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Edwin Litchfield ELLIOTT (1825–1896)
His wife Mrs Matilda ELLIOTT, née Bailey (1822–1903)
Their son Joseph ELLIOTT (1854/5–1901)
Their daughter Miss Sarah Matilda ELLIOTT (1864/5–1939)
St Michael section: Row 13, Grave C50½

Edwin Litchfield Elliott was born in Northampton on 4 February 1825 and baptised there at the All Saints Wesleyan Chapel in Gold Street on 10 April. His parents were John Elliott and Louisa Litchfield, who were married at St Sepulchre's Church in Northampton on 18 July 1824. His parents came down to Oxford, and Edwin's father was dead by 1837: he may be the John Elliott of Gravel Lane who died at the age of 45 and was buried in St Mary Magdalen churchyard on 8 May 1836. Edwin's mother evidently took over the family business, and Robson's Commercial Directory of 1839 lists her as a shoemaker at London Place, St Clement's.

At the time of the 1841 census, Edwin (15) and his mother Louisa were both described as shoemakers and were living in St Clement’s with Edwin’s sisters Julia (13) and Harriett (10), and a 70-year-old shoemaker William Litchfield, who is likely to have been Edwin’s maternal grandfather.

Matilda Bailey was born in Oxford on 17 March 1822 and baptised at St Ebbe’s Church on 7 April. She was the daughter of the tailor Joseph Bailey and his wife Sarah (probably the Sarah Palmer whose banns were read at St Ebbe's Church on 14 April 1816). At the time of the 1841 census Matilda (19) appears to have been working as an assistant dressmaker in Witney, while her parents were living in Cardigan Street, Jericho with her sister Emma (21) and brother Joseph (17).

In the second quarter of 1850 in Oxford, Edwin Elliott married Matilda Bailey, and they had the following children:

• Edwin Bailey Elliott (born at 35 Cornmarket Street, Oxford on 1 June 1851 and baptised at the Wesleyan Chapel in Paradise Square on 21 December)
• John Bailey Elliott (born at Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1852/3 and baptised at the Wesleyan Chapel in Paradise Square on 12 June 1853)
• Joseph Elliott (born at Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1854/5 and baptised at the Wesleyan Chapel in Paradise Square on 15 February 1857 at the same time as his next brother)
• William Alfred Elliott (born at Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1856/7 and baptised at the Wesleyan Chapel in Paradise Square on 15 February 1857)
• Christopher Elliott (born at Cornmarket Street, Oxford on 14 April 1859 and baptised at the New Inn Hall Street Wesleyan Chapel on 10 November 1861, at the same time as his next brother); died aged four in 1863
• Albert Frank Elliott (born at 30 Cornmarket Street, Oxford on 21 March 1861 and baptised at the New Inn Hall Street Wesleyan Chapel on 10 November); died aged three in 1863
• Christopher Frank Elliott (born at 30 Cornmarket Street, Oxford on 24 July 1863 and baptised at the New Inn Hall Street Wesleyan Chapel on 23 January 1864)
• Sarah Matilda Elliott (born at 30 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1864/5).

The couple began their married life at 35 Cornmarket Street. The 1851 shows Edwin (26) as a boot & shoe maker employing twelve persons, living over the shop there with his wife Matilda (29), who would have been expecting their first child, plus an apprentice, and a house servant.

 

 

By 1861 they had moved to the former shop at 30 Cornmarket Street (photograph on the right shows the rebuilt premises, known as Elliott House).

 

The 1861 census shows that Edwin (36) now employed fifteen men, ten women, and three boys. He and his wife Matilda (39) still lived over this shop, and five of their six children were listed there with them: John (8), Joseph (6), William (4), Christopher (2), and Albert (one month). A shopwoman also lived with them, and they employed a house servant and a nursemaid. The monthly nurse employed temporarily to help with the latest baby was still in residence. Their eldest son, Edwin (10), appears to have been missed off the census.

Their eldest son Edwin Bailey Elliott, who had been educated at Magdalen College School, was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Magdalen College on 20 October 1869.

Although the family shoe business continued to operate at 30 Cornmarket until the 1920s, by 1871 the Elliott family had moved to a house in north Oxford. The census that spring shows Edwin Litchfield Elliott (46) and his wife Matilda (49) living at Elton Villas, St Giles. All their surviving children were at home: Edwin (19) was a student at the University; John (18) was a shoemaker’s assistant; and Joseph (16), William (14), the second Christopher (7), and Sarah (6) were at school. A shopwoman lived with them, and they had just one general servant. Edwin now now employed fewer people to run his Cornmarket boot-making business: six men and three women.

In 1872 their third son Joseph Elliott went up to The Queen’s College; and in 1874 their eldest son Edwin Bailey Elliott was elected Fellow and Mathematical Tutor of that college.

In early 1876 their second son John Bailey Elliott, who had been destined to take over the family business, died at St Giles at the age of 25 and was buried with his little brothers in the separate family grave mentioned above.

By the time of the 1881 census the family was living at 8 Canterbury Road. Edwin (56), who now employed four men, one woman, and a boy, was at home with his wife and just two of his children: Christopher (17), who was an assistant in his father’s shop, and Sarah (16), who was still at school. They had one servant as before. Edwin (29) was at The Queen’s College; Joseph (26) who had obtained his MA was a law student lodging in the Iffley Road; and William (24) is hard to locate.

By 1891 Edwin Litchfield Elliott (66) was a retired shoe manufacturer. At home with him and his wife at 8 Canterbury Road were his son Joseph (36), who was a solicitor, and Christopher (27), who was now a shoe manufacturer running his father’s business. Their son William Alfred Elliott (34) was an actor, lodging in London at Bloomfield Place, Hanover Square.

Their son Edwin Bailey Elliott was appointed the first Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Oxford in 1892.

Two of their children were married in the 1890s:

• In the third quarter of 1892 in Bradfield, Christopher Frank Elliott married Ellen Alberta Pinnock;
• On 29 June 1893 at Cowley St John Church, Edwin Bailey Elliott married Charlotte Amelia Mawer, the daughter of the hatter & hosier John W. Mawer of 39 Iffley Road.

Edwin Litchfield Elliott died in 1896, and a new grave was opened for him in the St Michael section of St Sepulchre’s Cemetery, even though he now lived in the parish of St Giles. It is likely that he had reserved this plot while he was still living in Cornmarket Street:

† Edwin Litchfield Elliott died at 8 Canterbury Road at the age of 71 on 29 March 1896 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 1 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s Church).

His effects came to £14,539 19s. 4d., and probate was granted to his eldest and youngest son, Edwin Bailey Elliott, Professor of Pure Mathematics, and Christopher Frank Elliott, bootmaker.

At the time of the 1901 census Edwin Litchfield Elliott’s widow Matilda (79) was living at 8 Canterbury Road with her son Joseph (45), a retired solicitor, and her daughter Sarah Matilda (36), plus a cook and housemaid. Her son Joseph may already have been ill, as he died less than two months after the census:

† Joseph Elliott died at 15 Banbury Road at the age of 46 on 29 May 1901 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 1 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s Church).

Matilda died two years after her son:

† Mrs Matilda Elliott, née Bailey died at 8 Canterbury Road at the age of 81 on 16 August 1903 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 19 August (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s Church).

Her effects came to £312 9s. 3d., and probate was granted to her son Professor Edwin Bailey Elliott.

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Their daughter Sarah Matilda Elliott (born 1864/5)

Sarah, the only daughter of Edwin Litchfield and Matilda Elliott, never married.

In 1901 she was still living with her widowed mother at 8 Canterbury Road.

At the time of the 1911 census, when she was 46, she was boarding at 30 The Grove, Ealing, and was described as being of private means and as Honorary Secretary of the UMCA.

She appears to have moved to Truro, where she died in 1939:

† Miss Sarah Matilda Elliott died at Bodwarren, Chapel Hill, Truro at the age of 74 on 7 March 1939 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 10 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael’s Church).

Her body was returned to Oxford to be buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery with her parents and her brother. Her effects came to £9,983 6s. 7d., and probate was granted to her brother Christopher Frank Elliott.

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The other three surviving children of Edwin & Matilda Elliott

• Edwin Bailey Elliott (born 1851) and his wife Charlotte had no children. For more on his academic career, see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. In 1901 he was living at 4 Bardwell Road with his wife and two servants; and in 1911 he was staying alone at the Torbay Hotel in Torquay, while his wife Charlotte was home in Oxford with his niece Dorothy (17), the daughter of his brother Christopher, who was still at school. He died at the Acland Home on 21 July 1937 and his effects came to £25,646 17s 1d. His brother Christopher, described as a retired bootmaker, and his niece Dorothy were two of his executors. He was buried at Holywell Cemetery.
• William Alfred Elliott (born 1856/7) was still working as an actor in 1897 when at the age of 40 he appeared in court for showing indecent photographs of himself to two sixteen-year-old girls on a bus every time it went past electric lamps. He was then living at 99 Marylebone Road, and was was found guilty and fined 40s for having “exhibited to view photographs of a grossly indecent character to the annoyance of ladies while riding on top of an omnibus in Regent Street”. He vanishes from the censuses after that date.
• Christopher Frank Elliott (born 1863) took over the shoe business at 35 Cornmarket Street on his father’s death in 1896, and continued to run it until 1921. At the time of the 1901 census he and his wife Ellen Alberta were living over the shop at 30 Cornmarket with their daughter Dorothy (7). By 1911 he and his wife were living at 11 Staverton Road in north Oxford. He died at that address on 24 June 1948 and his effects came to £41,179 10s. 5d. His daughter Dorothy Mary Elliott (born 1893 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 21 July) appears to be the sole descendant of the eight children of Edwin Litchfield Elliott and his wife.