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Joseph CASTLE (1812–1890)
His wife Mrs Martha CASTLE, née Savoury (1819–1897)
Their daughters Miss Martha CASTLE (1842/3–1900) and
Mary Ann CASTLE (1849–1854)
St Paul section: Row 10, Grave A6

Joseph Castle was born in Woodstock in 1812 and baptised there on 3 July. He was the son of John Castle and his wife Ann. By the time of his marriage in 1842, he was already working for Oxford University Press.

Martha Savoury or Savory was born in Merton in 1819 and baptised there with the name of Patty (the diminutive of Martha) on 16 May. She was the daughter of William Savory, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Crawford. At the time of the 1841 census her parents were living in Yarnton with her sisters Sarah (15) and Mary (8), but Patty herself was living in Pembroke Street, St Aldate’s in the household of James Brazier, a College servant.

Joseph Castle (described as being “of University Press”) married Martha Savoury at Yarnton on 10 July 1842: he was able to write, but she signed her name with a cross. They had the following children:

• Martha Castle (born at Great Clarendon Street, Oxford in 1842/3 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 14 May 1843)
• Joseph Castle (born at Observatory Street, Oxford in 1844/5 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 1 March 1845)
• Mary Ann Castle (born at Observatory Street, Oxford in 1848 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 11 March 1849; died aged 5 in 1854)
• William Castle (born at Observatory Street, Oxford in 1852 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 30 January 1853)
• Sarah Ann Castle (born at Observatory Street, Oxford in 1855 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 9 December)
• Agnes Castle (born at Observatory Street, Oxford in early 1861 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 28 April)

Joseph Castle was an engineer at Oxford University Press, and he and his wife Martha evidently began their married life in Great Clarendon Street, moving to 16 Observatory Street (which was in the St Paul’s district chapelry of St Giles’s parish) by early 1845. At the time of the 1851 census they were living there with their first three children: Martha (7), Joseph (6), and Mary Ann (2).

Their daughter Mary Ann died three years later:

† Mary Ann Castle died at 16 Observatory Street at the age of 5 on 12 May 1854 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 16 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

Mary appears to have been buried in a children’s area of the cemetery (St Paul ref. D.9), and is probably not in the same grave as her father, who died 36 years later.

Joseph Castle (48) and Martha (41) were still at 16 Observatory Street at the time of the 1861 census with their five surviving children Martha (17), Joseph (16), William (8), Sarah Ann (5), and Agnes (one month), as well as Martha’s widowed mother Mrs Mary Savoury (60).

In 1868 Agnes’s father took out the first lease on 3 Bevington Road, which he named Brynrhos. He and his wife Martha can be seen living there at the time of the 1871 census with four of their children: Joseph (26), the superintendent of a printing works; William (18), an engine fitter’s apprentice; and Sarah (15) and Agnes (10), who were at school. They now had a servant. Their other daughter Martha (27) was living in the home of the attorney Jeston Homfray at Colan Hill, Cradley, near Stourbridge in Worcestershire, where she worked as a governess.

By the time of the 1881 census Joseph Castle (68) was a retired civil engineer, living at 3 Bevington Road with his wife and three of their unmarried children: Joseph (36), now described as a printer machine overseer; William (28), a civil engineer; and Sarah (25). Their daughter Agnes (21) was the governess to the children of a prosperous Hampshire farmer; but their other daughter Martha is hard to find.

Two of their daughters were married at St Paul’s Church in the early 1880s:

• On 3 February 1882 at St Paul’s Church, Sarah Ann Castle (26) married William Hurcomb, a bookseller of 1 Walton Villas and the son of Philip & Jane Hurcomb;
• On 14 April 1884 at St Paul’s Church, Agnes Castle (23) married Alfred Thomas Brooke (26), gas company clerk of Great Clarendon Street.

Their son Joseph Castle junior was appointed Controller of the Wolvercote Paper Mill in 1883.

Joseph Castle died in 1890:

† Joseph Castle died at 3 Bevington Road at the age of 77 on 1 February 1890 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 8 February 1890 read simply “Feb. 1, at 3, Bevington-road, Oxford, Joseph Castle, aged 77. For many years Engineer at the University Press.” His personal estate came to £1,500 11s. Although he had lived in another parish for 22 years, he is interred in the St Paul’s section of the cemetery: he may have been buried in a plot reserved by Oxford University Press.

At the time of the 1891 census Mrs Martha Castle (72) was living at 3 Bevington Road with her unmarried son William (38), who was still a printer’s engineer, and one servant. Her other two unmarried children Joseph (46) and Martha (47) were living at Mill House, Wolvercote with two servants: Joseph was now a paper-maker.

Mrs Martha Castle died in 1897:

† Mrs Martha Castle, née Savoury died at 3 Bevington Road at the age of 77 in January 1897 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 27 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

Her daughter Miss Martha Castle continued to live with her unmarried brother Joseph at Wolvercote Paper Mill, and died there just three years after the death of her mother:

† Miss Martha Castle died at Wolvercote Paper Mill at the age of 56 on 11 January 1900 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 15 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

Her effects came to £1,128 2s. 7d.

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Other surviving children of Joseph & Martha Castle

• Joseph Castle (born 1844/5) never married. In 1901, when manager of the paper mill at Wolvercote, he was living at Mill House with his brother William (48) and two servants. The situation was much the same in 1911. He retired in 1916 and died at “Highfield” in Davenant Road (now deemed to be in north Oxford, but then part of Wolvercote) on 17 June 1921. His effects came to £20,796 16s. 1d., and his executor was his brother William. His obituary appeared in The Clarendonian, ii. 34 (July 1921).
• William Castle (born 1852) never married. He was a mechanical engineer living at Wolvercote with his brother Joseph in 1901. The situation was the same in 1911, except that William was now described as the Chief Engineer to Oxford University Press. After the death of his brother Joseph he evidently stayed on at his house in Davenant Road, as he died there on 23 October 1924. His effects came to £20,817 17s. 4d., and probate was granted to his nephews Cyril William Hurcomb, civil servant, and Alfred Walter Brooke, surveyor.
• Sarah Ann Castle, Mrs William Hurcomb (born 1855), mother of the future Lord Hurcomb: see separate grave.
• Agnes Castle, Mrs Alfred Brooke (born 1861): see separate grave.