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William John HOLLWAY (1796–1855)
His wife Mrs Elizabeth HOLLWAY, née Lipscomb (1791–1863)
[With a mention of their son John Lipscomb HOLLWAY (c.1829–1881), buried in Australia]
St Paul section: Row 23, Grave E12 [St Paul ref. K20]

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The headstone to the left that overlaps this one is that of the Hollways' daughter Susannah and her husband William John Evans

William John Hollway (or Holloway) was born in London on 31 January 1796 and baptised the same day, being received into St George the Martyr Church, Queen Square, Camden on 1 April. He was the son of William Hollway and his wife Sophia.

Elizabeth Lipscomb was born in Oxford in 1791 and was privately baptised by St Giles's Church on 18 July, being received into that church on 31 July. She was the daughter of John Lipscomb and Elizabeth, who had two other children baptised at that church: Sally in 1787 and Martha in 1789. (An Elizabeth Blizzard, the illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth Blizzard by John Lipscomb, had been baptised in that church on 28 September 1783 and buried in its churchyard on 7 December: these may be her parents.)

On 27 July 1817 in London, at St Mary's Church, Whitechapel, William John Hollway married Elizabeth Lipscomb: they were both then living in that parish. They had the following children:

• John Saunders Hollway (born in Ickford, Buckinghamshire in 1818/19 and baptised there on 5 January 1819)
• Susannah Elizabeth Hollway (born in Ickford, Buckinghamshire on 10 February 1821 and privately baptised there on 14 February; received into St Giles's Church, Oxford on 23 April 1821)
• Sarah Emma Hollway (born at Polley's Row, Oxford in 1823 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 19 February);
  died at Polley's Row aged 2¼ and buried in its churchyard on 13 March 1825
• William Hunting Hollway (born at Polley's Row, Oxford in 1825 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 2 October)
• George Hollway (born at Little Clarendon Street, then called Workhouse Lane, in 1827 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 24 October)
• John Lipscomb Hollway (born in Reading in c.1829 and baptised at St Giles's Church there on 24 October 1830 at the same time as his younger sister)
• Adelaide Hollway (born in Reading in 1830 and baptised at St Giles's Church there on 24 October);
  probably died in infancy.

William and Elizabeth Hollway were living in Ickford, Buckinghamshire just after their marriage, but moved Polley's Row in St Giles's parish, Oxford between February and April 1821. When their daughter Susannah was received into church in Oxford in April 1821, William John Hollway was described as a schoolmaster, but by 1823 he was a carpenter.

At some point between October 1825 and October 1827, the family moved to Little Clarendon Street, which was also in St Giles's parish.

The family moved a considerable number of times in the next two years, probably because of money problems: first to in St Thomas's parish in Oxford, where William worked as a carpenter and chandler, then to Shoreditch in London, where he worked as a coal dealer and greengrocer; then to Rotherhithe to the east of London, where he was a victualler; and then to Reading, where in 1829 William was a carpenter, chandler, and general dealer. It is easy to trace these movements, as when Hollway was sued for debt in the Court House at Reading on 1 July 1830, all his occupations and addresses are listed:

William John Hollway (sued as John Holloway), formerly of the Parish of Saint Thomas, in the City of Oxford, Jobbing Carpenter, Builder, Furniture, and Building Material-Dealer, and Chandler's Shopkeeper, afterward of Catherine-Street, in the parish of Saint Leonard, Shoreditch, Middlesex, Coal-dealer and Green-Grocer, since of King-Street, Rotherhithe, Surrey, Licenced Victualler, and late of West-Street, Reading, Berkshire, Jobbing Carpenter, Chandler's Shopkeeper, and General Dealer.

By 1839 William and his wife had settled back in Oxford. Robson's Commercial Directory for that year lists him as a carpenter & coffin-maker in Cardigan Street in Jericho.

By the time of the 1841 census William, still a carpenter, was living at Portland Place, Jericho with his wife Elizabeth and their children Susannah (20), William (16), George (13), and John (11).

By 1846 the family had moved to Jericho Street, and two of their children were married from that address in the 1840s:

• On 2 February 1846 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Susannah Elizabeth Hollway (24) married William John Evans (a bachelor of 38): both were described as being of Jericho Street. They remained in Oxford and are buried next to William John and Elizabeth Hollway: see separate page
• On 13 April 1847 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, William Hunting Hollway, described as a coachsmith, married Mary Louisa Garrett, the son of the lawyer's clerk John Garrett: both were living in Jericho Street. Their first child Eliza Eleanora Holloway was born in Jericho Street and baptised at St Paul's Church on 27 February 1848.

At some point between April 1847 and April 1851, the family moved to St Ebbe's parish in Oxford. At the time of the 1851 census William (55) was a builder & timber dealer, living at Paradise Square with his wife Elizabeth (59). Their son John (21) was a tinplate working, lodging in Selby, Yorkshire, and he emigrated to Australia soon after that date..

The following advertisement for an auction appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 11 March 1854:

On Thursday next, March the 16th,—All the STOCK in TRADE of Mr. W. Hollway, builder, Paradise-square, Oxford; consisting of a large quantity of good oak joists, dry oak, elm, ash, and abele plans and boards, blacksmith's bellows, anvil, and other tools; about 80 lots of useful Household Furniture; also the Materials of a large Warehouse, 27 feet by 12, recently built. The above is to be sold in consequence of Mr Hollway's tenancy expiring on the 25th inst.

William died a year after his retirement:

† William John Hollway died at Jericho Street at the age of 59 on 18 May 1855 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 24 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

The sexton's record book shows that he was buried in the area that St Paul's described as K.21 at a depth of 7ft 6in.

At the time of the 1861 census his widow Elizabeth (69) was the landlady of a beerhouse at 3 Jericho Street, and her daughter Susannah Evans (40) and her shoemaker husband William (52) were living with her with their four children. They also had two lodgers.

Elizabeth Hollway died in 1863:

† Mrs Elizabeth Hollway née Lipscomb died at Jericho Street at the age of 72 on 17 June 1863 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 18 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Their son John Lipscomb Hollway had a headstone put on their grave on 29 April 1880 when he visited Oxford from Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. He himself died in Ballarat just a year later on 9 June 1881 at the age of 51 and was buried in the old cemetery there on 12 June.