occupation

Horseman and general labourer

dates

Born: 1866, Isle of Wight

Married: Rose Martha WEST, late 1880s

Died: 1950s

residence

St Ebbes, Oxford

submitted by

Sheila HOPKINSON (granddaughter)

related faces

Rosa Martha COWLES, née WEST (wife)

Background information

William COWLES’ family originated in Cambridgeshire and moved to Chipping Norton in the late 1840s to work as grooms and stable men at Chapel House.  William was born in the Isle of Wight in 1866 where his father was employed as a gentleman’s groom.  In 1881 he was living at 17 Bath Street Oxford, with his widowed mother, working as a stable boy: he continued to work with horses all his life.

He married Rosa Martha WEST in the late 1880s.  He and Rosa lived at 5 Sadler Street, St Ebbes and had seven children, three boys and four girls. Two of the boys were killed in WW1.  William died in the 1950s and is buried in Oxford.