranged in the Pier Pavilion which was attended by 500 people. The artists included the Band of the School of Gunnery and the Gymnastic Team of the Royal Artillery (Shoeburyness). Local singers provided a range of popular Victorian ballads including the Gendarmes Duet and the Sailors Grave. So successful was the whole appeal that the children were able to remain at home with their mother. Sadly the three youngest children died within months with diphtheria. The widow remarried as did the two remaining children and the new born baby. Descendants of two of these children still live in the Southend area.

Other families were stricken by the loss of the father and in one case one child ended up in the work house, at least until the mother found a new husband.

Going back another hundred years we have the story of Susanna Cotgrove's illegitimate son William. Susanna was born July 1761 to Benjamin and Sarah Cotgrove, the 7th of 11 children, although several died as infants. When she was only about 17 she had a child, William, who was to grow up to become one of the three founders of the present Cotgrove Family; the other two were Susanna's two brothers, Thomas and Benjamin. Some five years later Susanna married but not, I suspect, to William's father who remains unknown. According to Poor Law Records William remained in Leigh and was brought up be his grand mother, Sarah Cotgrove, née Studd, a widow.

Over the page you will see a copy of a photograph that has come into my possession. It is of an oil painting and purports to be of a Cotgrove who was 70 years a fisherman. The owner only knows of this photo and has never seen the painting; it is not even known if it still exists. It could be William Cotgrove or even someone of a related family, perhaps a Noakes. To be "Seventy years a fisherman" he must have reached at least an age of 80 years; young boys went to sea by the age of 10.

Does any one recognise this painting ? (Click here to see the picture).

There can be very few men of Leigh who have had their portrait painted, so does any one have any idea who it might be and where is the original today ?

Another photograph that I obtained this last year showed Margaret Keziah Cotgrove with her husband, Frederick Charles Cowey, both in Salvation Army uniform. This would have been taken around 1900. According to the family Margaret spelt her name Mergaret or Murgaret; her tomb stone records it as Mergaret but all "official" records use the normal spelling. This photo however is another example of Cotgroves who were in the Salvation Army. Although most of the Cotgroves were Church of England and one branch had some strong adherents of the Methodist Church, see last year's News Letter, a few were Salvationists.

The Army was very strong in Leigh at the turn of the century when they owned most of the Cockel Sheds and leased them to the Leigh fishermen. A photograph of the 1900 Salvation Army Band shows it had about 20 band members and that a Cotgrove was the Colour Sergeant.. Who was he ?

Michael Bentine, who had a Cotgrove grand mother, relates in his autobiography how his great aunt, a Salvation Army Captain would travel to east London to visit the pubs and doss houses of Docklands. She was a small but tough lady who would stand no nonsense. However she always carried a brick in her handbag to add weight to its swing. Great Aunt was almost certainly Ellen Louisa Sage, née Cotgrove, the daughter of John and Jane Cotgrove.

Another Salvationist was Albert Hammond Cotgrove, the son of George and Mary Ann Cotgrove. His son Albert Victor was also dedicated by the Leigh Corps of the Army in 1903.

Lastly, those of you with Internet access might like to know that I have an E-mail address for Cotgrove correspondence it is

:- cotgrove @ tesco.net

Please note that I have no Internet connection at home so don't use it for urgent mail as I only look at my mailbox about once a week, usually on Wednesday mornings. [No longer true; I have a computer at home now. NHH March 2003]

Last year I enquired about Michael John Cotgrove. I'm glad to say that he is now found and in his correct place on the tree. Many thanks to those who let me know.

So may I wish you all A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. May the Year 2001 bring you much Happiness.

Yours sincerely,

Norman Holding

Christmas 1999

Dear Cousin,

When I first began this long search into my own origins the problems that confronted me were completely different from those met by today's Family Historians. Forty years ago - was it so long ? - photocopies and microfilming were unknown and there was therefore only one copy of a document. The genealogist worked alone unsupported by the network of clubs and societies that exist today. Record offices were the home of academics and we amateurs were not welcomed inside their search rooms.

It was in about 1960 that I made my first visit to the old Somerset House in the Strand to collect my first birth certificate. It cost me all of three shillings and nine pence and could be collected the same day. What a difference to today's £6.50. It was not long before I obtained my mothers birth certificate only to note that her mother was named Eliza Thompson. A name that I considered to common to follow further; there were pages of Thompsons in the indexes, how could one find the right one ? If only I had got one more certificate, I would have found that Eliza's parents were Golden Thompson and Eliza Cotgrove, both of Leigh on Sea and both names to conjure with. It was to be almost another 25 years till I got that certificate by which time the cost had risen to £5.00

In the early days one had to know where ones ancestor lived as the only copy of a document was with the authority that produced it. The Parish Register was still in the Church Vestry not far from the very table where your ancestors signed it. The Census return, taken every ten years since 1841 were stored in the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane, London and only the original books could by examined.

These books, written up by the Enumerator from the forms left at each house in his enumeration district were filled in with a Victorian hand which often started off on page one as a clear neat copper plate and frequency deteriorated as the pages turned into an almost unreadable scrawl. Some even wrote a complaint on the last page concerning the amount of work entailed and the low remuneration.

Although these books were a great aid to the early Family Historian they could only be used by journeying to London and then when only when one knew the address where ones ancestors were living on Census night. There were no indexes and the entries were in the order that the Enumerator collected his forms, usually in street number order. I remember searching through dozens of books to try to find a Holding ancestor who lived, I thought in East London., After many weeks I gave up with out finding him.

Today all this has changed. All the Census Returns up to 1891, the last one available to the public, have been filmed and can now be seen at the larger public libraries. What is more the 1851 Census has been indexed, generally by counties and the 1881 by counties and in one large index for the whole of England. This later effort by the Mormon church and the Federation of Family History Societies means that the indexes are available in most libraries on microfiche and are so inexpensive that many Family History Societies also hold a copy. Many family historians have parts dealing with their own county of interest.

I have at home the whole of Leigh for each one of the Censuses and easy access to the indexes for the whole of England.

So now I can look for that missing Holding ancestor in a few minutes. Unfortunately he was dead by 1881 and I never found him !

But what of the Cotgroves? Even at the start of my researches it was fairly easy; they all lived in Leigh and Leigh, even before the indexing project was small enough to search the complete census return book, now on film, looking for the family.

Not counting those at sea or now living away from Leigh in :-

1841 there were 57.

1851 81.

1861 125.

1871 151 in Leigh & Southend.

1881 168 for all England.

1891 165 in Leigh & Southend.

By 1871 numbers of the family had moved out of Leigh to London and other places so a total can not be given. In 1871 the number outside Leigh was limited to about 4 persons. In 1881 the national Index can give an estimate for the whole of England, less those at sea. In general the Leigh fisherman did not make long trips so that the numbers at sea were small. By 1891 there were several families in London.

After 1900 the numbers leaving Leigh increased especially after the Great War. It was the Second World war which really brought about the exit from SE Essex but even today nearly every Cotgrove lives south of Birmingham and about 66% still live within 10 miles of Leigh. The first emigrant to Australia was Alice Maud and her husband in about 1920. Now there are about 20 families in Australia and New Zealand. Today the total world population of Cotgroves is about 320.

A search of this 1881 Census Index, even with its many spelling errors allows us to find those Cotgrove who have strayed from the nest in Leigh. I have located about 10 who I had not previously found, all but two of whom I could positively identify. They were mostly girls who had got jobs as domestic servants and were "living in" well away from Leigh.

One of the two unknowns is Frederick Cotgrove who was Under Butler in St George's, London. I think he was Frederick Thomas, son of "Judgement" Cotgrove, who later became an itinerant hairdresser. The other was a Susan Cotgrove, aged 13, a school girl in Grouville, Jersey, Channel Islands. What was most interesting in her case was that she was the only Cotgrove on the island and that she had been born there. Where were her parents ? I then remembered that in another index for shipping in 1861 had found a Charles Cotgrove in port on Jersey with his boat the "Sea Seal". He was in fact a brother of "Judgement". The interesting point about Charles was although I could identify him on my Tree he was not on board Census night having left the boat in the charge of his "Crew", an eight year old boy who had filled in the census form with a barely legible childish hand. Where was Charles? I have always thought that he had slipped ashore for a spot of female company but a search of the most of the island failed to find him, but then he was not likely to fill in a form was he!

Now however I have found some confirmation. The Registrar on Jersey has found the Birth Certificate of the school girl, Susan Hannah Cotgrove born 26th Nov. 1868, the daughter of Charles Cotgrove and Eliza Rothwell. What is even more interesting is the fact that Susan had a brother, Charles James born June 1861 and two sisters both named Eliza Susan born in 1864 and 1866, the first Eliza having died in 1865 aged 8 months. Charles was obviously a regular visitor to Jersey and although I have not yet obtained his marriage certificate it is almost certain that they were married. Now that I have an address for the birth of his daughter in 1868 I'll double check that address for census night.

The surviving Eliza probably married in the City of London in 1891. There is no further trace of either of the other two children , Susan and Charles, so we must assume that they died in childhood. Charles senior died in Leigh in 1908. I can also find no later trace of Eliza Rothwell, a name which seems only to exist on the Isle of Man.

Turning now to more modern times I reproduce in the centre of this page a small piece of Cotgrove ephemera. Those of you who remember Southend before the Royals Shopping Centre was built will remember Cotgrove's Fish Restaurant at the southern end of the High Street. This was run by the two Cotgrove brothers David and John. David sadly died in 1995 but John now runs his picture gallery and artist's studio in Old Leigh. It was John who drew up the logo which was used on the top of the restaurant menu.

Also shown overleaf is a photograph showing what is claimed to be the Sunday School Teachers of the New Road Methodist Church in 1913. Judging by the numbers and ages I suspect that this is incorrect; it looks more like the entire congregation. . However of the 42 persons shown 29 are related by birth or marriage. One branch of the Cotgrove family have been members of the Church since 1847. A copy of this photograph used to hang in the bar of the Crooked Billet Pub which is not far from the original site of the church in the High Street.

One of the problems I face is trying to place someone on the tree when the indexes, for various reasons, fail to give full details of the persons origins. Usually this can be overcome but a few remain a puzzle. So does any one recognize the family of Michael John Cotgrove, born about 1946, married to Gwendoline Anne Isabel nee Elliot with children Michie Alice, born 1984, Jade Patrica, 1989, and Charlie Marley , 1995. They have lived in the Southend and, later, in the Brentford areas. I would love to add you to the tree but who are you ?

So with the Century as well as the Millennium coming to a close may I wish you all A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. May the Year 2000 bring you much Happiness.

Yours sincerely,

Norman Holding

Text Box: The New Road Methodist Church; Sunday School Teachers 1913.
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I start to write this year's News Letter on the 11th November, Remembrance Day. Those of you who have studied your newspapers in detail will have seen that the number of survivors of the First World War 1914-18 grows smaller each year. It is now down to a few hundred; it varies according to which paper one reads but in those papers giving a list of names there appears William G. Cotgrove. William, now 102, was awarded the Military Medal during the War. Now, on 18th December he will be presented with the insignia of the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French. His daughter, Maureen, tells me that he is still in good health. Bill was also at Ypres on the 11th to be greeted by Her Majesty The Queen during the 80th Anniversary Celebrations. The following Sunday, 15th November Bill was one of several veterans interviewed for the BBC programme on the survivors. He even gave a tune on his mouth organ.

Last year I included a list of all those Cotgroves who served in WW1. Many of you kindly wrote to tell me that I had omitted Stephen Daniel who lost a leg and an eye. I have rechecked the official records but I'm afraid his name is not there. There is no doubt that he was in the Army in France but his name is not to found in the Medal Rolls, probably because of an incorrect spelling of his name. I have tried COTGRAVE, COTGREAVE, COLGROVE (the "T" not crossed), COLGRAVE and COLGREAVE but there is no Stephen Daniel nor any S.D or Stephen.

Has any one details of Stephen's Regiment or does any one have his Medals ? His Silver War Badge - "For Services Rendered" has a serial number on the back. His other Medals will also give his Name, Number and Regiment. I'm sorry that I did not list him but my list was compiled from the Medal Rolls which has proved inaccurate.

There is also a similar problem with William George Cotgrove - see above. He is on my 1997 list as Walter George. All the official lists state only W.G. and I incorrectly entered him as Walter of whom I have two on the tree. The rest of the details that I gave are correct except perhaps for the date of entry into France. Sorry Bill. The Medal Rolls give a Walter who served in the RFA with Numbers 1014 and 947624 who arrived in France on 4th Oct. 1915 There is also a W.G. Colgrove an RFA Driver No. 1003 who also landed in France 4th Oct.1915; the same day ! It makes one wonder how many more have been omitted or misplaced.

I am often asked from where I get my information on long dead Cotgroves. Most comes from records retained in public archives and for the more recent events, say the last 150 years, from local and national newspapers. Unfortunately only certain classes of activity feature in these records so that the picture that they paint is frequently distorted. It is the rich or the poor that generate most records and the Cotgroves fitted into the middle ground thus avoiding too frequent a mention. The same applies to criminals; these always produce a wealth of records, both official and in newspapers but as the Cotgroves were nearly all good honest citizens of Leigh they barely get a mention. However I have found a few cases of note and will try to report what I have found. I hope that the passage of time has dulled the sense of shame and that the family history will be made more interesting by their disclosure.

The first mention is of Benjamin, the earliest known founder of the Leigh Cotgroves. Together with Benjamin Mandrey, a local pub landlord, he was charged in 1689 with assaulting Thomas Medhop, an oyster dredger of Leigh. Our Benjamin was bound over to keep the peace at Chelmsford Quarter Sessions for what appears to have been a pub brawl.

It was some 150 years later that the next serious offence was reported. Charles Cotgrove accompanied by his young 12 year old cousin, William, boarded a ship aground in the Thames and helped themselves to a few items from the captain's abandoned cabin. These included some bottles of wine as well as 200 cigars. Unfortunately they were spotted by the Customs and charged with smuggling. This was clearly not the case as the bottles had retail labels; nevertheless he was found guilty and fined the standard amount of £100, a sum that he could never hope to pay. He was thus detained at Chelmsford as one of Her Majesty's debtors. It was not known how long he served but he was out by April 1851 in time for the Census. The cigars proved troublesome to the Customs as they were water damaged and could not be sold. After much correspondence they were disposed off "at no public expense".

The fishing rights in the creeks and inlets around Leigh were owned for the most part by the Lord of the Manor and in the late 1800 this led to a number of civil cases for trespass in which some of the Cotgroves were involved. In 1864 there was a Civil Action between two clergymen about ownership of the fishing rights around Leigh Marsh or Two Tree Island. Many of the Cotgrove family joined with others to sign an affidavit to say that they had fished unhindered around the Island for 20 years. The case was covered in "The Times" as many of the fishermen were still under 20 years of age at the time of signing.

In 1885 William Partridge and Thomas Cotgrove, two local fishermen, were sued for trespass in Oyster Creek. They won the case but the question of fishing rights was raised in Court several times up to 1906 when the fishermen Happy New Year.

Yours sincerely finally lost the right to fish without permission in many of the waters and creek. It was proved that the Rights were in the hands of the Lords of the Manor and had been so from before 1377.

By 1888 the War Office had property at Shoebury Sands and on separate occasions Thomas and George Cotgrove were fined for anchoring their smacks within War Department property. Water pollution made some shell fish dangerous to eat and Southend purchased the fishing rights on the foreshore so that they could be let out to responsible fishermen who would ensure that only clean shellfish were sold. One such was the Southend Shellfish Co. whose principle share holders included Arthur David Cotgrove. He summoned several young boys for picking up winkles from the mud.

Christmas News Letter 2001

Christmas News Letter 2000

Christmas 1999

Of the 42 persons in the picture 29 can be identified as descending from either Benjamin & Sarah Cotgrove or Wm. Bridge or Thomas Robinson by direct descent or by marrage; many from more than one branch.

Christmas News Letter 1998