Edith Jane Cowling was the oldest of three children born to Joh Cowling, a brewer’s drayman originally from Pateley Bridge, and Annie Cowling nee Withers, from Harbury in Staffordshire. She was born on 12th December 1891 in Keighley. Her younger siblings were Joseph (born 1898) and Ida (born 1901).
At the time of the 1901 census she was an in-patient at the Temporary Fever Hospital on Keighley Road in Skipton. Her family, at this time, were living at 43 Brook Street in Skipton.
The 1901 Census showing Edith as a patient in hospital
By 1911 the family had moved to 27 Unity Street in Bingley. Edith, now 19, was working as a weaver and her brother Joseph, a doffer at a mill. Ida Mary was still at school.
Edith was a Probationer Nurse and Lady Superintendent with St. John’s Ambulance Brigade, working at Keighley War Hospital from 1st August 1916 until April 1919, working a total of 4100 hours.
Edith and her siblings continued to live together at 27 Unity Street past the deaths of their parents, until in the 1930s they all married.
At the age of 42 Edith married James Wright, a dairy farmer of Wilsden, on 23rd December 1933 at Holy Trinity in Bingley.
The marriage record for Edith Cowling and James Wright
They had one son, Thomas Arnold, on 22nd June 1935. In 1939 they lived at 19 Gillbrene Avenue in Wilsden.
Later electoral records show them at Shay Gate Farm, which I believe is on Gillbrene Avenue.
James died in September 1957 and Edith in July 1965. Their son Thomas died in November 1977. They are buried together in Wilsden Cemetery.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962
1939 England and Wales Register
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
findagrave.com
