James BROWN senior (c.1789–1857)
His second wife Mrs Caroline BROOKS (formerly Mrs Brown & Mrs Gillett), née Tyler (c.1801–1861)
St Paul section: Row 10, Grave A17 [St Paul ref. N7]
In
MEMORY OF
JAMES BROWN
WHO DIED MAY 17TH, 1857
AGED 68 YEARS
ALSO OF
CAROLINE BROOKS
RELICT OF THE ABOVE
AND WIFE OF
JOSEPH BROOKS
LATE Of LEICESTER
DIED JUNE 13TH, 1861
AGED 60 YEARS
James Brown senior was born in London in c.1789, and became a tailor. On 20 October 1816 at St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney he married his first wife, Clarissa Day. Their first son was born before the wedding, but baptised a year later with his father's surname:
- James Brown junior (born in Hounsditch, London on 24 July 1816 and baptised St Botolph's Church, Bishopsgate on 17 September 1817)
- John Henry Brown (born at Charlotte Street, London in 1820 and baptised at St Mary's Church, Whitechapel on 27 February).
The family moved to Oxford, and in about 1830 James was appointed foreman to Messrs Fiske, tailors of 23 Cornmarket Street (a position he was to hold until his death).
His first wife Clarissa died in the Jericho district at the age of 47 and was buried in St Giles's churchyard on 22 May 1836.
Caroline Tyler or Tyror, James Brown's second wife, was born in Oxford in c.1801, the daughter of the college servant James Tyler. On 27 October 1824 at St Ebbe's Church she married her first husband Thomas Gillett: both were then living in that parish. He is probably the Thomas Gillett of Brewer Street who died at the age of 43 and was buried in St Ebbe's churchyard on 11 September 1836.
On 16 November 1837 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, the widower James Brown married the widow Mrs Caroline Gillett, née Tyler. They do not appear to have had any children.
At the time of the 1841 census James and Caroline were living in Jericho Street, and employed a young servant girl.
James Brown's son James junior was married in 1844:
- On 11 July 1844 at St Cross Church, James Brown junior, described as a jeweller of Cornmarket, married Sarah Godfrey (20). For more about them and their ten children, see separate grave.
By the time of the 1851 census James Brown senior, who was still a foreman tailor, was living at 16 Clarendon Place (probably 35 Walton Street) in the St Paul's district chapelry with his wife Caroline and her Oxford-born niece Sarah Tyler (15).
James Brown died in 1857:
† James Brown died at Walton Street at the age of 66 on 17 May 1857 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 20 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “May 17, in Walton-street, Jericho, after a short illness, Mr. J. Brown, 27 years foreman to Messrs. Fiske, of this city, aged 66, greatly respected.”
Near the beginning of 1861 in Oxford, Mrs Caroline Brown married her third husband, Joseph Brooks, who was born in Ticknall, Derbyshire in 1807 and according to the grave marker had been living in Leicester. The 1861 census was taken just after their wedding, and Caroline (59) and her new husband Joseph (53) who was working as a mercantile clerk, were living at Gloucester Green in St Mary Magdalen parish.
Mrs Caroline Brooks died just two months after her third wedding:
† Mrs Caroline Brooks, formerly Mrs Brown and Mrs Gillett, née Tyler died at Gloucester Green at the age of 60 on 13 June 1861 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 7 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
She was buried in the grave of her second husband James Brown.
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