Handel Cossham

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Handel Cossham (31 March 1824–1890) was a British MP, colliery owner, lay preacher and Mayor of Bath.

He was born in High Street, Thornbury, in a house where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were also born. His father Jesse Cossham, a carpenter and builder, named his son after the composer of 'Messiah', George Frederic Handel. A plaque at his birthplace describes him as a "non-conformist Preacher, Industrialist, Geologist, Politician, Educationalist and Public Benefactor".

[edit] Career

Cossham began his involvement in the coal industry in 1845 at Yate colliery. In 1848 he married Elizabeth Wethered and through a partnership with her family, began Parkfield colliery at Pucklechurch in 1851. As a caring employer, Cossham also built houses and a school for his colliery workers at Parkfield. The partnership opened several other coal pits, initially under the name of Cossham and Wethered Ltd and from 1867, the Kingswood Coal and Iron Company Ltd. The business came under control of Handel Cossham and Charles S. Wills after 1879 when the Kingswood and Parkfield Colliery Company Ltd was formed.

Cossham represented St. Paul's ward on Bristol City Council as a Liberal during the 1860s, and was mayor of Bath 1882-1885. He stood for Parliament in Nottingham (1866), Dewsbury (1868) and Chippenham (1874), and was elected MP for Bristol East in 1885 and 1886.

In 1862, Handel Cossham built the British School in Thornbury, which remains today. The Cossham Hall, which was built as a Wesleyan chapel, was purchased and donated to Thornbury by Cossham in 1888.

In 1890, whilst in the library of the Houses of Parliament, Cossham was taken ill and died the following day. An estimated 30,000 people lined the streets on the day of his funeral. His estate amounted to £59,127. In 1900, his collieries were sold at auction for £61,000. The Cossham Hospital in Kingswood, Bristol is a memorial to Handel Cossham, who instructed in his will that his estate be used for the building of a hospital.