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John GEE (1842–1898)
His wife Mrs Elizabeth GEE, née Payne (1841–1887)
St Giles [Ss Philip & James] section: Row 26, Grave F42

  

 

There is another John Gee buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery who is not related to this famous Oxford family: he came from Northamptonshire, and none of his children stayed in Oxfordshire.

John Gee was born in Bear Lane, Oxford on 28 February 1842 and baptised at All Saints Church on 9 May. His father was Charles Gee (who had been born in Kennington, Berkshire in 1812/13, the son of John Gee senior). His mother was Martha Horn (born in Oxford in 1811 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 25 October, the daughter of the confectioner Richard Horn and his wife Catherine.

John's parents Charles Gee and Martha Horn were married at St Michael’s Church, Oxford on 20 December 1838 and had six children:

• Charles Gee junior (born in Bear Lane, Oxford in 1840/1 and baptised at All Saints’ Church on 27 February 1841)
• John Gee (born in Bear Lane, Oxford in 1842 and baptised at All Saints’ Church on 9 May)
• Richard Gee (born in Bear Lane, Oxford on 9 August 1843 and baptised at St Mary the Virgin Church on 1 September)
• William Henry Gee (born in Egrove, Kennington in 1844/5)
• Henry Gee (born in Kennington in 1845/6)
• Martha Ann Gee (born in Kennington in 1847/8)

John’s father Charles Gee senior was a tobacconist in All Saints’ parish at the time of his marriage in 1838, and a billiard-table keeper in Bear Lane when his first three sons were baptised. Then in about 1844 Charles appears to have moved his family to Kennington, his birthplace. By the time of the 1851 census they were in Sunningwell: Charles Gee (38) was then a farmer of 35 acres, living with his wife Martha and children Charles (10), John (9), Richard (7), William Henry (6), Henry (5), and Martha Ann (3).

By 1858 John's father Charles Gee was living at 29 Speedwell Street, where he made the celebrated Oxford Sausage. On 9 October that year he advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal that he had made arrangements with his brother-in-law, the confectioner Edward Horn, that the latter would sell his sausages at his shop at 142 High Street, where they could also be bought cooked. At the time of the 1861 census Charles Gee was duly described as a sausage maker and was living at 33 Speedwell Street, Oxford with Martha and three of his children: Richard (17), who was a confectioner’s assistant; William (16), who was a bookseller’s assistant (and was later to have his own bookshop in Oxford’s High Street); and Martha (13), who was at school; and three of his nephews, all born at Radley, were also living with him.

John Gee himself (19) was a hatter & hosier in 1861, lodging at 14 Market Street, Oxford with his uncle John Horn (42) and John’s sister Catherine (49), who were both unmarried confectioners. Soon after that census he must have changed his trade to that of a nurseryman, as Jackson’s Oxford Journal reports that at the Royal Oxfordshire Horticultural Show on Tuesday 15 September 1863, he won third prize in the nurserymen’s class.

Elizabeth Payne was born in Limehouse, London on 14 May 1841, the second daughter of John Payne.

On 28 January 1864 at All Saints Church, Poplar, John Gee married Elizabeth Payne, and their marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 6 February. They had the following children:

• John Payne Gee (born in New Hinksey, Oxford in 1865 and baptised at South Hinksey Church on 16 July 1865)
• Elizabeth Sarah Gee (born at North Parade, Oxford in 1866 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 23 September)
• Charles William Seaborne Gee (born at North Parade, Oxford in 1867 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 17 November)
• Edith Ellen Gee I (born at St Giles’s Fields/Banbury Road in 1869 and privately baptised through Ss Philip & James’s Church on 6 August; died aged five weeks and buried on 10 August 1869)
• Amy Florence Gee (born at St Giles’s Fields/Banbury Road in 1870 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 6 November)
• Maud Ada Gee (born at St Giles’s Fields/Banbury Road in 1872 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 14 April)
• Grace Kate Gee (born at Banbury Road in 1873 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 20 April)
• Edith Ellen Gee II (born at Banbury Road in 1874 and privately baptised by Ss Philip & James’s Church on 7 August; died aged four and buried on 11 November 1878)
• Margaret Emily Gee (born at Banbury Road in 1876 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 24 February; died aged four months and buried on 13 March 1876)
• George Richard Gee (born at Banbury Road in 1877 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 5 April)
• Henry Horn Gee (born at Banbury Road on 1 February 1879 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 9 March)

When their eldest son was baptised on 16 July 1865, John and Elizabeth Gee were living in New Hinksey (which, although it was in the south part of Oxford, was then in the county of Berkshire), and John was described as a florist. Within a week or so, John Gee took over the business of the gardener & seedsman Henry Hooper, and the following announcement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 29 July:

By the time of Elizabeth’s baptism in 1866, they had moved to North Oxford and were living in North Parade. John was then described as a gardener.

Between 1867 and 1869 the Gees appear to have moved to a house on the Banbury Road (address uncertain). The first of the two daughters they named Edith Ellen was born and died there in 1869: her death was recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church, and she and the other two babies who died later may be buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery: they are certainly remembered on their parents’ grave.

Early in 1871 John’s father Charles Gee died at Speedwell Street at the age of 58, and was buried on 16 January, probably at Osney Cemetery; his mother continued to run the family sausage-making business.

At the time of the 1871 census John and Elizabeth Gee, both aged 29, were living on the Banbury Road with their four surviving children John (5), Elizabeth (4), Charles (3), and Amy (six months), plus a servant. John was now described as a market gardener employing three men.

On 12 October 1872 John’s mother inserted a notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal under the heading GEE’S OXFORD SAUSAGES thanking readers for the support bestowed on her late husband and herself for the past fifteen years, and announcing that Mr E. Horn was no longer her agent, and in future “her celebrated Oxford Sausages can only be procured from her Sons, Mr. John Gee, Middle Row, Oxford Market, Mr. Charles Gee, grocer, 18, St. Aldate’s-street, and from the Manufactory, 33, Speedwell-street, Oxford”.

John Gee was described as living in “St. Giles's Fields” on 29 October 1874 when he won a prize for his Brahma hen at the Oxford Poultry and Pigeon Show, and that was also given as his address when he won second prize for the best hen in 1877. In the 1881 census John and Elizabeth Gee, both aged 39, were described as living at a “house in Gee’s Garden, Banbury Road” with their children John (15), Elizabeth (14), Amy (10), Maud (9), Grace (8), George (4), and Henry (2).

The move to the earlier Victoria Nursery on the Banbury Road

By the time of the 1871 census it appears that the Victoria Nursery, run by the Day family since at least the 1830s, had been taken over by John Gee, as he was described as a market gardener employing three men living on the Banbury Road. At the time of the 1881 census he was described as living in “House in Gees Garden Banbury R”.

On 11 October 1884 it was reported in Jackson's Oxford Journal that Gee had replaced the small greenhouse in front of his house there with a shop (with J. C. Gray of 82 Cowley Road the architect):

John Gee's wife Elizabeth died in 1887:

† Mrs Elizabeth Gee née Payne died at Banbury Road (presumably at the Victoria Nursery) at the age of 46 on 21 November 1887 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 24 November (burial recorded in the parish registers of both Ss Philip & James and St Giles’s Churches).

The notice of her death published in Jackson's Oxford Journal on read simply:

Nov. 21, at St Giles's Fields, Oxford, Elizabeth, wife of John Gee, of Banbury Road and Oxford Market, aged 46 years.

Their son Charles was married in 1889:

• On 8 August 1889 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, Oxford, Charles William Seaborne Gee (22), described as a market gardener of the Victoria Nursery in the Banbury Road, married Isabella Maria Baker (22) of Little Clarendon Street, daughter of the late Thomas Baker, a builder, and the marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal.

At the time of the 1891 census John Gee, a widower of 49, had moved to Ivy Lodge on the Banbury Road, where he lived with his son John Payne Gee (26) and his daughter Elizabeth (25), who acted as housekeeper; also still at home were Amy (20), Maud (19), and Grace (18), who all worked as florist assistants, and his youngest son Henry (12). Both John and his son John junior were described as “Farmer, Nurseryman, etc”. His married son Charles was living at the Victoria Nursery at 63 Banbury Road with his wife and son, but John Gee still ran the family business.

In Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, Bucks & Oxon for 1891, John Gee is listed under “Nurserymen and Seedsmen” at the Victoria Nurseries, 63 Banbury Road. The following advertisement from 1892 suggests that he was now concentrating on shrubs and trees for the large gardens of North Oxford, growing them at Diamond Farm in Summertown but selling them at the more convenient Victoria Nurseries and Oxford Market:

On 30 January 1892 John Gee took out a large advertisement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, inviting people to inspect his numerous stock at Diamond Farm, Banbury Road, listing many trees, shrubs, and climbers, and stating that orders could be received at the Victoria Nurseries, Banbury Road and at the Market, Oxford.

On 2 February 1895 he advertised fruit trees and shrubs available for inspection at the Blackhall Farm Nurseries, Banbury Road.

The present Gee's Nursery building

In 1897 a new house with a large conservatory was built for John Gee by Sims, with H. W. Moore as architect: this survives today as Gee's Restaurant. It was newer than adjacent buildings and hence today has the address 61A Banbury Road (although the number given in nineteenth-century directories and advertisements is 63.)

John Gee died early the following year at Black Hall Farm on the Banbury Road:

† John Gee died at Black Hall Farm at the age of 55 on 8 February 1898 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 February (burial recorded in the parish registers of both Ss Philip & James and St Giles’s Churches).

Probate was granted to four of his children (John, Charles, Elizabeth, and Amy), and his effects came to £6,119 7s. 7d.

In 1899, the year after John Gee's death, his business was listed as “Gee John, Victoria nurseries, 63 Banbury rd. St. Giles’; greengrocer, 84, 85, 86 and 74 The Market; & market gardener, Black Hall frm. Banbury rd. Summertown.”

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Gee’s Victoria Nurseries from the twentieth century

The address of Gee’s Victoria Nurseries, which was given at 63 Banbury Road in the early twentieth century, was numbered 61A Banbury Road by the 1920a. “Gee’s Victoria Nurseries, fruiterers” were still listed there in 1976 in the last Kelly’s Directory to be published, and in the 1980 telephone directory.

The Oxford Times of 19 August 1983 (p. 7) reported that the conservatory was to be converted into a restaurant by its new owner, Jeremy Mogford (newspaper report and planning application 82/00980/NFH). It was first Le Petit Blanc, and then Gee's Restaurant. It is a Grade II listed building (1392914).

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Surviving children of John and Elizabeth Gee

• John Payne Gee (born 1865) became a florist & market gardener like his father. He was living at Blackhall Farm when on 21 November 1898 at Summertown Church he married Mary Susan Wheeler, a printer's daughter of 44 Oakthorpe Road. At the time of the 1901 census when he was 36, he and his wife were living at 45 Oakthorpe Road, Summertown with their eighteen-month-old son John Wheeler Gee, plus a 15-year-old servant. By 1911 they were living at the Nurseries, Summertown Farm, with John (11) and their second son William Frank Gee (9). John Payne Gee was described as being of New Farm, Cumnor when he died on 17 October 1951, and his effects came to £14,186 11s. 6d.
• Elizabeth Sarah Gee (Mrs Tanner) (born 1866) presumably continued to act as her father’s housekeeper until his death in 1898. At the time of the 1901 census she was living with her brother George and his wife at Black Hall Farm, St Giles; but her address was given as 11 Plantation Road when on 30 December 1903 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, at the age of 37, she married Edward William Tanner (40), the farmer at Rectory Farm, Horspath. At the time of the 1911 census they were living at that farm. They had no children.
• Charles William Seaborne Gee (born 1867) took over his parents’ house at 63 Banbury Road, and he and his wife and 11-month-old son Charles can be seen living there at the the time of the 1891 census: he was then described as a fruit salesman, probably employed by his elder brother. By 1901 he was a fruit merchant and employer, and he and his wife lived at 19 Islip Road with their children Charles (10), Edward (9), Arthur (8), Stewart (5), Thomas (4), and Frederick (1). By 1911 Charles was a farmer and fruit salesman at Gosford Farm Kidlington. A photograph of five of his sons who fought in the First World War appeared in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 25 August 1915.
• Amy Florence Gee (born 1870) was living at Blackhall Farm when she married Walter Abraham Pike, a college clerk of 21 Wellington Square and the son of the baker John Pike, at Summertown Church on 8 January 1900. At the time of the 1901 census they and their baby daughter Margaret Amy (seven months) were paying a visit to Amy’s sister Mrs Maud Goundrey at Hampton Poyle. By 1911 they had moved to 61 Banbury Road and had another daughter Edith Ellen, then six. Amy was described as the manageress of a fruiterer and florist business. Ann Spokes Symonds in The Changing Faces of North Oxford writes that “The very neat and ladylike Mrs Pike (née Gee) who wore her hair in a bun, and her son, ran the famous shop for many years. Here were made up the wedding bouquets and funeral wreaths for generations of North Oxford families.”
• Maud Ada Gee (born 1872) was living at 29 Thorncliffe Road when she married the ironmonger Arthur Percy Goundrey, the son of the ironmonger John Goundrey, at Summertown Church on 31 December 1900. At the time of the 1901 census they were living at Hampton Poyle, and Arthur was described as an ironmonger. Her sisters Grace and Amy (the latter with her husband and baby) happened to be paying a visit on census night. By the time of the 1911 census Arthur (34) was the farmer at Grove Farm, Kidlington, where he lived with Maud (29) and their children John (9), Mary Elizabeth (8), and Edward Arthur (6). Maud died in the Banbury district at the age of 86 in the second quarter of 1958.
• Grace Kate Gee (Mrs Hunt) (born 1873) was paying a visit to her sister Mrs Maud Goundrey at Hampton Poyle at the time of the 1901 census. She was living at 83 Southmoor Road when at the age of 33 she married Charles Hunt (44), the miller at Botley Mill, at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 26 February 1906. They had three children: Kate (1906), Maude (1907), and Ruth (1909). At the time of the 1911 census they were living at 61 Botley Road, and Charles Hunt was described as a miller and baker. She is probably the Grace K. Hunt who died in the Ploughley registration district at the age of 70 in 1943.

• George Richard Gee (born 1877) was living at Blackhall Farm when he married Edith Emma Baker of 19 Islip Road, the daughter of the deceased licensed victualler Thomas Baker, at Summertown Church on 6 February 1900. At the time of the 1901 census George (24) and Edith (32) were living at Black Hall Farm, where George was the farmer, and George’s unmarried siblings Elizabeth (33) and Henry (22) were living with them
• Henry Horn Gee (born 1879), known as Harry, was living with his brother George and his wife at Black Hall Farm, St Giles in 1901, when he was aged 22, and working as a nurseryman. In the second quarter of 1904 he married Minnie Radbone in Oxford. At the time of the 1911 census Henry (32) and Minnie (33) were living at 19 Islip Road, Sunnymead with their son Herbert (3) and daughter Grace (ten months), plus a mother’s help. Henry Horn Gee died at Meadowsweet, Small Lane, Fishponds, Bristol on 27 November 1965. His effects came to £459.