Coggin, Henry (1823-1912), accounts clerk

Henry Coggin was born at Old Lambeth in 1823 but spent most of his life in Cambridge. He started work at Trinity College as a young teenager about 1837 and, judging by the 1841 census, in which he is simply described as a ‘servant’, began his career living in the College. During the next decade he married, moved to 10 James Street, and began a family, and in the 1851 census he was described as a ‘College Cook’s Clerk’, which probably represents a promotion from his original position. He eventually rose to be head clerk and cashier, and retired in about 1891 after 54 years’ service. A keen rifleman, he was a member of the first English eight to take part in an international shooting competition, in Belgium. After his retirement he moved with his second wife to a house at Chiswick which he named ‘Trinity’, and he died there in 1912, aged 88.

Trinity College MS O.10A.45

Censuses, 1841-1911