William Cole (3 August 1714 – 16 December 1782), was a Cambridgeshire clergyman and antiquary, known for his extensive manuscript collections on the history of Cambridgeshire and of Buckinghamshire.
He published little, but left his manuscript volumes (over 100 of them) to the British Museum, where they have proved invaluable to people writing about the history of Cambridgeshire. He kept a diary between 1765 and 1770, and two volumes – one relating to a trip to France, and one to his time at Bletchley – were published in 1931.
A nineteenth-century biographer described Cole as "one of the most learned men of the eighteenth century in his particular line, and the most industrious antiquary that Cambridgeshire has ever had, or is likely to have", while the verdict of a contemporary, Professor Michael Lort, was "... with all his oddities, he was a worthy and valuable man".
Early life and education Cole was born at the King's Arms inn, where his father was then publican, in Little Abington, a village near Babraham, Cambridgeshire, on 3 August 1714. He was the son of William Cole of Babraham, a well-to-do farmer, and his third wife (of four), Elizabeth, daughter of Theophilus Tuer, merchant, of Cambridge, and widow of Charles Apthorp. He was descended from a family of respectable yeomen, who had lived for several generations in the part of Cambridgeshire bordering on Essex.
William (the son) received his early education in private schools at Cambridge, Linton, and Saffron Walden. From Saffron Walden he entered Eton College, where he remained for five years on the foundation. His principal friend and companion there – who became a lifelong friend – was Horace Walpole, who even at that early period used to make jocular remarks on his inclination to Roman Catholicism. While still a boy he was in the habit of copying monumental inscriptions, and drawing coats of arms in trick from the windows of churches. On leaving Eton he was admitted a pensioner of Clare College, Cambridge, on 24 January 1733; and in April 1734 he obtained one of the Freeman scholarships in the college.W. M. Palmer and J. D. Pickles 2007 William Cole of Milton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Career 1735–1753: Cambridgeshire In 1735, on the death of his father, Cole inherited a substantial estate, and found himself with no obligation to earn a living. He entered himself as a fellow-commoner of Clare Hall, and the next year migrated to King's College, where he had a younger brother, then a fellow.Add. MS 5808, fol. 58 He remained for 18 years at King's, collecting historical information on the county of Cambridgeshire. He visited nearly all the churches in the county, making sketches of them and taking notes of monumental inscriptions and coats of arms (as well as local gossip). He made extensive transcriptions of the registers of the Bishops of Ely, court rolls, registers of wills, and other manuscripts relating to the county.
In April 1736 he travelled for a short time in French Flanders with his half-brother, Dr Stephen Apthorp. In October of the same year he took the degree of B.A. In 1737, in consequence of ill health, he went to Lisbon on his doctor's advice for six months, returning to college in May 1738. He also travelled to Scotland.
In 1739, he was put into the commission of the peace for Cambridgeshire, in which capacity he acted for many years. In 1740 his friend Henry Bromley, 1st Baron Montfort, lord-lieutenant of the county, appointed him one of his deputy lieutenants, and in the same year he commenced M.A.
In 1743, his health being again impaired, he took another trip through Flanders, described in his manuscript collections. During his travels on the continent he formed lasting friendships with Alban Butler and other Catholic ecclesiastics. On Christmas Day 1744 he was ordained deacon, and for some time officiated as curate to Dr Abraham Oakes, rector of Withersfield, Suffolk. In 1745, after being admitted to priest's orders, he was appointed chaplain to Thomas Hay, 7th Earl of Kinnoull, in which office he was continued by the succeeding earl, George.ib. 5808, f. 73b He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1747. In 1749 he was living at Haddenham in the Isle of Ely, and on 25 Aug in that year he was admitted to the freedom of the city of Glasgow.ib. 6402, f. 132
In the same year he was collated to the rectory of Hornsey, Middlesex, by Bishop Thomas Sherlock. "Sherlock," says Cole, "gave me the rectory of Hornsey, yet his manner was such that I soon resigned it again to him. I had not been educated in episcopal trammels, and liked a more liberal behaviour; yet he was a great man, and I believe an honest man." Cole was inducted on 25 November; but finding that the parsonage-house required rebuilding, and understanding that the bishop insisted upon his being resident, he sent in his resignation within a month. This the bishop refused to accept, because Cole had rendered himself liable for dilapidations and other expenses by being instituted to the benefice. Cole continued, therefore, to hold the rectory till 9 January 1751, when he resigned it in favour of Mr Territ. During this time he never resided, but employed a curate, Matthew Mapletoft.
1753–1767: Buckinghamshire In 1753 Cole quit the university on being presented by his early friend and patron, Browne Willis, to the rectory of Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. He now turned his attention to the history and antiquities of Buckinghamshire.
In 1765 he undertook a lengthy tour in France with Horace Walpole. His aim was to find some quiet and cheap spot, in Normandy or elsewhere, to which he might eventually retire. This scheme of settling permanently in France probably originated in a wish to openly join the Roman Catholic church, for in his manuscripts he takes little or no pains to conceal his Catholic inclinations and his contempt for the English and German reformers. However, he was dissuaded from this plan of self-banishment largely by Walpole, who pointed out that under the droit d'aubaine the king of France would become the possessor of his cherished manuscripts, which even at this date comprised some 40 folio volumes. Cole wrote to Walpole on 17 March 1765:
Moreover, in the course of his travels he was shocked at the tendency towards irreligion in France.Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd ser., iv. 483.Walpole, Letters, ed. Cunningham, iv. 329. He therefore determined not to make the country his home. His journal of this tour was published in 1931.
1767–1782: return to Cambridgeshire Cole left Bletchley in November 1767, and on Lady Day 1768 he resigned the rectory in favour of Browne Willis's grandson, the Rev. Thomas Willis, because he knew it has been his patron's intention so to bestow the living if he had lived to effect an exchange. Cole now became curate of Waterbeach, five miles from Cambridge, and resumed work on his history of Cambridgeshire. His rented house, little better than a cottage, was very uncomfortable.Add. MS 5824, fol. 36b. To make matters worse, he discovered that he had got into a parish which abounded with fanatics of almost all denominations. Writing about this period to his friend Father Charles Bonaventure Bedingfeld, a Minorite friar, he says: "My finances are miserably reduced by quitting the living of Bletchley, and by half my own estate being under water by the breaking of the Bedford River bank at Over after the great snow in February was twelvemonth;" and he proceeds to remark: "Yet I am not disposed to engage myself in any ecclesiastical matters again, except greater should be offered than I am in expectation of. I have already refused two livings, one in Glamorganshire, the other in Oxfordshire; for I have no inclination to the duty and do not love to be confined." He still had a hankering after a semi-monastic life, for he wrote to Bedingfeld on 20 April 1768: "Could I have my books and conveniences about me, I should nowhere like better than to finish my days among my countrymen in a conventual manner," though not, he takes care to explain, as a monk or friar, because he had no religious vocation.ib. 5824, f. 41b A second overflow of the Hundred Foot river at Over still further diminished the value of his estate, and on 18 February 1769 he wrote to the Rev. John Allen: "I hardly ever now really enjoy myself for three days together, as the continued wet weather alarms me constantly; so that I am come to a resolution to sell my estate and purchase elsewhere, or buy an annuity."ib. f. 51 b At Michaelmas 1769 he had his first attack of gout, which complaint afterwards caused him severe and frequent suffering.
About May 1770 he left the church and moved from Waterbeach to Milton He rented a small farm from King's College, where he was to stay for the rest of his life, continuing work on his antiquarian studies. He became known as "Cole of Milton," though he was sometimes jokingly spoken of as "Cardinal Cole". In May 1771, by Lord Montfort's favour, he was put into the commission of the peace for the borough of Cambridge. In 1772 Edmund Keene, Bishop of Ely, offered him of the vicarage of Madingley, but he declined it. However, on 10 June 1774 he was instituted by John Green, Bishop of Lincoln, on the presentation of Eton College, to the vicarage of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, vacant through the death of his half-brother, Stephen Apthorp.
Death Cole continued to live at Milton, where he died, aged 68, on 16 December 1782. His constitution had been shattered by repeated attacks of gout. He was buried in St Clement's Church, Cambridge, under the steeple (now removed), which bore on its front his motto, Deum Cole. On the right hand of the entrance to the church is a monument, with an inscription stating that the steeple was erected with money left by him for the purpose.
Network Cole numbered among his friends and correspondents some of the most learned men of his time, including Horace Walpole, who called him his "oracle in any antique difficulties", Thomas Gray, Michael Lort, George Steevens, Richard Farmer, William Bennet, John Nichols, Richard Gough, and Alban Butler. Although he published no separate work of his own, he rendered substantial assistance to many authors by supplying them either with entire dissertations or with minute communications or corrections.