Cozens Family

Cozens Family

Sprowston farmer Jeremiah Cozens lived at `Sprowston Villa` married Mary Ann Hardy in 1806. They had two sons, William Cozens –Hardy and Jeremiah Cozens. Mary Ann Hardy was William and Mary Hardy’s third child and only daughter, born at Coltishall in 1773. Her father wrote out and indexed most of the 122 recipes and medicinal remedies in the calf-bound book. Sometimes the name of the friend who supplied the individual recipe is noted. William Cozens, who was born in 1806 and lived until 1895, he inherited the brewery from his uncle William Hardy and he continued the family business. Besides being a Maltster and Brewer he farmed 580 acres around Letheringsett. On inheriting the business he changed his surname to Cozens-Hardy, a requirement of William Hardy’s will. Letheringsett Hall, 21st July 1890: the Diamond Wedding of Mary Hardy’s grandson William H. Cozens-Hardy (centre, in shirtsleeves) and his wife Sarah (in the Bath chair). The boy with the bird’s nest, he followed his uncle as farmer, maltster, brewer and estate owner at Letheringsett, and also had the family properties at Cley and Sprowston. On the far left is his eldest son Clement, his partner in the Letheringsett malting’s and brewery. After his father’s death Clement sold the business in 1896, with the tied houses, to Morgan’s, the Norwich Brewers. At Clement’s feet are his granddaughter Gladys, later wife of her cousin the 3rd Lord Cozens-Hardy and mother of Beryl. Beside Gladys is her five-year-old cousin Basil, who with his father Sydney (beside Clement) played a vital role in conserving the papers. Herbert, the 1st Lord and the cricketer in braces, stands beside Sydney. The stooping figure beside William Hardy Cozens-Hardy is his son-in-law, the Mustard Manufacturer and Norwich MP. Jeremiah James Colman. His wife Caroline, the eldest of the trio of 1837, sits in front of their daughter and next to her father.

The family came to prominence in many fields including public service, the Law, politics, local government, engineering and philanthropy. Archie, the son of Theobald Cozens-Hardy (brother of Clement, Herbert and Sydney and standing sixth from the left) became editor of the regional newspaper the Eastern Daily Press. The Cozens Hardy family even by Victorian standards, were a very large family and on the Diamond wedding of William Hardy and Sarah, there were seven surviving children, their twenty-six grand Children and their five great grandchildren. (Cozens-Hardy Collection. NCC Records Office).

Ethel Mary Colman was the first woman to be made a Lord Mayor in Britain. Ethel Colman, along with her sister Helen, had the pleasure wherry “Hathor” built in 1905, naming the boat after Alan their brother who died in 1897 on boat called Hathor whilst convalescing in Luxor. The first vessels employed by Colman’s to ship goods between Great Yarmouth, Norfolk and Carrow, Norwich were Norfolk Wherries-single sailed work boats which had their heyday in Victorian times and which by 1900 had dwindled, due to the use of steam vessels. The Wherries were up to 70ft long, carrying, on average, 40 tons of cargo. The large sail was oiled and tarred by the crew to obtain its distinctive black colour and might weigh 1.5 tons. It was carried on a mast 40ft high with a 36ft gaff. The “Hather” was possible converted from a work boat, into a pleasure Wherry for the family use.

Census 1891.Oak Lodge. No.129 North Walsham Road. Farmer, born Letheringsett. JP. for County of Norfolk. Thomas Cozens Hardy age 48 ~ Sarah Ann ………. age 55, born in Netherton, Yorkshire. Henry Theobald Cozens Hardy, son, unmarried, 24, Journalist, born Sprowston, Edgar Wrigby Cozens Hardy, son, unmarried, 18, born Sprowston. Sarah Rosetta Youngman, servant, unmarried, 24, House Parlour maid, born Honing. Ann Elizabeth Helsdon, servant, unmarried, 22, Cook, born Burgh next Aylsham. In 1883 William Hardy Cozens-Hardy was one of the chief landowners in Sprowston. In 1883 Theobald J.P. Cozens-Hardy of Oak Lodge, Farmer.

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  Letheringsett Hall, 21st July 1890, the Diamond Wedding of Mary Hardy’s grandson William Hardy Cozens-Hardy.

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