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Anne GREEN (born and died 1852)
Her brother Miles William GREEN (born and died 1861)
St Paul section: Row 14, Grave A18½ (St Paul ref. P11)

These are the infant children of the college servant Walter Green and his wife Anne Gilbert.

Their father Walter Green, who was born in Holywell, Oxford in 1825 and baptised at St Cross Church on 28 December, was the son of the New College groom John Green and his wife Elizabeth. At the time of the 1841 census Walter (16) and his brother William (17) were lodging with the plumber & glazier Mrs Ann Knowles at 75 Holywell Street.

Their mother Anne Gilbert was born in Oxford in c.1830, the daughter of the college servant George Gilbert. At the time of the 1841 census Anne (aged about 12) was living at 35 St John Street with her parents and her older brothers Selom and William and her younger brother Edward, plus a lodger and servant. Anne’s father George Gilbert died at St John’s Street at the age of 45 later that year, and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 June.

On 20 December 1849 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Walter Green married Anne Gilbert: they were both then living at St John Street, and it seems likely that Walter had gone to lodge with the Gilberts or nearby. St John Street did not fall in the St Paul's district chapelry, but the family seems to have had a connection with that area.

They were still living at St John Street when their eldest son Walter Green junior was baptised at St Giles’s Church on 22 October 1850.

By the time of the 1851 census Walter (35), described as a college servant, was living at 8 Magpie Lane (then called Grove Street) in the parish of St John the Baptist with his wife Ann (32) and their son Walter junior (five months), plus their servant. Gardner’s Directory for 1852 reveals that William Green was then employed as a servant of Corpus Christi College.

Their second child Anne was born in the spring of 1852 and baptised by H. W. Sargent at St John-the-Baptist Church (now Merton College Chapel) on 6 June 1852. She died just four months later:

† Anne Green died at Magpie Lane at the age of six months on 26 October 1852 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 31 October (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

The quotation on the gravestone, “Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well” is from 2 Kings 4, v.26, and is the question posed to Shunam after her son died. The Sexton's notebook shows that Ann was definitely buried here (at a depth of 7½ feet) rather than in the infants' section of the cemetery; but It is unclear why she was buried in the St Paul’s section of this cemetery when her family lived in central Oxford. Her family evidently continued to have connections with that church, as their third child Lucy, who was born at Magpie Lane in 1854/5, was baptised at St Paul’s Church on 6 January 1855.

At the time of the 1861 census Walter Green (35) was still described as a college servant, but was probably now working for St Mary Hall. He was living at 99 High Street in St Mary-the-Virgin parish (one of the houses demolished to make way for the Rhodes Building of Oriel College) with his wife Annie (31) and their two children Walter junior (10) and Lucy (6), plus a servant.

Seven months later, on 19 November 1861, their fourth child Miles William Green was born, and he was privately baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 15 December. Just four days after his baptism, he died:

† Miles William Green died at the High Street at the age of one month on 19 December 1861 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 26 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).

His burial service was taken by Drummond Percy Chase, the Principal of St Mary Hall, suggesting that his father worked there.

The family then moved to London, and at the time of the 1871 census Walter Green (42) was working as a clerk and living at 46 Green Street with Ann (40) and their two surviving children Walter junior (20), who was a clerk, and Lucy (16).