William George Charles BARNES (1866–1932)
His second wife Mrs Ann Emily BARNES, formerly Adams, née Farley (1866–1932)
With an inscription to William’s stepson and Ann’s son
Albert Stanley Adams, killed in the First World War
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 29, Grave L61
WILLIAM G. C. BARNES
DIED FEB. 22ND 1932
AGED 65 YEARS.
HIS WIFE ANN EMILY
DIED MAY 26TH 1932
AGED 65 YEARS.
ALBERT STANLEY ADAMS, O.B.L.I.
KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE
AUG. 14TH 1916
AGED 19 YEARS
William George Charles Barnes
William George Charles Barnes was born in Hockmore Street, on the Cowley and Iffley border, in 1866 and baptised at St James’s Church, Cowley on 27 May. He was the illegitimate son of Isabelle Barnes, a servant who already had a daughter Fanny, born in 1859 and baptised at Cowley on 18 September. At the time of his birth Isabella (35) was living with her parents, Richard and Fanny Barnes.
At the time of the 1871 census William (5) was living with his uncle Joseph Barnes, who was an agricultural labourer, and his family in Hockmore Street.
By 1891 William was a bricklayer aged 24, lodging in Henley-on-Thames. He then came toOxford, as he was living at 50 Howard Street when on Christmas Day 1895 he married his first wife, Eliza Dixon (a laundress of 25 Paradise Square), They had one daughter:
- Mary Barnes (born in Oxford on 20 December 1896 and baptised at Cowley Ss Mary & John Church on 7 March 1897).
At the time of the 1901 census William, who was still working as a bricklayer, and Eliza were living at 55 Warwick Street with Mary (4).
His first wife Eliza Barnes died at the age of 43 near the beginning of 1911, and at the time of the census that year William (44), now a bricklayer working on own account, was living at 52 Warwick Street, east Oxford: his daughter Mary (14), who was still at school, was away on census night, paying a visit to the Woodward family at 53 Argyle Street.
Ann Emily Farley, Mrs Adams (later the second Mrs Barnes)
Ann Emily Farley (Annie) was born in Woodstock in 1866 (reg. fourth quarter). She was the daughter of James Henry Farley, a painter and glazier, and Zilpah Woodward, a gloveress, who were married in Woodstock in 1859.
At the time of the 1871 census Annie was aged four and living with her parents and two of her siblings at Oxford Street in Woodstock. By 1881 she had four siblings: James (17), Thomas (7), William (3), and Ralph (nine months).
By 1891 Annie (24) had left home and was living at the Railway Hotel in Park End Street, Oxford, where she worked as a waitress.
On 21 December 1891 in Woodstock, Ann Emily Farley (25) married her first husband, Frank Adams (29), described as a waiter of All Saints parish in Oxford. They had the following children:
- Frank James Adams (born in Oxford in 1892 and baptised at St Frideswide’s Church on 25 December)
- William Ernest Adams (born in Oxford on 11 October 1894 and baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 13 January 1895)
- Albert Stanley Adams (born in Oxford on 9 December 1896 and baptised at St Frideswide’s Church on 17 January 1897)
- Robert Henry Adams (born at the Coach & Horses in Broad Street on 14 January 1900 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 31 March; died aged 15 months and buried on 6 May 1902)
- Roland Adams (born at the Coach & Horses in Broad Street on 14 March 1903 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 20 March; died aged six days and buried on 23 March 1903)
- Kathleen Annie Adams (born at the Coach & Horses in Broad Street on 19 March 1905 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 23 April)
When her first child was born in 1892, Annie was living at 5 St Frideswide’s Terrace with her first husband Frank, who was still working as a waiter. In 1898 they took over the Coach & Horses pub at 35 Broad Street/1 Parks Road. This corner pub in St Mary Magdalen parish was one of the buildings demolished to make way for the New Bodleian Library, and two photographs of it can be seen on the English Heritage website:
At the time of the 1901 census Frank & Annie Adams were living at the pub with their first four sons and two servants. They lost their fourth and fifth sons as babies in 1902 and 1903, and these are likely to be buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery.
They were still at the pub in 1911 with their four surviving children Frank (18), who was a music seller’s assistant; William (16), who was a furnisher’s assistant; Albert (14), who was a shop assistant; and Kathleen (6). Also living with them was Annie’s father James Farley (a widower of 75, who was a house painter) and her married niece Mrs Gertrude Hope (25). Annie herself was now assisting in the business, and they had one servant.
Annie’s husband Frank Adams died at the Coach & Horses at the age of 51 in 1913, and was buried on 2 June, probably in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery, but the grave is unknown. Annie was listed as the landlady there in Kelly’s Directory for 1914.
On 6 July 1914 at St Mary Magdalen Church, Mrs Annie Adams (47) married her second husband William George Charles Barnes (48), a widower of 52 Warwick Street. William was then described as a builder, but after his marriage he moved into the Coach & Horses at 35 Broad Street and became its landlord.
Albert Stanley Adams (1896–1916)
Mrs Annie Barnes’s son by her first marriage, Albert Adams, who lived at the Coach & Horses pub on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road, served as a Private in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 2415).
He died in France at the age of 19 on 14 August 1916. CWGC page
He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 10A and 10D).
His photograph (left) appeared in the “Heroes of the War” section of the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 14 August 1916.
The above inscription to Albert Stanley Adams was added in 1932 or later to his mother and stepfather’s grave:
ALBERT STANLEY ADAMS, O.B.L.I. / KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE / AUG. 14TH 1916 AGED 19 YEARS
He is remembered on the St Mary Magdalen Church memorial (below):
William & Annie Barnes continued to run the Coach & Horses pub in Broad Street until 1923, when they retired to 10 St Bernard’s Road (then called St John Street).
Annie’s second husband, William Barnes, died there in 1932:
† William George Charles Barnes died at 10 St Bernard’s Road at the age of 65 on 22 February 1932 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 25 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).
His effects came to £423 7s. 9d.
His wife Anne died just four months later in the Radcliffe Infirmary:
† Mrs Ann Emily Barnes née Farley died at 10 St Bernard’s Road at the age of 65 on 26 May 1932 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church as 30 June).
Her effects came to £427 12s. 3d., and her son William Adams, who was now a hairdresser, was her executor.
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