Elizabeth (Coxen) Gould (1804 - 1841)

Born 18 Jul 1804 in Ramsgate, Kent, England

Wife of John Gould — married Jan 1829 in London, England

Died 15 Aug 1841 at age 37 in Egham, Surrey, England

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Biography

Elizabeth Coxen was born on 18th July 1804 at Ramsgate and baptised on 15 August 1804 in St Lawrence in Thanet, St Lawrence, Kent, England. She was the daughter of Nicholas & Elizabeth.^[1] She was the daughter of Nicholas Coxen and Elizabeth Tompkins. Elizabeth was a natural history artist, studied languages and loved music. As a young woman she became governess with a family in London.

Elizabeth married zoologist, John Gould, in January 1829 in St James, Middlesex, England.^[2]

In 1838, John resolved to extend his ornithological studies by visiting Australia. With two of Elizabeth's brothers, Stephen and Charles Coxen, were then on the land in New South Wales. Leaving their three youngest children with Elizabeth's mother, they took their eldest, Henry 7, and nephew, Henry Coxen 15, on the voyage. Her letters from both Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) and New South Wales reveal that she never ceased to worry about the children at home. In Hobart Town, she made friends with Lady Jane Franklin, wife of the Governor; and she gave birth to their fifth child, named Franklin. Elizabeth was kept continually occupied in executing some 600 drawings for her husband's projected publications on the birds of Australia.

Leaving their nephew with his uncles, they left Sydney with their two children in April 1840, arriving back in England in August to be re-united with her mother and the three children. In the next year she gave birth to a sixth child, and on 15th August 1841 at Egham, Surrey, she died at the age of 37 years, from complications with the birth.

In 1938 a considerable number of letters which Elizabeth wrote from Australia were discovered in the possession of great-grandsons, through which she became revealed as a cultured and gracious woman, and a shrewd observer of the social scene in Australia. In 1964 additional letters were recovered and published, and these further emphasised the amiable and informed character of their writer. All of the letters are now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Elizabeth Gould is commemorated in the name of the beautiful gouldian finch of tropical Australia, Chloebia (Poëphila) gouldiae. And, of course, her numerous drawings remain in her husband's books.

Elizabeth and John Gould's children:

• Henry Gould (c1830-55) became a doctor and died in India.
• Elizabeth (c1832-) married twice.
• Charles Gould (1834-93) became a geologist and died in Uruguay.
• daughter (c1836-) never married.
• Franklin Gould (1839-73) became a doctor, died at sea.
• Sarah Gould (1841-) never married.

Sources

1. ↑ Baptism: "Kent Baptisms", database with images, Archive: Canterbury Cathedral Archives; Reference: U3/19/1/7, FindMyPast Image - FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 9 October 2023), Elizabeth Coxen baptism on 15 Aug 1804 (born 18 Jul 1804), daughter of Nicholas & Elizabeth, in St Lawrence in Thanet, St Lawrence, Kent, England.
2. ↑ Marriage: "Westminster Marriages", database, Archive: City of Westminster Archives Centre, FindMyPast Transcription (accessed 9 October 2023), Elizabeth Coxen marriage to John Gould in 1829 in St James, Middlesex, England.

• Chisholm, A H. Gould, Elizabeth (1804–1841). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1966; accessed online 6 Nov 2018.
• Wikipedia: Elizabeth Gould