Grandparents

Walter James Cotsworth was born about 1843 in Manchester. In 1871 he lived at 2 Sherwood St, Withington with his wife Hannah (nee Myers), born about 1845. He was a master plumber, employing 2 men and 5 boys and they had a servant. They had 4 children, Henry Myers, 4, James Burton, 2, and Willie, who was less than a month old. The fourth child was Mary for whom we have no birth information. James died aged 2 and was buried on 25 October 1871 at St. Paul’s church, Withington. By 1881 they had 5 children and lived at 138 Wilmslow Rd. By 1901 Walter (now described as a plumber and gas fitter) and Hannah had moved to Blackpool, where Walter died on 4 September 1902 aged 59. He was buried on 8 September at St Paul’s church, Withington. Hannah died on 24 May 1929, aged 83. The family grave can be seen in St Paul’s churchyard and the headstone records Walter, Hannah, James, Mary and John Henry (Jack, grandson).

Parents

Henry Myers Cotsworth was born in Fallowfield on 6 May 1867 and was baptised on 7 August 1867 at the Wesleyan-Methodist Chapel, Dickenson Rd, Rusholme, by Joseph Bush. By 1881, aged 14, he was an apprentice plumber. In 1891 he lived on Barlow Moor Rd with his sister, Annie, a housekeeper. From 1888 until he resigned in 1893 he was a freemason, belonging to the Clarendon Lodge, Hyde. Henry married Mary Ellen Lees, born in 1867. In 1901 Henry and Mary lived at 96 Barlow Moor Rd and were still there in 1918. Henry was described as a plumbing and sanitary engineer and later as a master plumber. The couple had 3 children, John Henry, Jessie and Doris, all born in Didsbury.

Henry died on 24 April 1937 in South Manchester.

John Henry

John was born about 1892. In 1911, aged 18, he was a plumber’s apprentice. He became a member of the 4th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment, formerly the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. He died in France on 28 September 1918. It is unclear where he was initially buried but he was reburied in the Villers-Faucon Communal Cemetery Extension, Departement de la Somme, Picardie. The grave reference is IV. A. 14. He was identified by boots, tie and a small regimental cross. The five adjacent graves contain the remains of unknown soldiers.