George Cole (South Australian politician) explained

George William Cole (15 January 1823 – 4 December 1893) was a politician in the colony of South Australia.

History

Cole was born in Lindfield, Sussex, the eldest son of George Cole (2 May 1792 – 20 November 1853)^[1] and Sarah Cole, née Cooper (c. 1787–1837). George married a second time, to Mrs Jane Mitchell in 1838. George, Jane, and George's seven children arrived in South Australia on 9 July 1839 aboard Lysander^[2]

He was employed as City Valuator from around 1865.

He was, like his father, a confirmed teetotaler, active in the Bible Christian Missionary Society and the Total Abstinence Society^[3] and important in the founding of Rechabites in South Australia. He was a lay preacher for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Adelaide.^[4]

He was a member of Parliament for the seats of Burra and Clare 1860–1862, with fellow teetotaler William Dale as his associate, and The Burra 1862–1866, when he resigned.^[5] He fought for abolition of liquor and closing of railways on Sundays. In the 1850s he lived next door to the Temperance Hall^[6] in Tynte Street, North Adelaide; later at Lymington Cottage, Melbourne Street, North Adelaide.

Family

Cole arrived in South Australia with his father, stepmother and six siblings:

• Charlotte Ann Cole (26 January 1821 – 1 January 1863) married George Hiles

• Sarah Jane Cole (4 May 1825 –) married Samuel May in 1852
• Thyrza Lucy Cole (17 August 1827 – 1881) married Thomas James Mitchell in 1845
• Tryphena Cole (29 January 1832 – 30 January 1890) married Henry Jessop in 1848
• Aaron Cole (1835 – 23 September 1917) married Mary Ann Barlow in 1855
• William George Cooper Cole (23 February 1837 – 5 December 1912) married Mary Elizabeth Fountain in 1857

He married Ann Elizabeth Mitchell (14 January 1824 – 9 October 1915) on 1 December 1845.

• Jessie Ann Cole (6 September 1845 – 11 October 1847 in Hobart^[7])
• Jessie Gravely Cole (29 September 1847 – 14 November 1870) married Arthur Hamilton Scarfe (20 June 1885 – 16 December 1948) on 22 June 1870
• Annie Elizabeth Cole (29 April 1851 – 8 June 1878) married Rev. William Williams (c. 1850 – 6 July 1913)
• George Mitchell Cole (5 December 1854 – 21 February 1884) married Susan Ellen Chapman (16 July 1856 – 11 April 1942) on 11 August 1881.
• Rosa Jane Cole (2 September 1859 – 21 October 1942) married Hannibal Lyne on 29 September 1880
• Emma Tryphena Cole (25 October 1861 – 8 January 1926 in WA) married John LeCornu jnr (c. 1861 – 14 July 1948) on 12 December 1882

Notes and References

1. News: Sudden death . . 26 November 1853 . 3 April 2015 . 2 . Trove.
2. Leadbeater, B., http://www.familyhistorysa.org/colonists.html
3. News: Advertising. . . 12 March 1853 . 3 April 2015 . 4 . Trove.
4. News: The Late Mr. G. W. Cole . . 5 December 1893 . 3 April 2015 . 3 . Trove.
5. 3705 . George William Cole . yes . 14 November 2022.
6. Architect for the Temperance Hall was James William Cole, who was member for West Torrens 1857–1860, but it is not known whether there is a family connection.
7. Tasmania BDM Registration 1644