Mrs Ann BOYCE, née East (c.1812–1887)
Her daughter Mrs Mary Ann KETHRO, formerly Mrs Parker, née Boyce (1847–1930)
Her daughter Mary Ann's first husband Colin PARKER
(1846–1880)
Her daughter Mary Ann's second husband Thomas James KETHRO (1840–1891)
St Paul (St Barnabas) section: Row 9, Grave A2
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
COLIN PARKER
WHO DIED JULY 2, 1880
AGED 34 YEARS
ALSO
ANN BOYCE
WHO DIED SEP 13, 1887
AGED 75 YEARS
ALSO
THOMAS JAMES KETHRO
SON IN LAW OF ABOVE
WHO DIED
DEC 29, 1891
AGED
51 YEARS
ALSO MARY ANN KETHRO
WHO DIED MARCH
5 1930 ATED 82
“PEAE PERFECT PEACE”
(1) Mrs Ann Boyce, née East
Ann East was born in Swindon in c.1812, the daughter of the miller John East. She was the common-law wife, and later the official wife, of the veterinary surgeon Edward Boyce, who was twenty years older than she was: he was born in Hadleigh, Suffolk in c.1792, the son of the veterinary surgeon Edward Boyce senior. Ann and John Boyce had four children together before their marriage, three of whom who were baptised after the wedding with their father's surname:
- Emma East (born in Oxford in c.1835 and baptised 15 years later as Emma Boyce at St Paul's Church on 7 July 1850)
- John East (born in Oxford in 1837, reg. fourth quarter)
- Elizabeth East (born in Oxford in 1840/1 and baptised seven years later as Elizabeth Boyce at St Paul's Church on 26 December 1847)
- Jane East (born in Oxford in c.1844, no registration found, and baptised three years later as Jane Boyce at St Paul's Church on 26 December 1847)
At the time of the 1841 census Ann East (recorded as Boyce) and Edward Boyce were living at Great Clarendon Street in Jericho with their first two children Emma (6) and John (4).
On 24 November 1847 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, the spinster Ann East married the widower Edward Boyce, and they had two more children: the elder of the two born was almost immediately after the wedding, and was the first of their children to be registered with the surname of Boyce):
- Mary Ann Boyce (born in Oxford in 1847 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 26 December)
- Charlotte Boyce (born in Oxford in 1850 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 7 July)
By 26 December 1847, when Mary Ann was baptised, the family was living in Union Street in Jericho. Two of their older children born out of wedlock (Elizabeth and Jane) were baptised on the same day as their baby sister.
Their last child Charlotte was born in 1850, and their eldest child Emma (15) was baptised at the same time.
At the time of the 1851 census Ann Boyce (43) and her husband Edward (63), who was described as a castrator, were living at Union Street with their six children Emma (15), John (13), Elizabeth (9), Jane (7), Mary Ann (3), and Charlotte (11 months).
Ann's husband Edward Boyce died in Oxford near the end of 1854. His burial is not recorded in the register of St Paul's Church, so his grave is unlikely to be in St Sepulchre's Cemetery.
At the time of the 1861 census Ann Boyce, a widow of 54, was living at 24 Jericho Gardens and working as a laundress, and her two youngest children Mary Ann (12) and Charlotte (10) were still attending school. Her daughter Emma (25), who was also a laundress and called herself Ann Amos (although there does not appear to be a marriage) and her son John Amos (2) were also living with Ann.
In 1869 the Jericho area was taken out of the district chapelry of St Paul and into the parish of St Barnabas.
At the time of the 1871 census Ann (64) was still a laundress in Cranham Street. Her daughter Emma Amos (35) and Emma's son George Amos (9) were still living with her, and also her daughter Mary Ann (22). Her son John (33) was a widower, living next door with his children Elizabeth (10) and Edward (4), and the two other grandchildren living with Ann, Edith (7) and Albert (2) are likely also to be John's children.
Two of Ann Boyce's daughters were married in the 1870s:
- On 25 October 1873 at St Barnabas's Church, Mary Ann Boyce married her first husband Colin Parker
(see her biography below); - On 17 May 1875 at Holywell Church, Charlotte Boyce married Frederick Deeley, an electro-typer of Pimlico and the eldest son of the late Frederick Deeley senior, who had been a compositor. An announcement was placed in Jackson's Oxford Journal.
At the time of the 1881 census Ann Boyce (74) was still working as a laundress and living at 59 Cranham Street with her widowed daughter Mary Ann Parker (30), who was also a laundress, and three of her grandchildren: George Amos (19), who was a grocer's porter; Elizabeth Boyce (26), born in Reading, another laundress; and Albert Boyce (12), who was at school.
Mrs Boyce died in Jericho in 1887, and was buried in the grave of her son-in-law Colin Parker:
† Mrs Ann Boyce née East died at the Nelson Inn, 47 Wellington Street at the age of 75 on 13 September 1887 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 18 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas's Church, with age wrongly recorded as 86).
Her daughter Mary Ann Boyce (born 1847)
(1) Mary Ann Boyce's first husband Colin Parker
Colin Parker was born in Adelaide Street, Oxford near the end of 1846 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 17 January 1847. He was the son of the coach builder Henry Parker and his wife Ann Pimm, who were married in the Woodstock district in the fourth quarter of 1841. At the time of the 1851 census Colin (4) was living in Adelaide Street with his father Henry (35), who was a coach body builder, his mother Ann (35), and his brother Henry (9). Colin's father died near the end of 1857. In 1861 Colin (14) was still at school, living at 12 Adelaide Street with his widowed mother Ann (46), who was working as a laundress, and his brothers Henry (19), who was a draper's shopman, John (6), and Walter (3). In 1871 Colin (24) was a grocer's porter, living in Plantation Road in Ss Philip & James's parish with his mother Ann (56), who was still working as a laundress, and two of his brothers: John (16) was a grocer's porter, and Walter (13) was still at school.
On 25 October 1873 at St Barnabas's Church, Oxford, Mary Ann Boyce (23) married her first husband Colin Parker (26), described as a porter of Ss Philip & James's parish. They do not appear to have had any children.
Colin Parker died in 1880 less than seven years after their marriage, and was the first buried in this grave:
† Colin Parker died at 25 Cranham Street at the age of 33 on 2 July 1880 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 July (burial recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas's Church).
In 1881 Mary Ann Parker (30) was working as a laundress with her mother at 59 Cranham Street.
(2) Mary Ann Boyce's second husband Thomas James Kethro
Thomas James Kethro was born in Great Clarendon Street, Oxford in 1840 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 9 August. He was the son of the stonemason John Kethro and his second wife Martha Smith.
His father John Kethro married his first wife Mrs Ann Faulkner, née Hughes, the daughter of Edward & Mary Hughes, at St Mary Magdalen Church on 5 August 1822. (Ann Hughes had married her first husband, John Faulkner, at St Mary Magdalen Church on 25 March 1818, but he had died at Gloucester Green at the age of 25 and was buried in St Thomas's churchyard on 1 March 1821.) John Kethro and his first wife Ann had four children: Henry (born c.1823); Sarah (born c.1827); and Esther Ann (born 1829); and John (born on 1 July 1831 and baptised a at New Inn Hall Street Wesleyan Church on 12 July). Ann Kethro died in 1831 shortly after giving birth to John, and two of her children were baptised late into the Church of England: Esther Ann at St Thomas's Church on 27 January 1833, and John (for the second time) at St Paul's Church on 9 August 1840.
Thomas's parents, the widower John Kethro and Martha Smith, were both living in St Thomas's parish (which then included the Jericho area) when they were married at St Thomas's Church on 19 January 1835. Their first two children were baptised at St Thomas's Church: an earlier Thomas James (1835, died in St Paul's district chapelry at the age of one and buried at St Thomas's churchyard on 2 October 1837) and Martha Matilda (born in the St Paul's area in 1837 and baptised at St Thomas's Church on 29 October). St Paul's Church opened in 1837, and so Thomas was baptised there in 1840.
At the time of the 1841 census Thomas was a ten-month-old baby, living at Great Clarendon Street with his parents John and Martha; his four half-siblings Henry (17, already a mason like his father), Sarah (13), Esther (12), and John (9); and his full sister Martha Matilda (3).
Thomas's parents had six more children: Mary Elizabeth (c.1842); Rhoda Ann (born at Great Clarendon Street in 1844 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 29 December); Caroline Emma (1846/7); Betsy (1848/9) and William Joseph (1850), both born at Wellington Street and baptised together at St Paul's Church on 17 November 1850; and Leah (1854/5).
By the time of the 1851 census Thomas (10) was living at Wellington Street in Jericho with his father John (56), his mother Martha (40), his half-brother Henry (27), who was a stonemason, and his full siblings Martha Matilda (13), Mary (8), (Rhoda) Ann (6), (Caroline) Emma (4), Betsy (2), and William Joseph (five months).
Thomas is hard to find in 1861, but his father John Kethro (64) was living at 50 Wellington Street with his second wife Martha (42) and their children William Joseph (10) and Leah (6). John Kethro died there in November 1861 and was buried in the St Paul's section of St Sepulchre's Cemetery on 1 December (St Paul's ref. S15, grave not located).
In the third quarter of 1869 in Warwick, Thomas James Kethro, who was a stonemason like his father, married his first wife Louisa Young. They had three children:
- Leah Kethro (born in Kersley, Lancashire near the end of 1870; died aged one)
- Emily Martha Kethro (born at 7 Henley Street, Battersea Park in 1872 and baptised at St Saviour's Church, Battersea on 25 August): later Mrs Kempster: see her separate grave
- John Kethro (born at 23 Broughton Street, Battersea in 1874 and baptised at St Philip's Church, Battersea on 13 September); died aged one.
At the time of the 1871 census Thomas (30) and Louisa (25) were boarding in Kersley, Lancashire with their first child Leah (three months). By mid-1872 they had moved to Battersea, where their daughter Leah Kethro died at the age of one. Their next two children were born in Battersea.
Soon after September 1874 the family moved to Oxford, where their baby son John Kethro died at the age of one near the end of 1875.
Mrs Louisa Kethro died at Cardigan Street at the age of 32 in March 1877. Her burial on 1 April 1877 is recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas's Church, implying that she too is buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery.
At the time of the 1881 census Thomas Kethro (40) and his only surviving child Emily (8) were living at 21 Jericho Street, Oxford with Emily's widowed grandmother Martha Ann Kethro (70), who described herself as a retired general shopkeeper.
On 10 December 1882 at St Barnabas's Church, Oxford, the widower Thomas James Kethro (42) married the widow Mrs Mary Ann Parker, née Boyce (32). They had one child:
- Lottie Louise Kethro (born in Oxford on 20 November 1883 and baptised at St Barnabas's Church on 30 December).
At the time of the 1891 census Thomas (50), who was still working as a stonemason, was living at 59 Cranham Street with his second wife Mary Ann (43) and Emily (18), his only surviving child from his first marriage, who was working as a laundress, and Lottie (7) from his second marriage.
Thomas James Kethro died at the end of 1891, and was buried with his second wife's first husband and his mother-in-law:
† Thomas James Kethro died at 59 Cranham Street at the age of 51 on 29 December 1891 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 2 January 1892 (burial recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas's Church).
His second wife Mrs Mary Ann Kethro, formerly Mrs Parker, née Boyce outlived her husband by nearly 40 years, and died in 1930. She was buried in the same grave as her two husbands and her mother:
† Mrs Mary Ann Kethro, formerly Mrs Parker, née Boyce died at 59 Cranham Street at the age of 82 on 5 March 1930 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 7 March (burial recorded in the parish register of of St Barnabas's Church).
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