BOWN, Mabel Phyllis Piggot (nee COY)
Born 1889; died 14 November 1918; buried 15 November 1918; age 29
Researching the story of Mabel BOWN has required dealing with one of the major challenges faced by all genealogists and family historians. Names, and their spellings, vary and often change over time or through common usage. In Mabel’s case, her burial records at Karori Cemetery were registered on the online database under the surname BROWN, but this has now been changed to Bown.
Mabel’s first names also changed over time, so establishing the facts of her life and death have been difficult. Perhaps fortunately though her maiden surname is slightly unusual, making the link between Mabel BROWN/BOWN buried in Karori Cemetery in 1918 and Mabel COY, born in Norfolk England in 1889, traceable.
Mabel was born in the July quarter of 1889 in Thetford, Norfolk, England, second child of Francis George COY and Ada Jane WITHERFORD. At the time of her birth registration she was listed as Mabel Piggot Coy. According to the 1891 Census for England (conducted on the night of 5/6 April 1891) the family was living in Station Road, Thetford, Norfolk, and her father was a machine fitter and tool maker, and was therefore a skilled tradesman. Mabel’s older brother Francis Ernest George was aged five at the time, and Mabel was a 1-year old.
Sometime after 1895 and before 1901 when the next national Census was conducted the family moved to Portsmouth where Francis found work as an engine fitter at the dockyard. His son, Francis jnr. was also recorded as working as an apprentice engine fitter, at the age of 15. The family had expanded before their move to Portsmouth with the addition of Ivy Mary Ruth in 1893, and Edna Marion in 1895.
A decade later, in 1911, when the Census was conducted again, Mabel was grown up and boarding with Constance Hickmott, a 42-year old widow, in a 3-room dwelling in Valmar Road, Camberwell, south London. Mabel seems to have become independent of her family, and her occupation was recorded as “Sick Nurse”. She was calling herself Mabelle Phyllis Piggot Coy.
A year later her brother Francis was amongst the crew members who died "presumed drowned" when the RMS Titanic sank with huge loss of life. His name is on the list of crew entered in a Register held at the national Archives in Kew, and available online through Ancestry.com. Francis was a Junior Assistant 3rd Engineer.
The next time Mabel(le) appears in a public record is when she married Lieutenant Ernest Leonard Guy BOWN on 5 April 1917 in the Registry Office, Wellington, New Zealand. According to family sources she and Ernest were on the same troopship returning to New Zealand, and she was known as “Phyll”. Her nursing background may have been how they met, or at the very least, why she was on a troopship to New Zealand.
Ernest, known to his family as Guy, was also English, and was born in Burnham, Somerset on 17 January 1891, to Ernest Albert Bown and Elizabeth Frances GREGORY. However, Ernest had moved to New Zealand and was living in Auckland when in December 1914 he signed up for active service with the NZ Army. At the time he was a bank clerk with the Union Bank of Australia, and he was living at the YMCA in Wellesley Street, Auckland. Ernest joined the Auckland Infantry Regiment, and by April 1915 he was Company Sergeant Major, and on his way to Gallipoli. In August 1915 he was shot in the shoulder and evacuated, ending up in the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot. In October he was admitted to the Isolation Hospital as he had enteric fever (typhoid). Ernest remained in England, with a spell at Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital (suffering from enteric fever) and training as a PT Instructor, and in January 1917 he was repatriated on RMS Arawa which left Plymouth on 12 January 1917, arriving New Zealand 5/6 March.
One month later he and Mabel married, on 5 April 1917, at the Wellington Registry Office. According to family informants Mabel/Phyll was pregnant and had a baby boy, called Phillip, who was adopted by a Wairarapa family. It is unclear whether this was Ernest’s baby, but they may have been cohabiting at the time as he was posted to Tauherenikau training camp in the southern Wairarapa.
By March 1918 Ernest & Mabel were living in Lyall Bay, Wellington. Ernest had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Army and was on the instructional staff of the CI Camp (for unfit men), where he supervised the physical training branch. He also had ongoing medical issues as a result of enteric fever, and was under investigation as to whether he was a para-typhoid carrier.
In February 1918 Mabel/Phyll became pregnant again, and Mabel & Ernest welcomed the arrival of their son Ernest Philip Brian Bown on 11 November 1918. Three days later Mabel died of influenza, at 79 Apu Street, Lyall Bay , and was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 15 November 1918. The new baby survived and presumably Ernest could make arrangements for him to be cared for, as he was never adopted out, and lived until 1993.
Ernest went on to be a career officer in the army reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, OBE. He married again in January 1920, in Belair, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, to Madge SMITH, and they went on to have a family of four daughters. Ernest’s son by Mabel (known as Brian) seems to have been part of the family, features in family photos and is remembered by Ernest’s descendants. Descendants of Ernest and Madge also note that Brian’s Aunty Edna and Aunty Ivy sent out clothes from the UK for the Bown children, so clearly Mabel’s children and her marriage were known to her family in the UK.
Ernest died on 3 February 1962 at Trentham, Wellington and his ashes are buried in St Johns Anglican Church Cemetery, Trentham with his second wife.
The records at Karori Cemetery for Mabel have been checked, and the handwritten register of all burials since 1891 identifies her as Mabel BOWN. However, this was changed to BROWN when the electronic database was compiled. This entry has now been changed and Mabel’s burial and plot information can now be found under her name at the time of her death i.e. BOWN. Her plot was never paid for, and no structure has been built over it, nor a headstone erected.
Research conducted by Beverley Hamlin, with supplementary input from Barbara Mulligan, and descendants of Ernest Leonard Guy BOWN.
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 29 E
Born 1889; died 14 November 1918; buried 15 November 1918; age 29
Researching the story of Mabel BOWN has required dealing with one of the major challenges faced by all genealogists and family historians. Names, and their spellings, vary and often change over time or through common usage. In Mabel’s case, her burial records at Karori Cemetery were registered on the online database under the surname BROWN, but this has now been changed to Bown.
Mabel’s first names also changed over time, so establishing the facts of her life and death have been difficult. Perhaps fortunately though her maiden surname is slightly unusual, making the link between Mabel BROWN/BOWN buried in Karori Cemetery in 1918 and Mabel COY, born in Norfolk England in 1889, traceable.
Mabel was born in the July quarter of 1889 in Thetford, Norfolk, England, second child of Francis George COY and Ada Jane WITHERFORD. At the time of her birth registration she was listed as Mabel Piggot Coy. According to the 1891 Census for England (conducted on the night of 5/6 April 1891) the family was living in Station Road, Thetford, Norfolk, and her father was a machine fitter and tool maker, and was therefore a skilled tradesman. Mabel’s older brother Francis Ernest George was aged five at the time, and Mabel was a 1-year old.
Sometime after 1895 and before 1901 when the next national Census was conducted the family moved to Portsmouth where Francis found work as an engine fitter at the dockyard. His son, Francis jnr. was also recorded as working as an apprentice engine fitter, at the age of 15. The family had expanded before their move to Portsmouth with the addition of Ivy Mary Ruth in 1893, and Edna Marion in 1895.
A decade later, in 1911, when the Census was conducted again, Mabel was grown up and boarding with Constance Hickmott, a 42-year old widow, in a 3-room dwelling in Valmar Road, Camberwell, south London. Mabel seems to have become independent of her family, and her occupation was recorded as “Sick Nurse”. She was calling herself Mabelle Phyllis Piggot Coy.
A year later her brother Francis was amongst the crew members who died "presumed drowned" when the RMS Titanic sank with huge loss of life. His name is on the list of crew entered in a Register held at the national Archives in Kew, and available online through Ancestry.com. Francis was a Junior Assistant 3rd Engineer.
The next time Mabel(le) appears in a public record is when she married Lieutenant Ernest Leonard Guy BOWN on 5 April 1917 in the Registry Office, Wellington, New Zealand. According to family sources she and Ernest were on the same troopship returning to New Zealand, and she was known as “Phyll”. Her nursing background may have been how they met, or at the very least, why she was on a troopship to New Zealand.
Ernest, known to his family as Guy, was also English, and was born in Burnham, Somerset on 17 January 1891, to Ernest Albert Bown and Elizabeth Frances GREGORY. However, Ernest had moved to New Zealand and was living in Auckland when in December 1914 he signed up for active service with the NZ Army. At the time he was a bank clerk with the Union Bank of Australia, and he was living at the YMCA in Wellesley Street, Auckland. Ernest joined the Auckland Infantry Regiment, and by April 1915 he was Company Sergeant Major, and on his way to Gallipoli. In August 1915 he was shot in the shoulder and evacuated, ending up in the Cambridge Military Hospital at Aldershot. In October he was admitted to the Isolation Hospital as he had enteric fever (typhoid). Ernest remained in England, with a spell at Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital (suffering from enteric fever) and training as a PT Instructor, and in January 1917 he was repatriated on RMS Arawa which left Plymouth on 12 January 1917, arriving New Zealand 5/6 March.
One month later he and Mabel married, on 5 April 1917, at the Wellington Registry Office. According to family informants Mabel/Phyll was pregnant and had a baby boy, called Phillip, who was adopted by a Wairarapa family. It is unclear whether this was Ernest’s baby, but they may have been cohabiting at the time as he was posted to Tauherenikau training camp in the southern Wairarapa.
By March 1918 Ernest & Mabel were living in Lyall Bay, Wellington. Ernest had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Army and was on the instructional staff of the CI Camp (for unfit men), where he supervised the physical training branch. He also had ongoing medical issues as a result of enteric fever, and was under investigation as to whether he was a para-typhoid carrier.
In February 1918 Mabel/Phyll became pregnant again, and Mabel & Ernest welcomed the arrival of their son Ernest Philip Brian Bown on 11 November 1918. Three days later Mabel died of influenza, at 79 Apu Street, Lyall Bay , and was buried in the Anglican section of Karori Cemetery on 15 November 1918. The new baby survived and presumably Ernest could make arrangements for him to be cared for, as he was never adopted out, and lived until 1993.
Ernest went on to be a career officer in the army reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, OBE. He married again in January 1920, in Belair, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, to Madge SMITH, and they went on to have a family of four daughters. Ernest’s son by Mabel (known as Brian) seems to have been part of the family, features in family photos and is remembered by Ernest’s descendants. Descendants of Ernest and Madge also note that Brian’s Aunty Edna and Aunty Ivy sent out clothes from the UK for the Bown children, so clearly Mabel’s children and her marriage were known to her family in the UK.
Ernest died on 3 February 1962 at Trentham, Wellington and his ashes are buried in St Johns Anglican Church Cemetery, Trentham with his second wife.
The records at Karori Cemetery for Mabel have been checked, and the handwritten register of all burials since 1891 identifies her as Mabel BOWN. However, this was changed to BROWN when the electronic database was compiled. This entry has now been changed and Mabel’s burial and plot information can now be found under her name at the time of her death i.e. BOWN. Her plot was never paid for, and no structure has been built over it, nor a headstone erected.
Research conducted by Beverley Hamlin, with supplementary input from Barbara Mulligan, and descendants of Ernest Leonard Guy BOWN.
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 29 E