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Jesse BARGUSS (1840–1924)
His first wife Eliza BARGUSS, née Haynes (1839–1887)
Their son Henry Jesse BARGUSS (1873–1888)
St Giles [Ss Philip & James] section: Row 46, Grave J29

Jesse Barguss (or Bargus) was born at Burcot near Clifton Hampden on 26 September 1840. He was the son of Jonathan Barguss, a shepherd, and Harriet Pinnell, who were both born in Clifton Hampden in 1807/8 and 1811/12 respectively. After their marriage his parents settled at Burcot, where they had at least nine children: James (1832), William (c.1833), Martha (1835/6), Matthew (1836/7), Charlotte (1838/9, Jesse himself (1840), John (1842/3), Abel (1846), and Andrew (1848). At the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses, Jesse was living at Burcot with his family.

Eliza Haynes was born the hamlet of Studley near Beckley on 23 December 1839 and baptised at Beckley Church on 29 December. (The part of Studley in which Eliza was born was then in Buckinghamshire, but when she was four years old it was taken into Oxfordshire and combined with Horton to form Horton-cum-Studley under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act of 1844.) Her parents were Thomas Haynes (born in Studley in 1791/2) and his wife Ruth (born in Arncott in 1797/8), who had the following children, all baptised at Beckley Church in the year shown: Michael (1824), Thomas (1828), George (1830), Elizabeth (1832), Mary (1837), and Eliza herself (1839). At the time of the 1841 census the family was living at Warren Farm, Studley where Eliza’s father was an agricultural labourer; they were still there in 1851, when Eliza was 11.

By the time of the 1861 census, both Jesse and Eliza had moved independently into Oxford. Jesse (20) was lodging at the Chequers Inn at 131A High Street, where he worked as a stableman for the innkeeper, George Stroud; and Eliza (21) was a servant at a house in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, where her sister Mary (23) was the cook.

On 1 October 1865 at Beckley Church, Jesse Barguss, described as a groom of Oxford, married Eliza Haynes. They had eight children, all of whom were baptised at St Ebbe’s Church:

• Aubrey Jesse Barguss (born at Wood Street, St Ebbe’s on 26 December 1866, died 12 May 1868)
• Mary Ella Barguss (born at Wood Street, St Ebbe’s on 27 December 1868)
• Elizabeth Emily Barguss (born at Wood Street, St Ebbe’s on 23 September 1870)
• Henry Jesse Barguss (born at 19 Church Street, St Ebbe’s on 17 December 1872)
• Ellen Alice Barguss (born at 19 Church Street, St Ebbe’s on 17 August 1875)
• Ethel Allen Barguss, known as Kathleen (born at 19 Church Street, St Ebbe’s on 19 April 1878)
• Amy Allen Barguss (born at Plantation Road on 31 December 1881)
• Aubrey Thomas Barguss, known as Thomas (born at Plantation Road on 14 January 1885).

 

Right: Jesse & Eliza Barguss
with Mary Ella and Elizabeth, 1870

Jesse & Eliza Barguss began their married life in Wood Street, St Ebbe’s, and at first Jesse worked as a coachman in the position of a servant. At the time of the 1871 census, he was lodging on his own at Norfolk Street in St Ebbe’s and described as a coachman: presumably he was looking after the premises while his master was away. His wife and children spent census night paying a visit to the Gibbs family in Boarstall.

By 1873 they had moved to 19 Church Street, St Ebbe’s, and Jesse was working as a flyman. (A fly was a one-horse carriage such as a cab or hansom, usually hired from a livery stable and not plying for hire.) This was evidently a success, as by 1875 Jesse was describing himself more grandly as a cab proprietor.

At some time between 1878 and 1881 the family moved to 16 Plantation Road. Jesse Barguss (40) and Eliza Barguss (41) can be seen there in the 1881 census with five of their children: Mary (12), Elizabeth (10), Henry (5), and Kathleen (2). Jesse was described as a cab proprietor, and lodging with the family was Henry Calcutt (21), a cab driver who probably worked for him.

Above: The cabstand in St Giles’ in the 1890s. The cabmen’s shelter, erected in 1876, can be seen
behind the entrance to the gentleman’s public conveniences, which were built in 1895.
Jesse Barguss operated cabs both from this rank in St Giles and from Oxford Railway Station.

Mrs Barguss died in 1887:

† Mrs Eliza Barguss, née Haynes, died at 16 Plantation Road the age of 48 on Christmas Day 1887 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 29 December (burial recorded in the parish register of both St Giles’s and Ss Philip & James’s Churches).

Her teenage son Henry was buried with her just three weeks later:

† Henry Jesse Barguss died at 16 Plantation Road at the age of 15 on 16 January 1888 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 19 January (burial recorded in the parish register of both St Giles’s and Ss Philip & James’s Churches).

On 3 February 1889 at St Peter-le-Bailey Church, Jesse Barguss married his second wife, the widow Mrs Mary Ann Watkins.She was born Mary Ann Carpenter, daughter of Levi and Hannah Carpenter of Barnet Gate, Eynsham on 22 September 1841 and baptised at South Leigh Church on 10 October. She was living at 36 New Inn Hall Street at the time of her marriage.

At the time of the 1891 census Jesse and his second wife were living at 22 Plantation Road. Jesse was still described as a cab proprietor, and five of his children from his first marriage were still at home: Elizabeth (20), Ellen (15), Kathleen (12), Amy (9), and Aubrey (6). The only child missing was Mary Ella Barguss (22), who was now a housemaid to the physician Edward Gray at 19 Beaumont Street.

By 1899 the family had moved two doors down to 26 Plantation Road, on the corner of Leckford Place. He still owned his former home, however, and on 16 June 1900 Jackson’s Oxford Journal reported that 22 Plantation Road, owned by Jesse Barguss but occupied by a Mrs Faulkner, had had its chimney-stack struck by lightning.

At the time of the 1901 census Jesse Barguss and his second wife Mary Ann were living at 26 Plantation Road, and only two of his children were still at home: Amy (19), who was a dressmaker, and Aubrey (16), who worked for his father in the cab business.

Jesse Barguss’s second wife Mary died in 1910 at the age of 69. She does not appear to be buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery.

At the time of the 1911 census Jesse (69) and his son Thomas (26), now described as a cab driver, were still living at 26 Plantation Road.

Jesse Barguss died in 1924:

† Jesse Barguss died at 26 Plantation Road at the age of 83 on 8 March 1924 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 12 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church, and probably also in that of Ss Philip & James Church).

His effects came to £1,895 3s. 7d. His unmarried daughter Amy remained at 26 Plantation Road until 1944.

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Surviving children of Jesse and Eliza Barguss

• Mary Ella Barguss (born 1868), shown right, married George Brown, a butler from Yorkshire, on 20 September 1899 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, and their marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. They had three sons: George Edward Brown (1901), Reginald Harry Brown (1902), and Arthur Percival Brown (1905). Mary Ella died on 13 March 1922.
• Elizabeth Emily Barguss (born 1870) never married. She died at 33 St Alphonsus Road, Clapham on 18 November 1950.
• Ellen Alice Barguss (born 1875) married William Rouse at Ss Philip & James's Church on 18 August 1909. Their daughter Elsie May Rouse was born in Kirtlington in 1911.
• Kathleen Barguss (born 1878) never married. She died at Friends Cottage, Long Sutton, Langport, Somerset on 17 October 1955.
• Amy Allen Barguss (born 1881) never married. She died at 26 Plantation Road on 10 April 1944.
• Aubrey Thomas Barguss, known as Thomas (born 1885) married Eva M. Clement in the Christchurch district on 11 June 1917, and their son Paul Clement Barguss was born in the Wells district on 5 August 1921. Aubrey died on 8 May 1972, and his son Paul Barguss on 17 September 2013 in London.