Caroline Cousins
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Caroline Jane Cousins (nee Bartlett) known locally as "Granny Cousins". She was born in 1838 at Morden, Dorset and married Joseph Cousins in 1863. He was 30 years her senior and they had four children.
Joseph died in 1880 leaving "Jane" and the children in dire straights and they were admitted to the workhouse at Wareham, Dorset on at least two occasions over the next few years.
She later moved to the town of Poole, Dorset and in her twilight years worked at the town "Knocker-up". In the days before alarm clocks she would for three pennies per week, walk the streets of the town tapping on windows to wake the town's folk up for work.
This photo was taken around 1910 and shows her during one of her early morning rounds wearing her usual attire and carrying an old battered lamp. She continued her rounds of the town waking people up until the early part of WWI when she was well into her 70's.
She was said to have been a strange and lonely lady, who spent her last couple of years being cared for by the parish and with little contact with her children.
She died in the local hospital aged 89 years old in the summer of 1927. |
England Census 1851 about Caroline Bartlett and family
Residence: Sherford, Morden, Dorset, England |
| Name |
Relation |
Marital
status: |
Age |
Birth |
Place of Birth |
Benjamine Bartlett
Dianna Bartlett
Caroline Bartlett
Ellen Cox
Elizabeth Bartlett |
Head
Daughter
Daughter
Visitor
Granddaughter |
Widowed
Single
Single
Married
Single |
40
29
14
49
1 |
abt. 1811
abt. 1822
abt. 1837
abt. 1802
abt. 1850 |
Syleham, Dorset
Syleham, Dorset
Morden, Dorset
Sterunnde Mayter, Dorset
Morden, Dorset |
England Census 1891 about Caroline J. Cousins and family
Residence: Salisbury Street, Poole, Dorset, England |
| Name |
Relation |
Marital
status: |
Age |
Birth |
Place of Birth |
Caroline J. Cousins
Dinah F. Cousins
Soloman C. Cousins
Owen T. Cousins
Rosena E. Cousins
Ellen M. E. Cousins
Isabella Ruffel
Emma C. Woodford |
Head
Daughter
Son
Son
Daughter-in-law
Daughter
Unknown
Visitor |
Widowed
Single
Single
Married
Married
Single
Single
Single |
51
20
16
25
25
2
1
24 |
abt. 1840
abt. 1871
abt. 1875
abt. 1866
abt. 1866
abt. 1889
abt. 1890
abt. 1867 |
Morden, Dorset
Morden, Dorset
Morden, Dorset
Morden, Dorset
Lytchett Minster, Dorset
Poole, Dorset
Poole, Dorset
Unknown |
May Cousins
Miss May Cousins, Punjab, India, won prizes in vintage publications in 1907.
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