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Thomas CARTER (1835–1874)
His wife Mrs Emma CARTER, née Butler (c.1838–1924)
Their daughters Miss Jessie CARTER (1867–1870) and
and Mrs Margaret McLACHLAN, née CARTER (1865–1924)
With a mention of their only son Thomas Lee CARTER (1860–1897)
St Giles (Ss Philip & James) section: Row 2, Grave B37

Thomas Carter was born in Oxford in 1835 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 31 May. He was the son of Joseph Carter, a college servant, and his wife Elizabeth. Four of his siblings were baptised at the same church: Julia (1826), Joseph (1828), Emily (1831), and William Henry (1833).

At the time of the 1841 census Thomas (6) was living towards the north of St Giles’s Street with his father Joseph, who was a college servant, and his mother Elizabeth, who was a laundress, plus his siblings Elizabeth (16), Julia (14), Joseph (13), Emily (11), and William (8). His grandmother Anna or Hannah Carter was also with them.

By the time of the 1851 census Mrs Carter had died. Thomas (15) was a solicitor’s writing clerk, living at 17 Beaumont Street with his father Joseph (50), who was now a coal merchant, and his siblings Julia (24), Joseph (22), who was a college servant; Emily (24), and William (18). His grandmother Hannah Carter (82) was still living with them.

Emma Butler was born in Kensington in c.1838, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Butler. Her parents must have moved to Scotland soon after her birth, as her sister Eliza was born there the following year. By 1851 they had moved to Oxford and were running a receiving house for distressed travellers in Castle Street: her father Thomas (45), who was born in Kidlington, was described as the Resident Officer and a Chelsea Pensioner, and her mother Margaret (44) was the Matron. Emma (14) and her sister Eliza (14) were living with them at the receiving house.

On 19 August 1858 at St Peter-le-Bailey Church, Oxford, Thomas Carter married Emma Butler. They were both described as living in Castle Street, and Emma’s father was now described as a constable. They had the following children:

• Julia T[h]eresa Carter (born at Tyndale Street, east Oxford in 1859 and baptised at St Clement's Church on 12 June)
• Thomas Lee Carter (born at St Giles’s Road, Oxford in late 1860 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 6 January 1861)
• Eliza Barrington Carter (born at Blenheim Place, Oxford in 1862 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 18 December)
• Maria Jane Carter (born at Blenheim Place, Oxford in 1863 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 6 December)
• Margaret Lee Carter (born in Oxford in 1865 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 2 August)
• Jessie Carter (born at Blenheim Place, Oxford in 1867 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 23 December);
  died 1870 (see below)
• Emily Carter (born in Oxford in 1873, reg. Headington district second quarter)

The Carters were evidently living at Tyndale Street (then called William Street) in St Clement's at the start of their marriage, but by late 1860 had moved to St Giles's Road, the name given to the south end of both the Woodstock and Banbury Roads.

At the time of the 1861 census Thomas (26) was an attorney’s general clerk, living at 2 St Giles’ Terrace at the south end of the Woodstock Road with his wife Emma (23) and their first two children Julia (1) and Thomas (five months). They moved to Blenheim Place by 1862: this was then in St Giles’s parish, but was taken into Ss Philip & James’s parish when that church opened in 1863.

From 1865 Thomas Carter’s occupation was recorded as coal merchant, and he had probably taken over his father’s business.

In about 1865 their two-year-old daughter Maria Jane went totally blind following convulsions.

Their daughter Jessie died at the end of 1870:

† Jessie Carter died at Blenheim Place at the age of 3 years 9 months on 18 December 1870 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 21 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

At the time of the 1871 census Thomas was described as both a collector of taxes and a coal merchant employing one man, and was home at Blenheim Place with his wife Emma and their five surviving children. Their last child, Emily, was born in 1873.

Thomas Carter died at 10 Blenheim Place in 1874:

† Thomas Carter died at the Radcliffe Infirmary at the age of 39 on 23 February 1874 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 28 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

His effects came to under £100.

At the time of the 1881 census his widow Emma (43), who now described herself as a coal merchant, was living at 17 Blenheim Place with Julia (21); Thomas (20), who was an auctioneer’s clerk; Eliza (19), who was a dressmaker; Margaret (16); and Emily (8). Her widowed father-in-law Joseph Carter (81), described as a retired college servant, was also living with them. The only child missing was Maria (17), who was boarding at the Clarendon Street Institution for the Blind in Nottingham.

Her eldest daughter was married in 1887:

• In the first quarter of 1887 in the Wandsworth district, Julia Theresa Carter married Charles Louis Peckham.

By 1891 Emma (53) was running a lodging house at 26 Walton Well Road. Four of her daughters were living with her: Eliza (29) was a dressmaker; Maria (29) and Margaret (25) were living on their own means; and Emily (18) was a schoolteacher.

Her only son Thomas Lee Carter was a 30-year-old warehouseman lodging in Didsbury, Lancashire in 1891. He died in the Chorlton district of Lancashire in 1897 at the age of 37, and is mentioned on this gravestone, but is actually buried in Manchester.

Her second daughter was married in 1884:

• On 7 July 1884 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, Eliza Barrington Carter (32) of 158 Walton Street married William Thomas Brucker (34), a builder of 8 St Bernard’s Road, the son of the builder William Brucker.

By 1901 Emma Carter (63) was a lodging house keeper at 76 Walton Street, and her unmarried daughters Maria, Margaret, and Emily were still living with her.

Her fifth and youngest daughter Emily was married in 1902:

• On 29 March 1902 at Ss Philip & James's Church, Emily Carter (29) of 8 St Bernard's Road married Herbert Samuel Cooke (32), an Inspector of Education of Oak Villa, Caversham and the son of the tax collector Samuel Charles Cooke.

By 1911 Emma (74) was living with the family of her daughter Mrs Eliza Brucker at 8 St Bernard’s Road (then called St John’s Road), and her blind daughter Maria (47) was also with them.

Her fourth daughter Margaret was living in Reading with her married sister Emily in 1911. She was married In 1917:

• In the second quarter of 1917 in the Abingdon registration district, Margaret Carter (52) married the doctor John McLachlan, and they lived at 3 Keble Road.

Mrs Emma Carter was living in New Inn Hall Street at the time of her death in 1924:

† Mrs Emma Carter née Butler died at 28 New Inn Hall, Street, Oxford at the age of 86 on 1 January 1924. Her burial is recorded in the parish register of St Ebbe's Church, which may indicate that she was not actually buried in this cemetery..

Her effects came to £1,073 19s. 10d., and her daughter Margaret McLachlan was her executor. Margaret died less than nine months after her mother:

† Mrs Margaret McLachlan née Carter died at 68 Observatory Street, Oxford at the age of 58 on 17 September 1924 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 20 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her effects came to £819 6s and her executor was the lecturer Herbert Samuel Cooke, her son-in-law.

---

Other surviving daughters of Thomas and Emma Butler

• Julia T[h]eresa Carter, Mrs Peckham (born 1859) was living at 2 Hanley Road, Wimbledon in 1891 with her husband Charles, who was a mineral water manufacturer, and their son Arthur Reginald Peckham (1). They were living at 2 Stanley Road, Wimbledon in 1901, and Charles was now a builder’s merchant. They were still at that address in 1911, and Arthur (21) was a builder’s clerk, probably working for his father. Julia Theresa Carter died at their Wimbledon home at the age of 82 on 9 January 1942. Her effects came to £1,991 10s. 10d., and her son, who was now a quantity surveyor, was her executor.
• Eliza Barrington Carter, Mrs Brucker (born 1862) was living at 8 St Bernard’s Road in 1901 with her husband William, who was a builder & contractor, and their daughters Dorothy (4) and Marion (2), plus a servant. The situation was much the same in 1911, when Eliza’s mother and blind sister Maria were also living with them. Mrs Eliza Barrington Brucker died at 55 Chalfont Road at the age of 64 on 6 March 1927. Her effects came to £1,374 10s. 2d.
• Maria Jane Carter (born 1863), who was blind, never married. She died at Hurst Bank, Heaton, Bolton on 2 December 1946. Her effects came to £430 10s., and her executors were her nephew, Arthur Peckham and her niece Mrs Elinor Mary Davis, née Cooke.
• Emily Carter, Mrs Cooke (born 1873) spelt her name as Emilie after her marriage. She was in Pretoria with her husband Herbert Samuel Cooke (41), who was Acting Director of Native Labour when their twin children Wilfrid Alan Cooke and Elinor Mary Cooke were born in 1908. was living at Roscommon, Craven Road, Reading in 1911 with her Caversham-born husband Herbert (41), who was described as a University College Lecturer, her unmarried sister Margaret, and two servants, and the three-year-old twins were living in Caversham with their Cooke grandparents. Their son Wilfrid was killed in the Second World War and is listed on the Christ Church Cathedral war memorial. Emilie Cooke died at 6 Northcourt Avenue, Reading at the age of 62 on 15 January 1935. Her effects came to £8,762 3s. 7d., and her husband was her executor.