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Mrs Maria Ann ARNETT, née Plumridge (1839–1909)
Her infant son Frank Plumridge ARNETT (1880–1883)
Her daughter-in law Mrs Florence Rose ARNETT, née Shirley (1873–1939) [wife of Harold]
St Giles (Ss Philip & James) section: Row 47, Grave K42

Maria Ann Plumridge was born in Jericho, Oxford (then in St Thomas's parish) on 1 February 1839, the daughter of William Plumridge and Sarah Giles, who were born in Abingdon in 1804 and 1802 respectively and married at St Helen's Church on 26 January 1824. Maria's twin brothers James and George were born at Broad Street, Abingdon and baptised at St Nicholas's Church on 13 March 1825. Her parents probably had more children in Abingdon, and then they moved to Jericho in Oxford, where their son William Edward Plumridge was born on 7 August 1833 and baptised as a Wesleyan. Maria's next brother, a second George, was born back in Abingdon in about 1835, but Maria herself was born in Oxford in 1839, followed by a second William Edward (1841) and Sarah Emma (1847). At the time of the 1851 census Maria (12) was living at Wellington Street in Jericho with her parents: her father was a bricklayer, and her mother was a schoolmistress. Also at home were Maria's brother George (16), who was a carpenter, and her younger siblings William (9) and Sarah (3). In 1861 the family's address was given more precisely as 21 Wellington Street, and Maria (20) was the only child still at home.

Her future husband Harry John Arnett (not buried with her) was born in Oxford in 1841 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 17 October. He was the son of Henry Arnett and Matilda Cambray, who were married at St Paul's Church on 19 December 1839. Harry's grandfather Joseph Arnett was Head of the Bible Department at Oxford University Press; his father was a compositor; and his uncle Joseph Arnett was also a printer. Harry John's two younger brothers were also baptised at St Paul's Church: John Michell Arnett (1843) and Thomas Richard Arnett (1845).

On 21 October 1863 at St Pancras Church, Maria Ann Plumridge married Harry John Arnett. They were both living in London before their wedding: Maria at Cumberland Street and Harry at Howland Street, Fitzrovia. They had the following children:

• Edith Promise Arnett (born at Howland Street, London on 28 June 1869 and baptised at St Pancras Church on 11 October)
• Constance Arnett (born at 21 Wellington Street, Oxford on 16 June 1870 and baptised at St Barnabas's Church on 26 September)
• Harold Frederick Arnett (born at 6 Radcliffe Villas, Kingston Road in 1877 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 25 January)
• Frank Plumridge Arnett (born at 6 Radcliffe Villas, Kingston Road on 1 February 1880 and privately baptised by Ss Philip & James's Church on 12 February and received into the church on 20 September)
• Mark George Arnett (born at 6 Radcliffe Villas, Kingston Road on 28 July 1881 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 20 October).

The couple began their married life in London, but Maria had returned to Oxford by 1870, presumably leaving her husband working in London. By June 1870 they were living at 21 Wellington Street in Jericho, Oxford.

At the time of the 1871 census Maria (32) and her first two children Edith (1) and Constance (nine months) were living at 21 Wellington Street with Maria's widowed mother Sarah Plumridge (68), who was working as a needlewoman. Maria's husband Henry Arnett (29) was away in London: he was described as a stone (or architectural) carver, and was boarding at 33 Tufton Street, Westminster in the home of the mason John Earl.

By 1877 they had moved to 6 Radcliffe Villas, Kingston Road (possibly No. 84). At the time of the 1881 census Maria (40) was living here with her husband Henry (39), who was still described as a stone carver, and their children Edith (11), Constance (10), Harold (4), and Frank (1). Their last child was born later that year.

Harry John Arnett was a builder as well as a stone carver. He built many houses in north Oxford, including 65 and 67 Southmoor Road, and he took out the first lease on both of those houses in 1883, moving into No. 65.

Their son Frank died in 1883:

† Frank Plumridge Arnett died at Southmoor Road at the age of three on 17 March 1883 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 March (burial recorded in the parish registers of St Giles's and Ss Philip & James's Churches).

Four months later their youngest child Mark was born.

At the time of the 1891 census Maria and her husband were still living at 65 Southmoor Road with their daughter Edith (21), who was an assistant schoolmistress, and Harold (14) and Mark (9), who were at school. Constance (20) is hard to find.

Three of their children were married in the 1890s:

• On 28 July 1894 at Ss Philip & James's Church, Constance Arnett (24) married Walter George Neale (25), a Dublin bookseller's assistant and the son of the printer's reader Walter Neale
• On 20 April 1897 at St Barnabas's Church, Edith Arnett married Edwin Charles Welford, the son of the coal merchant Edwin Welford and his wife Ellen: see their separate grave
• On 3 August 1899 at St Mary Magdalene Church, Woodstock, Harold Frederick Arnett (22), now a stonemason living in Lambeth, married Florence Rose Shirley of Woodstock (see below).

Maria and her husband appear to have separated, as at the time of the 1901 census Maria (62) described herself as married but as living on her own means. She was still at 65 Southmoor Road, and only her youngest son Mark (19) was at home: he was now a student at Culham College. Her husband is hard to find in that census, but is likely to have been in London.

Their youngest son was married in 1906:

• On 17 April 1906 at Aston Rowant, Mark George Arnett (23), described as a schoolmaster of Oxford, married Ethel Frances Filbee Hatton (23), the daughter of the agent Thomas Seigne Hatton of Kingston Blount.

Maria's husband Harry John Arnett died in Southwark in 1908.

Maria herself died in Oxford the following year:

† Mrs Maria Ann Arnett née Plumridge died at 65 Southmoor Road at the age of 70 on 20 April 1909 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 23 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church, and probably also in that of Ss Philip & James's Church (later registers not transcribed)).

Her effects came to £1,706 6s. 4d., and her executors were her daughter Mrs Edith Welford and the mason Frederick Arnett.

---

Mrs Florence Rose Arnett, née Shirley, first wife of Maria Arnett's son Harold Frederick Arnett

Florence Rose Shirley was born in Old Woodstock in 1873 and baptised at Wootton church on 19 October. She was the daughter of Charles Shirley and Jane Ryman (born at Wootton) who were married at Wootton church on 14 November 1871. At the time of the wedding her father (who was born at Woodleys, a hamlet of Wootton) was a 23-year-old worker on the turnpike road, and her mother Jane (who was born at Wootton, the daughter of the glove-cutter George Ryman) was only 20.

Florence's younger siblings were also all born in Old Woodstock, but they were baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church there: Helen Louise (1877), Charles Ernest (1883), Walter Bertram (1885), and Matilda (1888).

At the time of the 1881 census Florence Rose (7) was living in Woodstock with her father Charles (35), who was a road labourer; her mother Jane (28), who was a machinist; and her younger sister Helen Louise (4).

By 1891 census Florence Rose (17) was working as a glove machinist home at Woodstock with her parents and her younger brothers Charles Ernest (6) and Walter Bertram (5). By 1899 Florence's father was working as a groom.

On 3 August 1899 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Woodstock, Florence Rose Shirley (25) of the Hensington area of Woodstock married Harold Frederick Arnett (22), the son of Mrs Maria Ann Arnett (above). They had no children.

At the time of the 1901 census Florence Rose (27) and her husband Harold (24), who was working as a stonemason, were living at 53 Milkwood Road, Herne Hill, London. They had taken in to live with them Florence's brother Walter Bertram Shirley, who was then aged 15.

In 1911 their address was given as 102 Milkwood Road, and Walter Shirley (25) was still living with them and working as a Customs assistant.

Harold and Florence Arnett moved back to Oxford, and Florence died there in 1939:

† Mrs Florence Rose Arnett née Shirley died at 61 Southmoor Road at the age of 65 on 28 December 1939 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 2 January 1940 (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church, and probably also in that of Ss Philip & James's Church (later registers not transcribed)).

The register states specifically that she was buried at St Sepulchre's Cemetery, which in 1940 was still allowing burials in existing graves. As this grave contained only one adult, there was room for another burial.

Less than six months later in 1940 (reg. second quarter), her husband Harold Frederick Arnett married his second wife Phoebe Anne Busby in Oxford.

Harold Frederick Arnett died at 61 Southmoor Road, Oxford on 8 November 1952. His effects came to £481 11s. 7d., and his second wife Phoebe was his executor.