• History of Cemetery
• Location/Plans
• Notable people
• Grimsley gravestones
• News
• Burials A–Z
• Current Work
• Photographs
• Restoring a grave
• Contact/Search

Four infant children:
Frank James BLAKE (1871–1873) and his sister Florence Emily BLAKE (1872–1873)
and their cousins
Charles Maurice CLARKE (1880–1882) and his brother Lewis CLARKE (1888–1889)
St Giles (Ss Philip & James) section: Row 16, Grave B25½

(1) The front of the grave marker: the Blake children (and their parents)

.

This is a double-sided grave marker: see below for the other side recording the burial in this grave in the 1880s of their cousins, the two Clarke children

 

Joseph Blake was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire in 1842 (reg. fourth quarter), the son of the butcher Simeon James Blake and his wife Susannah Child. At the time of the 1851 census Joseph (8) was living at London Street North, Beaconsfield with his parents and five siblings: Richard Benjamin (19), who was a butcher like his father; Elizabeth Sarah (16); and Mary (15), Emma (13), and Lavinia (11), who were at school. By 1861 Joseph (18) was a draper's apprentice, lodging with his master at Ware in Hertfordshire.

Charlotte Hanks was born in George Street, Oxford in 1844 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 2 October, the daughter of the slater & plasterer John Hanks and his wife Ann (possibly the John Hanks and Anne Goddard who were married at St Andrew's Church in Headington on 28 May 1835). Her four older siblings had also been baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church: Walter Nathaniel (1837), Edward (1839), Emily Letitia (1841), and Nathaniel Day Hanks (1842), and her younger sister Ann Amelia (who married Charles Maurice Clarke, below) was baptised there in 1846. Their father John Hanks died at George Street at the age of 34 when Charlotte and Amelia were infants, and was buried in St Mary Magdalen churchyard on 7 June 1846. At the time of the 1851 census Charlotte (6) and Amelia Ann (5) were living at Little Clarendon Street with their mother Ann (39), who described herself as a plasterer employing two men, and their siblings Walter Nathaniel (14), who was a labourer, and John (12) Edward (11), and Emily Letitia (9), plus a 14-year-old servant girl. Their sister Emily died the following year. Their mother married her second husband, the coal merchant Joseph Carter, in 1855, and at the time of the 1861 census Charlotte (14) and Anne (13) were living with their mother and stepfather in St Giles's Street with their brothers Walter Hanks (24) and John Hanks (22), who were plasterers and slaters.

On 15 September 1868 at St Giles's Church, Joseph Blake (26) – described in the parish register as a draper of Beaconsfield but in the announcement in Jackson's Oxford Journal as already being a mercer at 1 High Street, Oxford – married Charlotte Hanks. They had the following children:

• Frederick Murray Blake (born at 1 High Street, Oxford in 1869 and baptised at St Martin's Church on 15 September)
• Frank James Blake (born at 1 High Street, Oxford in 1871 and baptised at St Martin's Church on 29 January)
• Florence Emily Blake (born in Oxford in 1872 and baptised at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire on 10 November).

Joseph Blake went into partnership with William Wiseman, the draper at 1 High Street, Oxford and the business became known as Wiseman & Blake.

Wiseman died in April 1868. At the time of the 1871 census Joseph Blake (28) was living over this shop on the corner of Carfax with his wife Charlotte (26) and their first two children Frederick (1) and Frank (three months). Also living with him was his assistant Charles Maurice Clarke (23), who was to marry Joseph's wife's sister in 1878), and an apprentice and a servant.

Right: Joseph Blake's shop at 1 High Street on the corner of Carfax. It was one of the shops demolished in 1900 to make way for the pesent Lloyd's Bank building

Joseph Blake died at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire at the age of 29 on 19 November 1872, just nine days after the baptism there of his youngest child Florence, and was presumably buried there. His effects came to under £1,500, and his wife Charlotte was to be the universal legatee during widowhood and the residuary legatee in the event of her marrying again.

By the date of probate on 30 December 1872 his widow Charlotte had moved to the part of Walton Street in Oxford that lay in St Giles's parish. Her son Frank died there early in 1873:

† Frank James Blake (with his name recorded as Francis Blake) died at Walton Street at the age of two in March 1873 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her baby daughter died less than two months later:

† Florence Emily Blake died at Walton Street at the age of nine months on 3 May 1873 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

The baby's death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “May 3, Florence Emily, infant daughter of Charlotte and the late Joseph Blake, aged 9 months.”

Mrs Charlotte Blake and her only surviving child Frederick Murray Blake

At the time of the 1881 census Mrs Charlotte Blake (35) was running her own draper's shop at 5 Queen Street, Oxford and living over the premises with her son Frederick (11) and their servant.

At the time of the 1891 census her son Frederick (21) was boarding in Portsmouth and working as a stationer's assistant. When he married four years later, he was described as a a stationer of South Hampstead:

• On 27 June 1895 at St Saviour's Church, Preston, Brighton, Frederick Murray Blake (26) married Edith Cheal (27).

By 1901 census Frederick had his own stationer's shop at 92 Haverstock Hill, Hampstead and lived over the shop with his wife and their daughters Violet (4) and Gladys (3). His mother Charlotte (54), described as a retired draper, had come to live with him. She was still with him at that address in 1911, and there was another child, Murray (5).

Mrs Charlotte Blake died at her son Frederick's home at 92 Haverstock Hill at the age of 75 on 14 March 1920, and was presumably buried in that area. Her effects came to £884 12s., and Frederick was her executor.

Her son Frederick Murray Blake was living at 178 High Street, Berkhamsted when he died at The Base Hospital, Hemel Hempstead at the age of 75 on 10 April 1945. His effects came to £2,466 14s., and his son Murray, who was a stationer, was his executor.

---

(2) The other side of the grave marker (Row 16, Grave B25½): the Clarke infants (and their parents)

.

This is a double-sided grave marker: see above for the other side recording the burial in this grave in the 1870s of their cousins, the two Blake children

Charles Maurice Clarke senior (father of the baby with that name buried here) was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in 1848/9 (reg. first quarter of 1849), the son of William Clarke and Elizabeth Mary Maurice, who were married in Haverfordwest in the third quarter of 1840. He had nine siblings, including William Maurice (1841), Rupert John (1843), Steed Pollinger (1844), Edward William (1846), William Henry Septimus (1850), Harry Octavius (1851), William Llewellyn (1852/3), and Arthur Decimus (1854).

At the time of the 1851 census Charles (2) was living at Castle Street, Narberth, Pembrokeshire with his mother Elizabeth (36), who was a schoolmistress, and his brothers Rupert (7), Steed (5), and Edward (4). In 1851 when he was 11 he was living with his parents at Quay Street, Haverfordwest and he had three more siblings: Harry Octavius (9), William Llewellyn (7), and Arthur Decimus (6).

In 1871 Charles (23) was an assistant draper living with his employer Frank James Blake (see above) over 1 High Street, Oxford on the corner of Carfax, and presumably met his wife, the sister of his employer's wife, there. By 1878 Charles had his own draper's shop at 22 South Street, London.

Anne Amelia Hanks (usually described as Annie) was born in George Street, Oxford in in 1846 and baptised on 25 February, the youngest child of the slater & plasterer John Hanks and his wife Ann: for more on her background and early life, see the paragraph above about her sister Charlotte Hanks. At the time of the 1871 census (after Charlotte had married Joseph Blake and left home), Anne Amelia (24) was still living at 7 Park Place with her mother and her stepfather Joseph Carter, who was now a college servant; her brother John (32); and her mother's grandchild Anne Hanks (4), who was born in St Aldate's. Park Place was at the south end of the Banbury Road, running north from opposite St Giles's Church (map)

On 27 June 1878 at St Giles’s Church in Oxford, Charles Maurice Clarke married Anne Amelia Hanks of 34 St Giles Terrace, Oxford. They had the following children:

• Charles Maurice Clarke junior (born at South Street, Marylebone on 13 May 1880 and baptised at St Marylebone Church on 2 June)
• Lewis Clarke (born at Waltham Green, London in 1888 and baptised there on 6 May).

Annie went back to live in London with her husband. At the time of the 1881 census Charles (32) was living over his draper’s shop at South Street, Marylebone with Annie (23) and their first child Charles junior (ten months). Also living with them were two assistant drapers, an apprentice, and two domestic servants.

Baby Charles died in 1882, and although the death took place in London, Mrs Charlotte Blake evidently allowed her sister's children to be buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery with her own little children, with a separate inscription on the other side of the headstone:

† Charles Maurice Clarke junior died at 22 South Street, Manchester Square, London at the age of 1 year 9 months on 22 February 1882 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 28 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

The London Gazette of 15 November 1884 advertised the first meeting in connection with bankruptcy proceedings of Charles Maurice Clarke senior, who was a draper of both South Street, Manchester Square and of Ravenshaw Terrace, North End Road, Waltham Green; and on 23 February 1886 the London Gazette reported on the bankruptcy of Charles Maurice Clarke, a grocer and ironmonger of Shefford, Bedfordshire.

Baby Lewis was born in Marylebone in 1888, and it is possible that Annie left her husband after his birth, as she was evidently staying in Oxford at Kingston Road (in Ss Philip & James's parish) when Lewis died the following year:

† Lewis Clarke died at Kingston Road at the age of 14 months on 29 April 1889 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 3 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s and Ss Philip & James’s Church).

At the time of the 1891 census Charles (42), a draper, was living alone at 13 Charleville Road, Fulham, but described himself as married. His wife Annie is hard to find.

By 1901 Charles (53) had come down in the world and was working as a draper’s assistant, lodging on his own in part of a house in Putney: he described himself as married, but his wife was not with him. Again his wife Annie is hard to find.

Charles Maurice Clarke senior died in Wandsworth in 1909.

At the time of the 1911 census Annie, a widow of 62, was boarding on her own with the Howse family at 20 Beaumont Buildings, St John Street.

Mrs Annie Amelia Clarke died at 33 Warneford Road, east Oxford at the age of 78 on 25 January 1927 and was buried at Cowley St John churchyard on 29 January. Her effects came to £655 10s. 7d., and her executors were Harry Clarke, schoolmaster, and Ernest Clarke, box office manager.