Thomas COLE

                   Sources:
Cole 200-1920 A.D. by Juliette COLE (Mrs. Henry ARDEN)
COLE GENEALOGY by James Edwin COLE, Barrister, London 1867.

DESCENDANTS OF JAMES COLE OF PLYMOUTH 1633:
       by Ernest Byron Cole, p. 6

       "Thomas Cole of London, who died Apr. 1471, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Hargrave of London.  They had four sons and one daughter.  I am of the opinion that James of Plymouth was a descendant of this Thomas Cole."


DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY:

       " Thomas Cole Died 1571.  A Divine.  A Native of Lincolnshire.  Was educated at Kings College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. 1546, M.A. 1550.  He held the Mastership of Maidstone School in 1552.  Was dean of Sarum during part of the reign of Edward the VI., but emigrates to Frankfort on the accession of Mary.  There he made the acquaintance of John Knox.
       He subsequently moved to Geneva.  Having returned to England, he was presented to the rectory of High Ougar, Essex, in 1559.  Collated to the archdeaconry of Essex the following year, and subsequently appinted Commissary of the Archbishop in the archdeaconry of Essex and Colchester.
       In 1560 he was installed in the prebend of Rugmere in the church of St. Paul's.  He was present at the convocation of 1562, and subscribed to the original thirty-nine articles, and for the petition presented by the lower house.  In 1564 he commenced D.D at Cambridge, and the same year was presented to the rectory of Stamford Rivers, Essex.
       He had a reputation for eloquence, also for a leniency towards nonconformity.  He had a hand in the framing of the Genevan form of worship.  He has been confounded with William Cole, who died in 1600.  Was president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, one of the authors of the Genevan translation Bible."

       Thomas Cole died in 1571, and was buried in All Hallows Church.  William Cole referred to was probably his brother.


ARMS OF THE COLES:

       The Coles of England were granted some thirty coats of arms or crests.  While these differed greatly in their make-up, they all have the same motto, namely, "Deum Cole Regum-Serva" (Honor God, Serve the King.)