Image Ref : RH 0004.jpg

Gravestone of William Cole, 1858–1934

William Cole was born in Holsworthy about July 1858. He became a prominent individual in Totnes, owning a bakery business in the High Street at two different premises, taking over the Town Mills as miller (image BHW 0497), becoming involved in the bacon factory next door to the Mill, and also serving as a town councillor for many years. Image TM 0012 is a portrait of him. The photograph of the gravestone was taken in December 2024 by Robert Harris, whose grandfather, Fred Harris, bought Higher Weekaborough farm from William Cole’s widow (see image RH 0002). He died at 1 Dart Villas, Totnes, on 24 January 1934 and was buried in Totnes Cemetery on the afternoon of Saturday 27 January. The Western Times, 2 February 1934, reported on the funeral (page 14). The lack of exact detail on the gravestone about birth and death suggests that the gravestone might have been erected not by his widow but by the managers of the bacon factory, for whom he was indeed a ‘neighbour’ (see image RD 0676). Further, although the gravestone gives his year of birth as 1859, the error can be accounted for, since someone subtracting his age at death (75) from the year of death (1934) would arrive at ‘1859’. This might also be evidence that someone other than his widow erected it.