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Daniel was born in an area of Middlesex that would now be called London, but we do not know precisely where or when and no baptismal record has come to light in spite of energetic research. Judging by later documents, he must have been born around 1772. During his youth he was exposed to the trade of pottery, so much so as to be documented in his naval discharge papers as "bred to pottery" but we do not know how this came to be - whether he was working with his father, another relative, or - for some reason as yet unknown - elsewhere. Considering how long ago Daniel lived, we are fortunate to know a remarkable amount about his appearance as a grown man. He was 5'8" tall with a fresh complexion, brown hair and blue eyes. Until his 30s, when a broken leg forced him to walk with a limp, he had no distinguishing features. (The physical description, which is the next best thing to an artist's portrait, comes from his naval discharge papers (see below); the permanent limp was an anecdote passed down in the family.)
By 1797, Ann was living at the Brill in St Pancras, Somers Town (or Somerstown) - then such a peaceful setting.
The Brill is now totally unrecognisable as the location of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link at St Pancras Station.
By 1797 Daniel had gone to sea in Nelson's Navy to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. He was not listed as a victim of the press gang but appears to have been one of the "Quota" system (Sandwich). He had probably signed up for because of the severe food shortages in and around London at the time. If a man volunteered for Nelson's Navy he would receive conduct money and two months wages in advance. However not all "Volunteers" volunteered willingly; frequently a man taken by the Press Gang would be offered the chance to volunteer and so receive a share in the pickings (known as the bounty). Also joining the navy was a way to escape from the threat of the debtors prison. The navy would protect any man from his creditors if his debt was less than £20.
Daniel's started service on the Defiance on 22 Feb 1796. The previous October there had been a mutiny on board and it is likely that most of the crew were being replaced. On 6 July 1798, Daniel was promoted from ordinary seaman to able seaman. He left the Defiance sometime towards the end of the century when there was a lull in hostilities with the French and there was a widespread laying-off of seamen. Presumably he returned to Ann in this period as his twins Catherine and Sarah were born on 9th July 1802. By the time of their birth, though, Daniel was back at sea, on another ship, the Narcissus, on which he served two stints. The first was from 29 October 1801 until 2 December 1803. In that period, on 1 Mar 1802, he was promoted to second gunner. He served his second stint on the Narcissus from 30 August 1804 until 13 September 1805, one month before the Battle of Trafalgar. His discharge from the Narcissus at the stated age of 34 was finally due to a broken leg which left him with a permanent limp. Presumably, on his return, he was met with twin daughters who he knew nothing about! After his naval discharge, Daniel plied his trade as a potter in Tileyard Road, Islington. It was to be two more years before Daniel and Ann were to have another child. The child was John who was born in Islington on 14 October 1807 and baptised the following Spring in St Pancras on 17 April 1808. In 1809 Daniel and Ann had what was to be their last child, another Daniel Cole, born 16 November 1809 and baptised at St Mary, Stoke Newington on 11 March 1810. The location suggests that Daniel (the elder) had already moved to the Tottenham Tile Kilns for which Stoke Newington was the nearest major town. Daniel the younger married Harriet Castile at Hackney in 1834. The couple had a daughter the following year, Harriet Cole, born 12 August 1835 and baptised 9 September 1835 at St Mary, Bethnal Green (a pottery area). After this there is no record of the family in censuses or death records. Presumably they emigrated. It was probably too early for Australia and there is no convincing American record. The next record for Daniel is the last but one, and comes from over 30 years later. It shows Daniel's death on 12 October 1840 at the Tile Kilns, where his daughter Catherine was also living. Catherine, had married William Dean and become Catherine Dean, and Daniel had become the foreman at the Tile Kilns. On the death certificate Catherine gave his age as 68. Sarah, the other twin, probably married Jeremiah Plume on 29 Jun 1823 at St Pancras but there do not appear to have been any children. Daniel was buried in Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, on 18 Oct 1840. Ann survived Daniel by nearly seven years. According to the 1841 census, she was living for at least part of this time with her son John's family. However, when she died on 1 February 1847, aged 79, it was sadly in the Edmonton Union Workhouse. The cause was given as bronchitis of one week's duration. No workhouse records survive from that time, so there is no way of knowing whether she went there to die or whether she was a 'permanent' inmate. According to the census, she had not been born in Middlesex, but, being 1841, there was no hint as to where she actually was born. Ann was buried in Abney Park Cemetery in the same grave as Daniel: burial 000046, section J07, index 1S01. There is a page showing the descendants of Daniel and Ann. |
On
15 May 1792 Daniel married Ann Moss in Old Church St Pancras. Both
were resident in the parish at the time. However, no baptismal
record for Ann or Daniel has shown up in that parish or the
surrounding ones, so we do not know how long Ann or Daniel had been
living there. The 1841 census (the last before Ann died) indicated
that she was born in a different county.
Daniel's
first stint in the navy began at the age of 24 as "No 826 on
the books of His Majesty's Ship Defiance". We have no
information on what happened in the four years between his marriage
and his call to the sea. It seems likely that some children were
born, but we have no firm record of them. Evidence points to a son
named 
