JAMES COLE, weaver, of Edenbridge (1720-1795).

James was baptised on April 16th 1720, though when he died in 1795 he was stated to be aged 77, which would mean that he was born in 1718. He was the third son of William Cole, linen weaver, of Edenbridge. In 1744 he was in Westerham, possibly with his elder brother Robert. He married Elizabeth Browne in Westerham, daughter of William Browne, on 24th September 1744 and their son William was baptised on 9th October 1744. His other children were baptised in Edenbridge. James was described in 1762 as a weaver; he presumably continued his father's trade and home at Medhurst Row, but not very successfully, because from 1759 there were frequent charity payments to him from Edenbridge parish. Apart from money they included a pair of shoes, three bushels of oats, shoes, half a bushel of wheat, a frock for his boy, and a bushel of wheat (all in 1768, which is one of the few years for which records survive). In 1763 he was paid for eleven days' work on the roads.

In August 1761 James was forced to pay £2 towards the lying in of Mary Jessup, who had been impregnated by James's son William, and to take on the duty of guaranteeing that his son would maintain the child.

In 1783 a document shows that James Cole was now living in Edenbridge village near to the water mill. This was TA 507 which had once belonged to William Cole of Chiddingstone, butcher, and had long been used to house paupers. It now belonged to The Great Stone Bridge trust. From 1769 to 1789 the parish paid James's rent, but from 1790 to 1794 he seems to have paid his rent himself.

Uniquely we have a visual image of James because he is mentioned in a poem written about 1787 by Richard Taylor. James, with his "pipe and black meagre muzzle" was clearly one of the village "characters". A muzzle was a beard, especially if long, straggly and dirty!

James continued to receive charity payments during the period 1778 to 1794. These were for poor people who were not actually on parish relief. James was buried on December 9th 1795 at Edenbridge; his wife Elizabeth on April 27th 1796.