Life story shared by Karen Heald
A family of wealthy non-conformists and solicitors
Sarah DRYLAND (1791-1871), her son Robert Coster DRYLAND (1827-1901), her daughter-in-law Harriette Louisa DRYLAND (1837-1912), her daughter Sarah Coster THOROWGOOD (1828-1907), and her son-in-law Frederic William THOROWGOOD (1835-1897), are all buried under a plinth tomb at Reading Old Cemetery. The inscriptions read as follows:
In memory of Sarah Dryland who died 29th January 1871 aged 79. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Romans. I. 16.
Also in memory of Robert Coster Dryland who died 8th April 1901 aged 73. I know whom I have believed. II. TIM. I. 12.
And of Harriette Louisa Dryland (his wife) who died 12th June 1912 aged 74.
Also in memory of Frederic William Thorowgood who died 4th October 1897 aged 62.
And of Sarah Coster Thorowgood (his wife) who died 27th June 1907 aged 78. God is love. I. John. IV. 8.
Sarah Dryland was born Sarah COSTER in 1791 in Hungerford. Her parents were Robert COSTER and Sarah TAYLOR who married in 1784. Robert was a wealthy man originally from Eddington, Newbury but later of Speenhamland, Newbury. At his death in 1827, he left goods to his wife and £10,000 to two friends to invest, the profits of which were to be paid to his wife during her lifetime. The residue of his estate went to his daughter Sarah, along with the invested £10,000 at her mother’s death. Sarah was unmarried when her father’s will was made and one of the friends to whom he trusted the money to invest was the Reverend William Dryland. William Dryland’s wife Elizabeth died on 27 May 1825 and on 12 July 1826 he married Sarah Coster. They had five children between 1827 and 1833, all of whom were baptised in the Lower Meeting House, Newbury, outside of the established church at the time. The Reverend Dryland was born in Tonbridge, Kent in 1769 so was twenty-two years Sarah’s senior. His parents were Gilbert Dryland (died 1801) and Mary Wood (1737-1785) who married in 1762. Gilbert Dryland was a smith and ironmonger and William had been apprenticed to a coffin plate maker as a youth but became a dissenting or independent minister. In the 1851 Census, William and Sarah Dryland are living at Ivy Cottage, Speen, Berkshire with two servants: a cook and a housemaid. William died in 1853 in Newbury and left his money in trust in a similar way to his father-in-law to provide for his wife and children. In the 1861 Census, Sarah Dryland is living at 5 Eldon Road, Reading with two servants: a cook and a housemaid. She died there on 29 January 1871 leaving under £600 (equivalent to £38,000 now).
William and Sarah Dryland’s son, Robert Coster Dryland was born on 21 April 1827 in Speenhamland, Newbury, Berkshire. He was a solicitor. In 1869 his firm Whatley & Dryland was based at 7 Buttermarket, Reading.
Robert married Harriette Louisa HOLT on 9 May 1867 in Greyfriars Church, Reading. Harriette was born on 25 September 1837 in Eton. She was the daughter of the Reverend Robert Fowler Holt (1791-1870), formerly Chaplain to the Union Workhouse in Eton and Jane Malthus (1802-1845), who married in 1828. Robert and Harriette Dryland had four children born between 1868 and 1882 in Reading. The censuses show them living in a series of substantial houses on Bath Road, Reading, with four or five servants: governess, nurse, cook, housemaid, and parlourmaid. Robert died on 8 April 1901 leaving £33,400 19s (equivalent to over £2.5 million now). Harriette died on 12 June 1912 leaving £1,352 6s 3d (equivalent to £106,000 now). Their son, Harold Coster Dryland (1872-1939) also became a solicitor and was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Reading in 1937.
William and Sarah Dryland’s daughter Sarah Coster Dryland was born on 21 August 1828 in Speenhamland, near Newbury, Berkshire. She married Frederic William THOROWGOOD on 27 April 1859 at St Marylebone, Westminster. Frederic Thorowgood was a solicitor born on 1 January 1835 in Totteridge, London. His parents, John Charles THOROWGOOD (1799-1867), a schoolmaster and Sarah NAPIER (1807-1885) married in London in 1832. They were also protestant dissenters who registered their children’s births outside of the established church. His grandparents were the Reverend John THOROWGOOD (1748-1801), another dissenting minister, and Sarah REEVE (1764-1828), who married in 1794 and lived in Bocking, Essex. Sarah and Frederic Thorowgood had four children between 1861 and 1868, all baptised at Christ Church United Reformed Church, Barnet. By 1891, they were living in Bulmershe Road, Reading. Frederic William Thorowgood died on 4 October 1897. Sarah Coster Thorowgood died on 27 June 1907 leaving £5281 8s 11d (equivalent to £400,000 now). Their son, Frederick John Thorowgood (1868-1942) was also a solicitor in Reading as was his son John Campbell THOROWGOOD (1909-1947).
William and Sarah Dryland’s other children were William DRYLAND (1830-1899) who was a solicitor in London, Samuel DRYLAND (1831-1832) who died as a child, and John Winter DRYLAND (1833-1906) who was a surgeon and general practitioner in Kettering, Northamptonshire. John Winter DRYLAND married Sarah Lydia Thorowgood (1839-1864), the sister of Frederic William Thorowgood, in 1860.
The law firm Collins Dryland and Thorowgood continued to practise in Reading and other Berkshire towns until it was taken over by Blandy and Blandy in 2016.
Division 44, Row J, Plot 3