John Cole (antiquary)

As self-trained and industrious antiquary, he appears to have been utterly unsuited for the cares of a business life and he was constantly on the move and died in poverty.

A silhouette portrait of Cole and facsimile of his handwriting are given in the Yorkshire Library[2] He was apprenticed to Mr. W. Birdsall, a bookseller and noted bookbinder of Northampton.

He described himself as Bookseller Stationer and Binder, top of the High Street, deals in OLD BOOKS, and fancy articles, Handscreens and handles, Medallions, Morocco and Copper Plate , Paper , Etc.

A Mr. Bean records I have known Mr. John Cole and have attended many of his lectures on astronomy, the anatomy of costume, architecture, and natural history.

[6] Failing to make a success at Scarborough, Cole returned to Northampton and opened a shop in the market square some time after 1830.

There Cole opened a small school, and placed geological specimens, &c. [as well as such incongruous wares as apples, bacon, and ham] in his window for sale.

From Wellingborough he removed to Ringstead, or some village in its vicinity, where he ransacked every nook for relics of antiquity and natural curiosities[7] He moved to Rushden as a schoolmaster in 1837, and successively lived at Polebrook, Huntingdon, and Woodford (near Thrapston), where he died in greatly reduced circumstances on 12 April 1848, aged 56.