The daughter of James Cowell (a seaman collier with the whitstable shipping company) and Emily Lawrence,
Joyce Cowell, the mother of Nigel Horne, was born in Minster, Thanet, Kent, England on Feb 12, 19311, was baptized there at St Mary the Virgin Church on Apr 5, 1931 was married twice - to Edmund Horne (on Nov 1, 1952 in Minster) Cyril Soper (c. May 1976 in Sittingbourne, Kent, England)2. She had 4 children with Edmund Horne: David James, Diane Joyce, Nigel John and David James.
Joyce spent all of her life in Kent, England. Throughout her life, she lived in several places around the county: at 7 Pouces Cottages, Minster, Thanet on Sep 29, 1939; on 22 Molineux Road, Minster, Thanet in 1955 and in 1959; at 19 Kingston Avenue, Garlinge in 19653 and in 1971; at 33 Fulham Avenue, Garlinge in 1974; and at 20 Melbourne Avenue, Ramsgate in 2022.
She died on Nov 10, 2022 on Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, Ramsgate Road, Margate, Kent (pneumonia) and was buried on Minster Cemetery, Tothill Street, Minster, Thanet, Kent on Jan 19, 2023 following her funeral at St Mary the Virgin Church.
Joyce Horne (née Cowell)
â— Joyce Cowell was born in 1931 in Pouces Cottages, the youngest of 10 children.
â— There was a 12-year gap between her and Freda, the next youngest child of Freddie and Emily Cowell. And in fact she loved to point out that when she was born, she was already an aunt of a baby named Daphne.
â— She attended school in the village but had to leave early to go into service to help her family financially.
◠All but one of her siblings lived to adulthood but unfortunately her mother died when Joyce was just 19. She was very close to her mother and her father, so it was sad that her mother didn’t live long enough to see Joyce fall in love and get married.
â— At age 21 Joyce married Frank Horne, a local man, in this very church and after a honeymoon in Malvern they settled down in Minster.
◠Joyce and Frank had four children in total. The first two were stillborn twins named David and Diane who were born at Ramsgate Hospital. Despite the doctor’s advice to wait three years before trying again, just overly a year later, Nigel was born at that same hospital. David (yes the name was reused) was born 7 years later at home in Garlinge where the family had moved.
â— Joyce helped support the family and fund holidays and Christmas extras by taking odd jobs cleaning for other families while also raising her two boys and keeping her house tidy and immaculate.
â— She remained close to her siblings through the years but in the 1970s, she and Frank went their separate ways. Joyce married again to Mick and she and Mick enjoyed a few happy years together in Ramsgate, Dargate, and Sittingbourne before he died of Multiple Sclerosis.
◠After Mick’s untimely death, Joyce and Frank found a new friendship and lived together as friends until Frank’s death in 1997.
◠After Frank’s death, Joyce eventually returned to Thanet, first to Broadstairs, then Ramsgate where she set up house with her youngest son, David who lovingly cared for his mom for the rest of her life enabling her to remain living at home despite some health issues.
â— Joyce’s life didn’t allow her much time to pursue hobbies, but she loved to collect spoons, china, and dolls. She was a keen cook and often listened to “Mrs Dale’s Diary†on the radio while making tea. She also enjoyed listening to “TheNavy Lark†and watching a few favorite TV shows such as “Dr. Finlay’s Casebookâ€. And more recently her son Nigel always had to remember to time his weekly Sunday phone calls until after her favorite “Antiques Roadshow†was overly.
Generated by Ged2Site. Last updated on Sep 17, 2025