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Joseph Thomas CottleThe birth of Joseph Thomas Cottle was registered in the first quarter of 1894. The rector of Framilode baptised him privately on 16 January and buried his mother three days later at Saul. Tom, as he was known, was one of four children born to Joseph Cottle and Rosa Anne née Hill; his siblings were Frederick William, Joseph Charles and Bella Rosetta. It is not clear where Tom spent his early years, but by 1911 he was living with his aunt and uncle, Mary and William Sparrow, at Tobacco Box, Fretherne. Tom enlisted into Lord Kitchener's Army on 25 November 1914, giving his address as Frampton. He was among the recruits obtained for the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Royal Field Artillery. Family sources indicate that he may have served in Gallipoli, but records do not survive to confirm this. In 1918-19, as an absent voter, his address was given as The Lake, Frampton, presumably that of his father. Tom's wartime service is not commemorated on the plaque in the village hall. After the war Tom returned to Frampton and his marriage to Mary Anne (Polly) Hayward was registered during the first quarter of 1920. Mary already had a daughter, Mary Evelyn, known as Maisie. Their family was later completed by the births of Kathleen, Eileen, Grace and George. Tom worked at the nurseries at Fretherne and also as a boiler-man on tanker ships. Joseph Thomas Cottle was buried on 28 February 1968 at St Mary's, Fretherne. |