James CLINCH (1795–1858)
His wife Elizabeth CLINCH, née Ward (1803–1851)
St Giles’s section: Row 11, Grave B43
HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF / ELIZABETH WIFE OF / JAMES CLINCH
WHO
DIED APRIL 1ST. 1851 / IN THE 48TH. YEAR OF HER AGE
[Other side] ALSO OF JAMES CLINCH WHO DIED MAY 15TH. 1858 / AGED 61 [64] YEARS
James Clinch was born in Cholsey, Berkshire on 5 December 1794 and baptised at the church there on 5 January 1795. He was the son of Thomas and Betey Clinch. His younger sister Augusta was baptised there in 1797.
Elizabeth Ward was born in Oxford on 11 February 1803 and baptised the next day at St Michael’s Church. She was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Ward. Her younger sister Ann was baptised at that church in 1806.
When James Clinch married Elizabeth Ward at St Michael’s Church, Oxford on 21 March 1831, they were both described as being of that parish. They had two children:
- Elizabeth Mooden Clinch (born in Oxford in 1832 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 24 July);
died aged seven months, and buried at that church on 21 February 1833; - James Clinch (born in Oxford in 1834 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 29 May).
When his children were baptised in the early 1830s, James Clinch was an innkeeper, but by the time of the 1841 census he described himself as a coachman: he was then living at Alfred Street in St Giles (now renamed Pusey Street) with his wife Elizabeth and their son James (7).
At the time of the 1851 census, James Clinch, described as a fundholder & proprietor of houses, was living at 8 Park Place, which was at the south end of the Banbury Road, running north from opposite St Giles's Church (map). With him was his wife Elizabeth and their son James (16), who was a grocer’s apprentice, plus one servant.
Mrs Clinch died on the day after that census was taken:
† Mrs Elizabeth Clinch, née Ward died at Park Place at the age of 47 on 1 April 1851 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 7 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).
A brief death notice was inserted in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, simply saying: “April 1, aged 47, Elizabeth, wife of Mr. James Clinch, of Park Place, St. Giles’s.”
James Clinch died in 1858:
† James Clinch died at Park Place at the age of 64 (61 on tombstone and 62 in register are both wrong) on 15 May 1858 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 21 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).
His death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read: “May 15, Mr. James Clinch, of 8, Park-place, St. Giles’s, aged 61 years, after a sudden and severe illness.” His effects came to nearly £6,000.
His only surviving child James Clinch junior does not appear in the UK census from 1861, and is hard to trace.
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