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

James BROWN junior (1816–1889)
His wife Mrs Sarah BROWN, née Godfrey (1824–1906)
Their daughters Miss Sarah Louisa BROWN (1852–1890),
Mrs Florence BIRD, née Brown (1860–1938), and
Miss Alice Emily BROWN (1856–1941)
St Giles section: Row 10, Grave B24½

James Brown (or Browne) junior was born in Hounsditch, London on 24 July 1816. His parents were the tailor James Brown senior and his first wife Clarissa Day, who were married at St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney on 20 October 1816. James was born before the wedding, but was baptised at St Botolph Bishopsgate a year later on 17 September 1817 and was given his father's surname. His younger brother John Henry Brown was born at Charlotte Street in London and baptised at St Mary's Church, Whitechapel on 27 February 1820. James's family moved to Oxford in about 1830, when his father was appointed foreman to Messrs Fiske, tailors of 23 Cornmarket Street. His mother Clarissa Brown died in the Jericho district at the age of 47 and was buried in St Giles's churchyard on 22 May 1836. His father married again in 1837, but there do not appear to have been any more children. For more about James Brown junior's background, see the separate grave of his father and stepmother.

Sarah Godfrey was born in Oxford in 1824 and baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church, Oxford on 8 August. She was the daughter of William Godfrey and Jane Haywood, who were married at St Michael's Church, Oxford on 24 July 1823. Her seven siblings were all baptised at St Cross Church in Holywell, Oxford: Charles (1828), Robert (1829), William (1832), Ebenezer (1833), Henry (1835), and Jane Elizabeth (1841). At the time of the 1841 census Sarah (16) was living in Holywell Street with her father William Godfrey, who was a college servant, her mother Jane, and her younger siblings Charles (13), Robert (11), William (9), Ebenezer (7), Henry (5), and John (3). After the death of her father in 1847, her mother moved to Bath Place and worked as a laundress.

On 11 July 1844 at St Cross Church, James Brown, described as a jeweller of Cornmarket, married Sarah Godfrey (20), and they settled at 5 Park Place, and was sometimes described as 5 Banbury Road or 5 St Giles's Road East.

Park Place was at the south end of the Banbury Road, running north from opposite St Giles's Church (map), and they had ten children there:

• Clara Amelia Brown (born at St Giles's Road, Oxford in 1845 and baptised on 7 September; baptism recorded in the register of St Giles Church as having taken place “at St. Paul's Dist. Church”)
• Ellen Frances Brown (born at Observatory Street in 1847 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 25 April);
  died aged seven months
• Henry James Brown (born at Park Place in 1848 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 27 December)
• William Charles Day Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1851 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 12 January)
• Sarah Louisa Brown (born at 5 Park Place on 2 July 1852 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 11 July)
• Mary Jane Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1854 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 5 June)
• Alice Emily Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1856 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 29 June)
• Florence Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1860 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 7 October)
• Arthur Percival Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1862 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 4 September)
• Edith Isabel Brown (born at 5 Park Place in 1865 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 21 December).

Their second daughter Ellen died aged seven months and was buried on 10 October 1847 in St Giles's churchyard. (St Sepulchre's Cemetery did not open until the following year.)

At the time of the 1851 census James (33), described as a watchmaker & jeweller, was living at 5 Park Place with his wife Sarah (27) and their first three children: (Clara) Amelia (5), Henry (2), and William (four months). They employed a servant.

In 1861 James (43), described as a watchmaker, was still living at 5 Park Place with his wife Sarah (36) and their surviving children Clara (15), Henry (12), William (10), Sarah (8), Mary (6), Alice (4), and Florence (six months), plus a servant. Their two youngest children Arthur and Edith were born in 1862 and 1865 respectively.

Their eldest daughter Clara was married in 1870:

• On 7 July 1870 at St Thomas's Church in Oxford, Clara Amelia Brown (24) of Park Place St Giles married William Sproston Wood (25), a licensed victualler of Hythe Bridge Street.

In 1871 James and Sarah were at home at 5 Park Place with their eight unmarried children Henry (22), a clockmaker; William (20), an unemployed cook; Sarah (18); Mary (16), a milliner; Alice (14), and Florence (10), Arthur (8), and Edith (5), who were all at school.

Their son William was married in 1877:

• Near the end of 1877 in Leek, Staffordshire, William Charles Day Brown married Ann Elizabeth Phillips.

At the time of the 1881 census James (63) was still working as a watch & clock maker and living at 5 Park Place with his wife Sarah (55) and their seven unmarried children: Henry (32), who was unemployed; Sarah (28), who helped at home; Mary (26), who was a milliner; Alice (24) who was a shop assistant; Florence (20), who was a milliner; Arthur (18) who worked for his father; and Edith (15), who was still at school.

Their son Henry was married in 1881:

• In the second quarter of 1881 in Farnham, Surrey, Henry James Brown married Catharine Louisa Smith.

Around the mid-1880s, the Brown family moved from 5 Park Place to a different house at 10 Park Place, also known as 10 Banbury Road.

Two more of their children were married in the second half of the 1880s:

• On 30 June 1887 at St Giles's Church, Oxford, Mary Jane Brown of 10 Park Place married Charles Godfrey Balk, a clerk of 10 Adelaide Street, and the son of the engineer William Theodore Godfrey Balk;
• On 17 December 1888 at St Peter-in-the-East Church, Oxford, Arthur Percival Brown, described as a jeweller of St Giles, married Edith Mary Simmons, the daughter of the deceased college servant Joseph Simmons.

James Brown died in 1889:

† James Brown died at 10 Banbury Road at the age of 71 on 4 May 1889 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

His personal estate came to £805, and his wife Sarah was his executor.

His unmarried daughter Sarah, who continued to live with her mother, died the following year:

† Miss Sarah Louisa Brown died at 10 Banbury Road at the age of 38 on 7 December 1890 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church, with her age wrongly recorded as 36 because of the discrepancy over her year of birth).

Mrs Brown is hard to find in the 1891 census, and there is no entry for 10 Banbury Road, so she and her unmarried daughters must have been away on census night.

Two of her daughters were married in the 1890s:

• In 1892 in Oxford, Florence Brown married James Atkinson Bird (see her full biography below);
• On 30 August 1892 in Japan, Edith Isabel Brown appears to have married Oscar Balk.

Sarah's married son William Charles Day Brown died in Mickleover, Derbyshire at the age of 43 near the end of 1894.

At the time of the 1901 census Sarah (70) and her unmarried daughter Emily (38) were living on their own means at 10 Banbury Road, and Sarah's grandson (Charles) Godfrey Bird (4), the son of Florence, was paying a visit from Nottingham.

Mrs Brown died in 1906:

† Mrs Sarah Brown née Godfrey died at 10 Banbury Road at the age of 82 on 1 November 1906 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

Her effects came to £362 15s. 6d., and her executor was her unmarried daughter Alice.

---

James & Sarah Brown's daughter Florence Brown, Mrs Bird (born 1860)

On 16 November 1892 at St Giles's Church, Florence Brown, with her address given as 10 Banbury Road, married James Atkinson Bird, a tailor from Hull. He was the son of Joseph Bird (a grocer later described as a gentleman) and his wife Frances, and was born at Swinton-by-Sheffield on 9 July 1871, so was his wife's junior by over ten years.

They had three children:

• Joseph Reginald Bird (born in Scotland in c.1893)
• Charles Godfrey Bird (born in Nottingham in 1896)
• James Douglas Bird (born in Nottingham in 1898/9).

At the time of the 1901 census Florence (40, but recorded as 38) was living at 38 Balfour Road, Nottingham with her husband James (30, but recorded as 32), who was a tailor's manager, and their children (Joseph) Reginald (7) and (James) Douglas (2). Their other son (Charles) Godfrey (4) was paying a visit to his widowed grandmother Sarah Brown in Oxford.

Florence's husband James died in the Strand district of London at the age of 38 on 11 November 1905.

Florence and her youngest son James (17) are hard to find in 1911. Her son Joseph (17) was a hotel chef for a railway company, boarding in Hull with his aunt Miss Mary Bird; and Charles (14) was at boarding school in London.

Florence died in 1938, and the parish register states that the burial took place in St Sepulchre's Cemetery:

† Mrs Florence Bird née Brown died at 18 St John Street, Oxford at the age of 79 on 2 November 1938 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

Her effects came to £2,084 2s. 8d., and her executor was her son Joseph Reginald Bird, who was a chef.

---

James & Sarah Brown's daughter Alice Emily Brown (born 1856)

Alice never married. She is hard to find in the 1901 and 1911 censuses, but is likely to be the Miss Brown listed as the occupant of her parents' house at 10 Banbury Road in Kelly's Directory for 1915.

Alice was living at 20 Wellington Square, Oxford when she died in hospital in 1941, and again the parish register states that the burial took place in St Sepulchre's Cemetery:

† Miss Alice Emily Brown died at the Cowley Road Hospital at the age of 85 on 7 October 1941 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 October (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

Her effects came to £1,671 19s. 2d., and her executor was her nephew Charles Godfrey Bird, a draper & outfitter