Mary was the fifth child of William Raymond and Ann Plank. She was born in Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, in 1844 and baptised on the 13th October that year. Her father was a farm labourer/ shepherd; he died at the age of 42 in 1848 when Mary was only 4 years old. In the 1861 census Mary is shown as a day labourer as was her mother, not a particularly secure form of occupation, so life must have been very hard for the family.

Mary married William Cockell in St. Mary’s Church, Alton Barnes on 15th December 1866 aged 22. She bore him nine children between 1868 and 1889, John in 1868, Sarah Jane 1871, William 1873, Joseph 1875, Arthur 1877, Albert 1880, Jesse 1883, Mary Ann 1885 and Frank 1889. Mary started married life in Alton Barnes. They then moved to Reading, Berks followed by Newbury, Enborne Row and back to Newbury where the family resided at 10 Adeys Buildings York Rd.

On the 16th August 1917, Mary’s son Jesse was killed in action at Ypres in Belgium. He was the only one of her sons to be lost during the First World War.

After her husband William’s death in 1919, Mary moved to 53 Greenham Rd, Stroud Green with two of her unmarried sons. Her daughter Mary who married in 1911 lived at no. 51 with her husband and son.

Mary died on 6th May 1925 at 53 Greenham Rd aged 80. She was buried in Newtown Road Cemetery on 11th May, and the cost of her funeral was
£14-7s-6p.

Sources:Personal Research