Thomas Solly COLEMAN (1878-1947)

Thomas Solly Coleman (1878-1947), was the cousin of Julius Sladden.  

Thomas Solly Coleman was born on 16th January 1878 at Goss Hall, Ash, Kent, the younger of two children of Thomas Coleman by his second wife, Bertha (née Solly).  He was baptised at Ash on 13th February 1878.  He was educated at Kings School, Canterbury, where he was to be found at the time of the 1891 census. 

Thomas initially went into brewing.  At the time of the 1911 census, he was living with his cousin in Cambridge and was described as a brewer.

Thomas married Dorothy May Petley in 1921.  They had one son, Thomas Petley Coleman (1922-1988), born at Goss Hall.  At the time of the 1939 Register, they lived at Goss Hall where Thomas Senior was described as a farmer and grazier and Thomas Junior was described as a farm assistant.

Thomas Solly Coleman died at Goss Hall on 3rd February 1947 and was buried at Ash four days later.  In a report in The Dover Express recording his death, it was noted that he was a well-known farmer and breeder of Shorthorn cattle and Kent or Romney sheep.

In 1966, Thomas Petley Coleman presented on permanent deposit to the Museum of English Rural Life 121 documents relating to Goss Hall, which had been in his family since 1817