John BATES (1821–1880)
His first wife Mrs Rebecca Priscilla BATES, née Beesley (1828–1861)
and his father-in-law William BEESLEY (c.1799–1860)
St Giles section: Row 9, Grave B42
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
WILLIAM BEESLEY
WHO DIED JUNE 18, 1860
AGED 61 YEARS
REBECCA PRISCILLA
DAUGHTER OF THE ABOVE
AND WIFE OF JOHN BATES
DIED FEBRUARY 1 1861
AGED 33 YEARS
AND OF THE ABOVE NAMED
JOHN BATES
WHO DIED
JANUARY 20 1880
AGED 59 YEARS
John Bates was born in High Wycombe on 11 March 1821, the son of Joseph Bates and Mary Durance Butcher. For more information about his early life, see his parents’ grave.
At the time of the 1841 census John (20) was living in Church Street, Summertown, where his father was a nurseryman, with his parents and six of his siblings.
In 1851 John (30) was still unmarried and living in London at 8 North Street, Marylebone with his older brother William and his family: both were assistant florists.
Rebecca Priscilla Beesley was born in Oxford in 1828 and baptised at St Ebbe’s Church on 16 August, the only daughter of the coachmaker William Beesley (born in Wootton, Berkshire in c.1799) and his wife Susannah (born c.1802). (They may be the William Beesley and Susannah Gray, both of Cowley, who were married at St James’s Church there on 24 June 1826, with Martha Gray and William Hewitt as witnesses.)
In 1841 Rebecca (13) was at a small boarding school in White Waltham in Berkshire. Her mother Susannah Beesley died at North Parade at the age of 46 in 1848 and was buried on 29 March: as this was just before St Sepulchre’s was opened, she was presumably one of the last people buried in St Giles’s churchyard. At the time of the 1851 census Rebecca (22) was living in North Parade with her father William, a widower of 51, who was still working as a coach-builder and employing twelve men, plus their 15-year-old servant girl.
On 5 August 1858 at St Giles’s Church John Bates (37), described as a florist, married Rebecca Priscilla Beesley (30), with both described as being of St Giles’s parish; the marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. They do not appear to have had any children.
At some point between 1851 and 1860, Rebecca’s father took over the Horse & Jockey inn in the Woodstock Road. He died there in 1860:
† William Beesley died at the Horse & Jockey Inn at the age of 61 on 18 June 1860 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).
At this point (or possibly a little earlier), John & Rebecca Bates must have taken over the Horse & Jockey.
Rebecca herself died nine months after her father, less than three years after her wedding:
† Mrs Rebecca Priscilla Bates died at the Horse & Jockey Inn at the age of 33 on 1 February 1861 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).
Her death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read: “Feb.1, aged 33, Rebecca, the beloved wife of Mr. John Bates, and daughter of the late Mr. William Beesley, of the Horse and Jockey, St. Giles’s.”
At the time of the 1861 census John Bates, a widower of 45, was the victualler at the Horse & Jockey pub, and lived there with his brother William (42), who was a florist, and William’s wife Mabel (41) and daughter Isabel (10), and a servant.
By 1871 John Bates had married his second wife Mary Ann (born in Wellington, Somerset in c.1818). At the time of the 1871 census John (57), described as a nurseryman, and Mary (53) were living at Plantation Road.
John Bates died in 1880:
† John Bates died at 9 Observatory Street at the age of 59 on 20 January 1880 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 26 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).
His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read: “Jan. 20, at 9 Observatory-street, Oxford, after a few hours’ suffering, from chronic asthma, Mr. John Bates, florist, aged 60. Deceased was deservedly respected, and was well known as the third son of the late Mr. Joseph Bates, Park Nursery, St. Giles’s.” His effects came to under £800, and his widow Mary Ann, who had moved to 1 North Parade, was his executor.
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