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

John BROCKLISS (c.1795–1872)
His son Edward Lamley BROCKLISS (1816–1865)
His son’s wife Mrs Eliza BROCKLISS, née Gulliver (1821–1898)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 6, Grave D70

John Brockliss was born in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire in c.1795, the son of John Brockliss senior and Rhoda Lamley, who were married at Bloxham on 1 December 1791. His father, who brought the family to Oxford and was a shirt maker at Osney Mill, died in about 1814 (will).

Melusina Christgift Bradshaw was the daughter of Christopher Bradshaw and his wife Christgift. She was born in the City of London in 1780 and baptised at St Mary, Aldermanbury on 10 December, and was hence about 15 years her husband’s senior, although in the censuses she slices at least ten years off her age.

On 19 August 1816 at St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch, John Brockliss junior married Melusina Christgift Bradshaw. He was aged about 21 and she was 36. They had four children (the first born three months after the wedding):

• Edward Lamley Brockliss (born in London on 26 November 1816 and baptised at St Anne & Agnes Church there; received into St Clement’s Church, Oxford on 18 June 1821, when his sister was baptised there)
• Caroline Amelia Brockliss (born in St Clement’s, Oxford on 28 August 1820 and baptised there on 18 June 1821)
• John Henry Brockliss (born at Ram Alley on 21 January 1824 and baptised at St Peter-in-the-East church on 16 May)
• Mary Brockliss (born in St Clement’s, Oxford at the end of January 1827 and baptised there on 4 February 1827);
  died aged one week and buried there on 7 February.

John and Melusina Brockliss evidently began their married life in London, but by 1820 they had moved to St Clement’s in Oxford. In 1824 they were living at Ram Alley in the parish of St Peter-in-the-East, and in 1827 they appear to be back in St Clement’s. John at this period was described as a corn dealer or baker.

By 1837 they were living in New College Lane in the parish of St Peter-in-the-East. On 21 September that year John’s widowed mother Mrs Rhoda Brockliss (75) died there, and the following announcement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 30 September: “Sept. 21, at her son’s house, in New college-lane, in her 76th year, Mrs. Brockliss, relict of the late Mr. John Brockliss, formerly of Osney Mill, near this city.”

On 13 March 1841 their son John Henry Brockliss died at New College Lane at the age of 16 and was buried at St Peter-in-the-East churchyard on 18 March. The following report appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 20 March 1841: “On Saturday last, in the 17th year of his age, after a lingering illness, deservedly beloved by all who knew him, John, youngest son of Mr. Brockliss, New College-lane.”

The 1841 census shows that John Brockliss junior was now a billiard-table keeper. He and his wife Melusina were home at New College Lane with their two surviving children, Edward Lamley Brockliss, who was described as a college servant, and Caroline Brockliss, plus a young woman called Caroline Gulliver who was the sister of Edward’s future wife.

Their daughter Caroline was married in 1843:

• On 7 September 1843 Caroline Brockliss (23) married the widower William Johnson (35), a tradesman of Clifford Street, London at St Peter-in-the-East Church. The following notice was inserted in Jackson’s Oxford Journal: “On Thursday last, at St. Peter’s-in-the-East church, by the Rev. J. Hobhouse, Mr. W. Johnson, son of T. Johnson, Esq., of Harrow-road, London, to Caroline Amelia, only daughter of Mr. Brockliss, of this city.”

By the time of the 1851 census John Brockliss (55) had returned to his original trade, and was a corn miller and mustard manufacturer employing six male servants. He and his his wife Melusina (allegedly 58, but actually 70) were living at Paradise Square, St Ebbe’s with a young house servant. Gardner’s 1852 directory has the following listing under the heading “Corn Millers” which shows where he had his business: “Brockliss John (and mustard manufacturer), Castle Mills, St. Thomas’”

Mrs Melusina Christgift Brockliss died at Paradise Square in Oxford at the age of 73 on 6 April 1856, and was probably buried at Osney Cemetery, as her burial is recorded in the register of St Ebbe’s Church. A short death announcement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 12 April: “April 6, Melusina, wife of Mr. J. Brockliss of this city.”

At the time of the 1861 census John Brockliss (65) described himself as a retired miller and was lodging at 6 East Street, Osney with the family of a GWR policeman. His story is continued below.

---

Edward Lamley Brockliss and his wife Eliza Gulliver

Edward Lamley Brockliss (born in London in 1816) was the eldest son of John Brockliss above and the first to be buried in this grave.

Eliza Gulliver was born in Bloxham in 1821 and baptised there on 11 June. She was the daughter of the farmer Thomas Gulliver and his wife Susannah, who had seven other children: Anne Gulliver I (1809; died of measles at the age of one); William (1815); Jane (1817); Caroline (1819); Eliza (1821); Frederick (1823); and George (1827).

On 20 August 1850 at St Mary's Church in Banbury, Edward Lamley Brockliss married Eliza Gulliver. Edward (32) was described as being of St Mary Magdalen parish and the son of a miller, and Eliza (28) was now living at Grimsbury. They had three children:

• Edward Lamley Brockliss junior (born at St John Street, Oxford in 1851 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 22 October)
• Mary Eliza Brockliss (born at St John Street, Oxford in 1852/3 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 18 January 1853)
• John Thomas Brockliss (born at St John Street, Oxford in 1854 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 24 August).

Edward Lamley Brockliss (35) was described as a Manciple in the 1851 census: he was living at 55 St John Street with his wife Eliza (29), who would have been expecting their first child, and their servant. Gardner’s Directory for 1852 shows that he lived in St John Street and worked as a cook at Worcester College. In April 1854 was elected a Churchwarden of St Mary Magdalen Church.

His sister Mrs Caroline Amelia Johnson died on 8 August 1857, and he rather than his father appears to have inserted this announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 15 August: “August 8, at Streatley, Berks, Caroline Amelia, wife of Mr. William Johnson, of 19 Clifford-street, London, and sister of Mr. E. L. Brockliss, St. John-street, in this city.”

In March 1860 it was reported that Edward Lamley Brockliss had been elected an Assessor and Auditor of the Central Ward, and in March 1862 a Guardian of that parish.

At the time of the 1861 census Edward was described as a gentleman, and he and his wife Eliza and their three children were paying a visit to Eliza’s brother Frederick Gulliver (35), a farmer of 400 acres at Deddington.

Edward Lamley Brockliss died in 1865, six years before his father:

† Edward Lamley Brockliss died at 56 St John Street at the age of 47 on 17 December 1865 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 21 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

His death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 23 December 1865 read: “Dec. 17, at No. 56, St. John-street, aged 47, Mr. Edward Lamley Brockliss. He was formerly for many years cook and manciple of Worcester College.” His effects came to under £4,000, and his executors were his wife Eliza, the bookseller John Road, and Richard Norris, gentleman of St John Street.

His son Edward Lamley Brockliss junior was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Pembroke College on 25 October 1869 at the age of 18.

---

John & Eliza Brockliss continued

At the time of the 1871 census John Brockliss (76) was working as an income tax collector and living at 56 St John Street with Eliza (48), the widow John's son Edward. She described herself as a landowner, and employed a cook and a housemaid.

John Brockliss died there the following year :

† John Brockliss died at St John Street at the age of 77 on 21 January 1872 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 25 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

His daughter Mary was married in 1876:

• On 18 April 1876 at St Mary Magdalen Church, Mary Eliza Brockliss married James Griffin, a surgeon of Banbury.

Mrs Eliza Brockliss is hard to find in the 1881 census. Her elder son Edward, who had obtained his BA in 1874 and was now a medical student, was staying with the family of his widowed aunt, Mrs Caroline Stronghill, in Streatham; and her younger son John was a mechanical draughtsman living alone (with a servant and her mother) as the head of a household at Warkworth, Banbury.

In 1891 Mrs Eliza Brockliss (69) was living on her own means at 2 Bridge Bank, Warkworth, Williamscote, Banbury, and her unmarried son Edward Lamley Brockliss junior (39), who was now a surgeon, was living with her; they had one servant. She died at Neithrop near Banbury in 1898:

† Mrs Eliza Brockliss, née Gulliver died at 12 Oxford Road, Neithrop at the age of 78 on 24 April 1898 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 28 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

Her effects came to £759 8s. 5d., and her executors were her sons Edward, who was described as a gentleman, and John, who was an engineer, and her son-in-law Innes Griffin, who was a surgeon.

---

Surviving children of Edward Lamley Brockliss and his wife Eliza

• Edward Lamley Brockliss junior (born 1851) never married. He was living in Bloxham at the time of his death at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury on 26 February 1929. His effects came to £383 13s.
• Mary Eliza Brockliss, Mrs Griffin (born 1852/3) was living at 2 South Bar, Banbury in 1881 with her surgeon husband James Griffin and her children Mary Ethel Griffin (2) and Harold James Griffin (1), plus two servants. They had moved to 31 Crouch Street in Banbury by 1891 and had three more children: Clara (7), Kathleen Maud (5), and James (2). They were at the same address in 1901 with two more children again: Phyllis (8) and John (4). By 1911 they had gone to live with their daughter Kathleen Maud and her French husband Antoine Philippi at Bloxham. Mrs Mary Eliza Griffin died at Dashwood House, Banbury at the age of 83 in early 1936 and was buried at Bloxham Church on 16 January.
• John Thomas Brockliss (born 1854) married Maria Jane Forden Plowman in the Southampton area in the second quarter of 1889. They had no children. At the time of the 1891 census they were living in Stamford, Lincolnshire with one servant. By 1901 John was an unemployed mechanical engineer, and he and his wife were staying in a boarding house in Hampstead. In 1911 at the age of 57 he described himself as retired, and they were living in St Saviour’s Road, Bath with one servant. He died at that address (his house was then named Devonia) on 6 September 1928, and his effects came to £3,779 4s. 6d.