Edward William Cole (1832 - 1918)

Descendants

Biography

Edward William Cole was a bookseller, author, editor, and publisher. Also known as E. W. Cole of the Book Arcade, he was the founder of "Cole's Book Arcade", Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, which contained more than a million books in its 16 departments over three floors, as well as benches for people to sit and read, a lolly shop, toy shop, educational monkey exhibit, fernery with talking parrots, photography studio, printing works, funhouse, Tea Salon, live band, mechanical chicken, and an exhortation to "Read For As Long As You Like – No One Asked To Buy". Whether or not it actually held the "two million" books he claimed, the Book Arcade was most certainly the largest book shop in the world at the time.

Life Events

Edward William Cole was born on the 4th January 1832, in Woodchurch (near Tenterden), Kent, England, the son of Harriet Wall Gilbert and an unknown father, and baptised on the 26th February the same year at Woodchurch.^[1]
When he was four years old his mother gave him a stepfather (despite no recorded divorce from her first husband, who was to be transported to Van Diemen's Land that same year) when she married Thomas Watson.

On the 6th June 1841, the 9-year-old Edward was living in with his family at Lam, in the parish of Rolvenden, Kent. Home at the time were his stepfather: Thomas Watson (25–29), an agricultural labourer; his mother: Harriet (35–39); their son: 1-year-old John Watson; and his brother: 11-year-old Richard Cole.^[2]

He firstly moved to London when aged 17 or 18 years, after which he emigrated to the Cape Colony (in 1850, aboard the Dalhousie), where he enjoyed some success with farming, and explorations. In 1852 he left the Colony and headed farther south, landing at Yarra in the Colony of Victoria, Australia that same year. After settling in, he spent some time in the gold diggings, working at various occupations.

Cole's Book Arcade

Although having little to no education, he was a voracious reader, and in 1865 he started a bookshop in Melbourne's Eastern Market (also known as "Paddys Market"). Later, in 1873, he moved to Bourke Street where he named his store "Coles Book Arcade" — a rather grandiose name for a small storefront, but it seems to have paid off. So much so, in fact, that it drew such luminaries as writers Rudyard Kipling, and Mark Twain, who both visited the Arcade during their travels to Australia.
➢ The Coles Book Arcade has a mention in Tony Robinson's Time Walks: Season 1 Episode 2, Melbourne (beginning at 10:44 in).

in 1867 he wrote a book on Jesus and St Paul, a discussion on miracles, meant to be followed by another, although nobody would publish it. Later he was to become a publisher of books on many subjects, of which his Cole's Funny Picture Book series, and Cole's Fun Doctor, were probably the most popular.

After first advertising for a wife in the newspaper and meeting with a promising prospect, he married Eliza Frances Jordan on the 9th August 1875, in All Saints, St. Kilda,^[3] (she predeceased him), subsequently having six children: four daughters, and two sons:

1. Ada Belinda (1876–1958 (Turnley))
2. Edward William (1878–1946)
3. Valentine Francis Stewart (1880–1941)
4. Ruby Angelina (1882–1890)
5. Pearl Adelia (1883–1977)
6. Ivy Diamond (1885–1984 (Rudd))

Having seen firsthand the treatment meted out to black Africans while he'd been in the Cape Colony, and also witnessing the discrimination against the Chinese immigrants in Australia, he was a firm and passionate opponent of the "Immigration Restriction Act of 1901" (later known as the "White Australia policy"), which limited migration to Australia between 1901 and 1958, something about which he was even more vocal after meeting the commander of a Japanese naval squadron visiting Australia in 1902. As a result of that meeting, he was invited to be a special guest at the Osaka Trade Exhibition — on which trip he and Eliza were accompanied by daughters Ivy and Linda — where they were given red carpet treatment. Wherever he went while in Japan, he would explain why he had a problem with "White Australia" saying: "My passionate view is that all men are created equal, and that the only difference is that the closer they live to the equator, the blacker their skins, and the further away the whiter their skins, but they are all the same underneath."^[4] The family brought back with them a new family member, a Japanese poodle named Wai – short for White Australia Impossible.

He passed away on the 16th December 1918, in Essendon, Victoria, aged 86 years,^[5] and was interred alongside his wife in the Boroondara General Cemetery, Kew, where four of their children also lie.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism — "England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJDL-9Z3W : 10 December 2017), Edward William Cole, 26 Feb 1832; citing Christening, Woodchurch, Kent, England, Kent Archives Office, Maidstone; FHL microfilm 1,473,775.
2. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841 ; Class: HO107; Piece: 475; Book: 12; Civil Parish: Rolvenden; County: Kent; Enumeration District: 2; Folio: 19; Page: 4; Line: 17; GSU roll: 306870 Name: Edward Cole; Age: 9; Estimated Birth Year: abt 1832; Gender: Male; Where born: Kent, England; Civil parish: Rolvenden; Hundred: Rolvenden; County/Island: Kent; Country: England; Registration district: Tenterden; Sub-registration district: Rolvenden; Piece: 475; Book: 12; Folio: 19; Page number: 4
3. ↑ Marriage Registration — Victoria State Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Marriage registration details: Registration number: 3901/1875; Family name: COLE; Given name(s): Edward William; Event: Marriage; Spouse's family name: JORDAN; Spouse's given name(s): Eliza Frances; Reg. year: 1875
4. ↑ Visit to Japan — ABC News Australia Millions of books, monkeys and an orchestra — the story of EW Cole and his Book Arcade
5. ↑ Death Registration — Victoria State Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Death registration details: Registration number: 12734/1918; Family name: COLE; Given name(s): Edw Wm; Event: Death; Mother's name / Spouse's name: Unknown; Mother's family name at birth: UNKNOWN; Father's Name: Unknown; Place of birth: Unknown; Place of death: Essdon; Spouse at Death: ; Age at Death: 86; Reg. year: 1918
6. ↑ Burial — Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/188138374/edward-william-cole: accessed 06 August 2022), memorial page for Edward William Cole (4 Jan 1832–16 Dec 1918), Find A Grave: Memorial #188138374, citing Boroondara General Cemetery, Kew, Boroondara City, Victoria, Australia; Maintained by letemrip (contributor 49084452).

• Marriage (with date) — "Australia Marriages, 1810-1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTZ9-HKW : 28 January 2020), Edward William Cole, 1875.

See also:

• Wikipedia Edward William Cole
• Wikidata: Item Q5345893, en:Wikipedia

• 1889 — "COLE'S BOOK ARCADE." Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935) 29 June 1889: 5. Web. 8 Aug 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198061644>.

• 1898 — "COLE'S BOOK ARCADE." South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900) 16 December 1898: 7. Web. 8 Aug 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56544413>.

• 1909 — "COLE'S BOOK ARCADE." The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) 21 December 1909: 7. Web. 8 Aug 2022 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241962657>.