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Barnard GRIFFIN (c.1795–1865)
His second wife Mrs Mary GRIFFIN, née Lapworth (1806–1892)
Their daughter Miss Eliza Griffin (1839–1892)
[with a mention of their daughter Mrs Sarah Wilkins, née Griffin (1830–1892), buried in Wiltshire]
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 16, Grave D66

Barnard Griffin was born in Rockbeare, near Exeter, Devon in c.1795. He was working in Oxford by 1826, as in December that year, when he testified at an inquest, he stated that for the previous five or six months he had been working as a journeyman for the Oxford woollen draper & tailor Mr Purbrick. He and his first wife, Mary Anne, had two children baptised at St Ebbe's

• Thomas Barnard Griffin (born in Oxford in 1824 and baptised at St Ebbe's Church on 29 February)
• Mary Anne Griffin (born in Oxford in 1826 and baptised at St Ebbe's Church on 28 May).

Barnard's first wife Mary Anne Griffin died at the age of 24 in 1827 and was buried in St Ebbe's churchyard on 18 May.

Mary Lapworth was born in Warwick in 1806 and baptised at St Mary's Church there on 29 November. She was the daughter of William Lapworth and his wife Mary Cooper, who were married at Warwick on 12 May 1804. By 1829 Mary was living in St Mary Magdalen parish in Oxford.

On 11 October 1829 at St Mary Magdalen Church, Barnard Griffin, described as a widower of St Ebbe's, married his second wife Mary Lapworth, and they had the following children:

• Sarah Griffin (born in Oxford on 1 August 1830 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 1 September)
• James Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford on 7 May 1832 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 3 June)
• Maria Mary Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1834 and privately baptised by St Giles's Church on 13 October; received into the congregation on 4 September 1836)
• Frederick Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1837 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 23 May)
• Eliza Griffin (born at Beamont Buildings, Oxford in 1839 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 17 November0
• Henry Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1842 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 8 May)
• Ellen Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1844/5 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 26 January 1845)
• William Alfred Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1847 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 27 December)
• Mary Griffin (born at Beaumont Buildings, Oxford in 1850 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 20 February).

The Griffins lived at the north end of Beaumont Buildings after their wedding (somewhere in the range of house numbers from 12 to 21, which fell in St Giles's parish), and James worked as a tailor. The number was given as 13 Beaumont Buildings at the time of the 1841 census, and Barnard was living there with his second wife Mary, his two children Thomas (15) and Mary (14) from his first marriage, and his first five children (Sarah, James, Maria, Frederick, and Eliza) from his second marriage.

At the time of the 1851 census James (56) was still working as a tailor and living at Beaumont Buildings in St Giles's parish with his wife Mary (41) and their children Sarah (20); James (18), who was also a tailor; Maria (16); and Frederick (14), Eliza (12), Henry (8), Ellen (6), William (3), and Mary (1), who were at school.

Two of their daughters were married before the next census:

• On 27 February 1854 at St Giles's Church, Oxford, Sarah Griffin (23) married the labourer John Wilkins (24), the son of Thomas Wilkins. Both were described as living in St Giles's Road;
• On 2 April 1861 at St Clement's Church, Oxford, Maria Mary Griffin (26) married the gardener William Pulker (30). Both were described of being of that parish.

At some point between 1851 and 1861 Barnard Griffin and his family moved to 9 Beaumont Buildings, which was further south than their previous house and hence fell in St Mary Magdalen parish.

At the time of the 1861 census Barnard (60), who now described himself as a tailor & publican, was living at 9 Beamont Buildings in St Mary Magdalen parish with his wife Mary (55, but recorded as 53) and their four youngest children: Henry (19) was working as a servant, and Ellen (15), William (13), and Mary (10) were at school. Their daughter Eliza (21) was a servant to a hosier, hatter, & mercer who lived at 7 Park Street, which was also in St Mary Magdalen parish. Their son Frederick (24) was a waiter at the Railway Hotel, Lime Street, Liverpool, but James (28) is hard to find in the census.

In an 1864 directory Barnard Griffin was described as a beer retailer at Beaumont Buildings.

Barnard Griffin died in 1865:

† Barnard Griffin died at Beaumont Buildings at the age of 71 on 22 January 1865 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 26 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

Two of his sons were married by the time of the next census:

• On 1 January 1867 at St Mary Magdalen Church, Oxford, James Griffin, a tailor, married Jane Biggs, the daughter of the stonemason William Biggs. Both were described as being of that parish.
• On 1 January 1870 at the Registrar's Office in St John Street, Henry Griffin married Mrs Emma Ruth Fletcher, a laundress of 1 Circus Street in east Oxford.

At the time of the 1871 census Mary Griffin (65, but recorded as 60), who described herself as the widow of a publican, was living at 9 Beaumont Buildings in St Mary Magdalen parish with her youngest child Mary (21) and a boarder. Her daughter Eliza (30) was cook to a cordwainer's family in Iffley.

At the time of the 1881 census Mary (75, but recorded as 71), who now described herself as “formerly publican”, was lodging at 3 Paradise Square, the home of a coachman's widow, with her youngest daughter Mary (31, but recorded as 25), who was a seampstress. Her daughter Eliza (40) was the lady's maid of a brewer's wife in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

In 1891 Mary (85, but recorded as 81) was living at 5 Union Street in east Oxford with her daughter Mary (41, but recorded as 35), who had no occupation. Her daughter Eliza is hard to find in this census.

Mrs Mary Griffin died early in 1892:

† Mrs Mary Griffin née Lapworth died at 5 Union Street in east Oxford at the age of 85 on 11 January 1892 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 18 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

Her daughter Eliza, who had been in service all her life, died in a different house in east Oxford just over a fortnight later:

† Miss Eliza Griffin died at 22 Rectory Road (then called Pembroke Street) in east Oxford at the age of 52 on 27 January 1892 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

It appears that Mrs Sarah Wilkins, née Griffin rushed to Oxford for her sister Eliza's funeral (and had probably also travelled there two weeks earlier for her mother's funeral). Sadly Sarah died there at the age of 62 just two days after her sister on 29 January 1892 (the day before her sister's interment). Sarah was buried at Upper Stratton Cemetery in Wiltshire, but is mentioned on this grave.