Elizabeth Graham was born Elizabeth Moorsom in Whitby, Yorkshire around 1814, the niece of Admiral Moorsom of Trafalgar, who rented the Priory at Cosgrove in his retirement. She married a clerical man, the Rev John Graham, who in due course became Rector of Cosgrove Church.

They lived in the Rectory, now Medlar House, and had three sons and a daughter.

It seems that Elizabeth kept her own money on her marriage, for we know that in 1862 she spent £166 13s 4d from her annuities to build the Old School near the Green “as a Church of England school for the benefit of the children of the labouring classes in the said parish of Cosgrove.”

Although the stock supporting the school into the future was held by two men -Messrs H Grant Thorold of Cosgrove Hall and F D Bull of the Brewery, Elizabeth’s investment improved the education of up to 60 Cosgrove children up to the age of 12 years for many years, and kept the school within the auspices of the Church of England and in the control of the Parish.

Elizabeth Graham died in 1872 aged 57, and is buried in a grave with railings near the gate of Cosgrove churchyard with her husband, the unremarkable Reverend John, and her brother, Captain William Moorsom, RN.