Samuel DAVIS (1799–1863)
His wife Mrs Frances DAVIS, née Bond (c.1789–1880)
St Paul section: Row 14, Grave A22 [St Paul ref. K11]
In affectionate
remembrance of
[IHS symbol]
SAMUEL DAVIS
Who died April 21, 1863
Aged 64 Years
Also of
FRANCES his wife
Who died June 2, 1880,
Aged 91 Years
[Two lines of text]
Samuel Davis was born in St Helen's parish, Abingdon on 7 February 1799 and baptised at the Independent Meeting House there on 22 February. He was the son of Joseph Davis and his wife Elizabeth Payne, who were married at St Helen's Church, Abingdon on 11 April 1792. His older brother Joseph Davis junior was also baptised at the meeting house in 1796.
Frances Bond was born in Burton, Yorkshire in c.1789.
On 5 February 1831 at St Mary Magdalen Church in Oxford, Samuel Davis married Frances Bond: they were both then living in that parish. They had just one child, born when Frances was aged 42:
- Frances Davis (born at Gloucester Green in Oxford in 1833 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 11 August).
At the time of the 1841 census Samuel Davis, who was a printer, was living in Observatory Street in the St Paul's district chapelry of St Giles's parish with his wife Frances and their eight-year-old daughter Frances.
In 1851 Samuel (51) was still living in Observatory Street with his wife Frances (60) and their daughter Frances (18). Mrs Davis was again a laundress, and her daughter was a milliner; but Samuel had made a surprising temporary change of trade from printer to that of a sausage-maker: this is confirmed by Gardner's Directory for 1852, which duly lists “Davis Samuel, sausage maker, 17 Market-street”.
Their only child Frances was married in 1857:
- On 24 September 1847 at St Paul's Church, Frances Davis married John Francis Townsend, a clerk of Observatory Street and the son of the dyer James Townsend.
By the time of the 1861 census Samuel (62) had returned to his original trade and was described as a printer pressman, but his wife Frances (72) was still a laundress: their address was more precisely given as 48 Observatory Street.
Samuel Davis died in 1863:
† Samuel Davis died at Observatory Street at the age of 64 on 21 April 1863 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).
Mrs Davis is hard to find in the 1871 census. She died in 1880:
† Mrs Frances Davis née Bond died at 234 Cowley Road at the age of 91 on 2 June 1880 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).
Her death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read simply: “Jun 2, at 234, Cowley Road, Oxford, Frances, widow of Mr. Samuel Davis, printer, aged 91.”
The only child of Samuel and Frances Davis
Frances Davis, Mrs Townsend (born 1833) was living at South Parade, Summertown in 1861 with her husband John, who was a manager at a wholesale clothier's, and their daughters Edith Ella Townsend (2) and Frances Rosa Townsend (under one year), and her widowed mother-in-law Hannah Townsend was also living with them.
In 1869 Frances's husband took on the first lease of Denmark Villa, 1 Bevington Road. The 1871 census shows Frances (38) and John (35) living there with their two daughters and their son Frank Charles Ernest Townsend (2); and they now employed a general servant and a nurserymaid.
They were still at that address in 1881 with their three children and a servant. In 1891 two of their children were still at home: Frances (30) and Frank (22), who was an assistant wholesale clothier.
Frances's husband John Francis Townsend died at 1 Bevington Road at the age of 64 on 7 August 1900. His effects came to £3,614 13s. 7d., and his wife was his executor.
Frances moved to 47 Chalfont Road, and she can be seen there in the 1901 census with her daughter Frances (40).
Mrs Frances Townsend died at 47 Chalfont Road at the age of 69 on 20 September 1901. Her effects came to £1,170 14s. 7d., and her executors were her son Frank Charles Ernest Townsend, who was an assistant cashier, and the ironmonger William Sheldon Goundrey junior.
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