TOPIC:

William Gordon Coulton

Solicitor, Commission of Accounts – Anglo Boer War

- Queens South Africa Medal to MR. W.G. COULTON.

William Coulton was born in Coventry, Warwickshire in 1857 the son of William Gordon Coulton a Solicitor (after whom he was named) and his wife Sarah Ann Dickinson.

Our first glimpse of the younger William, the subject of this work, comes courtesy of the 1861 England census at which stage he was four years old and living with his parents in Wolverhampton Street, Dudley. Of siblings there were many with William joined in the nursery by Grace (9), Lydia (6), Herbert (3) and baby Ellen (1) bringing up the rear. Mrs Coulton’s family was represented as well, by her 21 year old sister Fanny. Two servants – Eliza Picken and Harriet Wilks catered to the family’s needs.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1871 England census, the family had moved to the High Street in Moreton-in-Marsh. William, at 14, was already hard at work in his father’s legal practice as a Solicitor’s Clerk and showing early signs that his intention was to follow in his father’s footsteps.

In 1874 he passed all the required Law Society Examinations and was admitted as an Attorney at the age of 23. It wasn’t long before, instead of showing signs of early promise, he exhibited aberrant behaviour unbecoming his profession. The Liverpool Echo of 25 February 1880 carried an article entitled, "The Charges Against a Solicitor" which stated that,

"The enquiry respecting the allegations against Mr William Gordon Coulton, a solicitor, the clerk to the Birmingham guardians, was resumed this morning before Mr Henley, Local Government Board Inspector, when the clerk tendered his resignation, which was accepted, it being agreed that no further action should be taken in the matter." Coulton had been "charging considerably more for postage stamps than was actually used, and had also been irregular with regards to other payments."

A year later, with the advent of the 1881 England census, the Coulton family were living at 28 Birchfield Road in Aston Manor. William, now 24, was an Articled Clerk to a Solicitor living at home and showing no obvious signs that his character and honesty had so recently been brought into question. The remaining siblings had flown the coop with the exception of 7 year old Maud.

Of Coulton in the 1891 England census there was no sign but contemporary newspaper reports have him advertising his services as a solicitor operating out of 48 Temple Chambers, Birmingham.

As the 19th century wound down to a close, things were warming up in the very southernmost tip of Africa. Long simmering tensions between the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and her more belligerent ally, the Transvaal Republic, and the might of Great Britain came to a head; boiling over into a declaration of war on 11 October 1899.

Coulton , giving the best possible hint yet that his practice wasn’t a prosperous one, was to be found living with his elderly parents at 48 Trinity Road, Handsworth in the 1901 England census. He was unmarried.

Although not initially involved in the conflict, Coulton, possibly imbued with a Victorian sense of adventure and duty, or as a remittance man, made his way south aboard the S.S. “Scot”, sailing from Southampton for Cape Town on 27 April 1901 – when the war was already well under way. The voyage took 49 days and Coulton appeared on the ship’s manifest as a 45 year old Solicitor.

He would have found Cape Town a bustling hive of activity with troops being offloaded on a weekly basis and the local economy in overdrive in order to cater for a population swollen by the presence of the military and all that went with it. As a solicitor there would have been need for his services. His actual role in the Boer War is unclear. He was awarded a Queens Medal correctly named in the fashion of those awarded to civilians and it is thus doubtful that he served in a military capacity during the remaining thirteen months of the war – which ended on 31 May 1902.

On 15 April 1902, a month before the final shot in anger of the war, at St Michael’s and All Angels’ in Observatory, Cape Town he wed Ellen Bratt of 57 Scott Road, Observatory. His occupation was listed as Solicitor.

The war over Coulton continued to practice law but, as we have seen, his character appears to have been fundamentally flawed and it wasn’t long before he was in hot water with his profession. Court papers for November 1906 to March 1907 show how he was embroiled in a battle with the Incorporated Law Society – his professions governing body – regarding a Bill of Costs he had submitted whilst representing a client in a divorce case. Without going into the minutiae of the matter Coulton was found to have billed his client for payment made to a witness who never attended court and who was not aware of the case and made no contribution.

Initially denying the charge and, subsequently, when irrefutable evidence of his wrong doing was presented to him, he then blamed the oversight on his clerk who, it was found, could not have been guilty as he had already parted company with Coulton at the time when the statement of costs was drawn up. The end result was that the Judge found for the Law Society and instructed Coulton to pay the costs of the suit. This could very well be why, not long afterwards, his reputation sullied and in tatters, he parted company with Cape Town and South Africa and travelled back to England where, according to the 1911 census, he was a Solicitor for his own account living with his wife (there were no children of the marriage) in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire.

Coulton wasn’t to be much longer for this world, passing away in Shipston on Stour on 30 March 1915 at the age of 58. His obituary, which appeared in the Birmingham Daily Post of 2 April 1915, provided further insight into his Boer War dealings. It read as follows:

"The death has occurred at Chipping Campden of Mr William Gordon Coulton, a Solicitor who practiced in his early days at Moreton-in-Marsh and Erdington, and afterwards in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In South Africa he rendered valuable service on the Commission of Accounts after the Boer War. He had lived in Campden for the last few years. He had held several public offices and was honorary secretary of the cricket club and vice captain of the bowling club."

He left the negligible sum of £56 to his widow.

Acknowledgements:
- Newspapers credited in the body of the work
- Ancestry and FMP for birth, census and probate details
- South African National Archives, Cape Town for Incorporated Law Society suit.

Rory Good Morning......

Do you have any idea what the "Commission of Accounts" did, was it financial or looking into the running of the war?????

I was thinking if he had any connection with:
www.angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-...-huggett-cbe?start=6

Mike

Hi Mike

Information on the Commission of Accounts has, this far, eluded me.

Rory