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Mrs Hannah HORSER, née Suffield (c.1799–1871)
Her son Cottrell William HORSER (1826–1893)
Her son’s wife Mrs Annie HORSER, née Jacob (1829–1908)
St Giles (Ss Philip & James) section: Row 19, Grave F44

Hannah Suffield was born in Beaulieu, Hampshire in c.1799.

Her future husband William Horser (not buried with her) was born in Oxford in c.1799, the son of Cottrell Horser and his wife Susannah, and was admitted free on 25 February 1820. He had at least one brother: Thomas Cottrell Horser (born in Oxford on 28 January 1797 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 5 February), who was admitted free in 1818.

Hannah Suffield married William Horser at St Aldate’s Church on 20 August 1822: she was then living in St Peter-in-the-East parish, and he in St Aldate’s parish. They had four children:

• William Cottrell Horser (born in Oxford in 1823 and baptised at St Aldate's Church on 29 June; died aged two days and buried at St Aldate's Church on 2 July)
• Cottrell William Horser (born in Oxford in 1826 and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 6 September)
• Ellen Horser (born in Oxford in 1828 and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 20 July)
• Charles Walter Horser (born in Oxford in 1830 and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 19 December)
• Caroline Susannah Horser (born in Oxford in 1834 and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 22 August).

Hannah's husband William Horser (who was a servant of Trinity College, as his father had been before him) died at Beaumont Buildings at the age of 38 in 1835 and was buried at St Giles’s churchyard on 4 September.

Her daughter Ellen was married in 1849:

• On 4 August 1849 at St Giles's Church, Oxford, Ellen Horser married William Duke, a compositor of St Ebbe’s. The marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, and her late father William was described as having been a servant of Trinity College for many years. Her brother Cottrell and sister Caroline were witnesses at the wedding.

Ellen died at her home in Thames Street the age of 22 just eighteen months after that wedding and was buried on 12 February 1851 (probably in Osney Cemetery, as her burial is recorded in the register of St Aldate’s Church).

At the time of the 1851 census Hannah Horser, a widow of 51, was living at Little Clarendon Street and working as a laundress. Her three surviving children were still living with her: Cottrell (24) and Charles (20), who were college servants, and Caroline (17).

Her younger daughter Caroline was married in 1854:

• On 9 September 1854 at St Giles's Church, Oxford, Caroline Susannah Horser (20) of Little Clarendon Street married Samuel Harris (28), a cook at Brasenose College (see their separate grave).

Hannah’s mother-in-law Susannah Horser lived to be 89, and died on 6 June 1855: she was described in Jackson’s Oxford Journal as having been the wife of Cottrell Horser, who had been a servant of Trinity College for many years. Her burial on 10 June is recorded in the St Aldate's parish register, so she was probably buried in Osney Cemetery.

Hannah's younger son Charles was admitted free on 20 July 1860 and very soon afterwards was married:

• In the third quarter of 1860 in the Woodstock district, Charles Walter Horser married Elizabeth Smith (born in Oxford in c.1830).

By the time of the 1861 census Hannah Horser (61) was working as a laundress at her home in Little Clarendon Street. Her nephew George Wickens (20), who was an organist, and her niece Fanny Wickens (17), who was still at school (both born in London) were living with her. Hannah was still a laundress ten years later at the age of 71, but spent census night at the house of her son-in-law Samuel Harris, 55 St John Street. She died at her own home later that year:

† Mrs Hannah Horser, née Suffield died at 8 Little Clarendon Street at the age of 72 on 11 November 1871 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 16 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read: “Nov. 11, at No. 8, Little Clarendon-street, St. Giles’s, after a short illness, in the 73rd year of her age, Hannah, widow of William Horser, deeply regretted.”

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The three surviving children of Mrs Hannah Horser

• Caroline Susannah Horser (born 1824), Mrs Samuel Harris: see separate grave
• Cottrell William Horser (born 1826): buried with his mother in this grave: see detailed biography below
• Charles Walter Horser (born 1830) was working as a college servant and living at 7 Cowley Road with his wife Elizabeth when his children Cottrell Walter Horser and Caroline Cecilia were baptised at St James’s Church in Cowley in 1865 and 1868 respectively. In 1871 he and his wife were living at 32 St John Street with their children Ellen (9), Cottrell (5), Caroline (2), and Ann (one month). In 1881 they were still at St John Street: they had one more child, Elizabeth (4); and their son Cottrell was an assistant to an architect and surveyor. In 1891 Charles Walter Horser was a widower of 67, living off his own means at 18 Winchester Road with three of his children. He died in 1898.

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Her son Cottrell William Horser and his wife Anne

Cottrell William Horser (born 1826), who in 1851 at the age of 24 was living at home with his widowed mother and working as a college servant, was lodging at 48 St John Street in 1861 with his married sister Caroline and her husband Samuel Harris and working as a collector of gas and market rates.

Anne Jacob (always known as Annie) was born in Oxford in 1829 and baptised at St Ebbe's Church on 8 March, and was the daughter of Henry Jacob (born Marylebone c.1790) and his wife Charlotte (born Marylebone c.1797). Her parents had ten children: the first three were Mary (c.1820), George (c.1822) and Charlotte Sophia Jacob (1824), who were born in Clerkenwell. The seven youngest children were born in Oxford and baptised at St Ebbe’s Church: Stephen Charles Roberson Jacob (1827), Annie herself (8 March 1829), Maria Jacob (1830), Matilda Jacob (1832), Sarah Haines Jacob (1834), and Ellen Allbutt Jacob (1837). Anne’s father was described variously as a gentleman and as an attorney in the baptismal register, and in 1834 and 1827 their home was specified as being in Pembroke Street. At the time of the 1841 census the family was living at Pembroke Street, with all ten children at home: Annie’s father was a magistrate’s clerk and her brother George was working as a carver & gilder. The situation was much the same in 1851, but by 1861 they had moved to 28 St Giles’s Street and Anne’s father, now 70, was Clerk to the Justices and Board of Guardians.

On 29 October 1861 at Christ Church, Highbury Grove, London, Cottrell William Horser married Anne Jacob: he gave his address as St Giles’s Road in Oxford, and Anne was living in Highbury. They had the following children:

• Henry Cottrell Jacob Horser (born at Plantation Road, Oxford in 1862 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 4 December)
• Percy George Horser, twin (born at Plantation Road, Oxford in 1864 and privately baptised by Ss Philip & James’s Church on 22 August)
• Charles James Sadler Horser, twin (born at Plantation Road, Oxford in 1864 and privately baptised by Ss Philip & James’s Church on 22 August)
• Cottrell Stephen Frederic Horser (born at North Parade Terrace, Winchester Road, Oxford in 1866 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 18 October)
• Annie Florence Mary Horser (born in Oxford on 28 June 1868 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 28 August)
• William Alfred Horser (born at North Parade Terrace, Winchester Road, Oxford in 1868 and baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 10 July); died aged four months and buried on 1 November
• Alexander Samuel Horser, twin (born at 8 North Parade Terrace, Winchester Road, Oxford in 1872 and privately baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 15 April); died aged five months on 25 August, with death announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal and burial on 31 August

• Ernest Edward Horser, twin (born at 8 North Parade Terrace, Winchester Road in 1872 and privately baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church on 15 April and received into church on 21 September; died aged 1½ on 8 November 1874 and buried on 14 November)

Cottrell William Horser was still described as a tax collector in 1868, but by the time of the 1871 census he was a commercial traveller, living at 8 North Parade Terrace with his wife Annie and their children Charles (6), Cottrell (4), and Annie (2). Their son Henry (8) was boarding at a little school in Abingdon, but Percy (6) is hard to find.

In 1881 he was still working as a commercial traveller and living at 8 North Parade Terrace, Winchester Road with his wife Annie and three of their children: twins Percy and Charles (16), the former a clerk to a wholesale clothier and the latter a clerk to the Great Western Railway; and Cottrell (14), who was still at school. Their only daughter Annie (6) was staying with her aunt Mrs Samuel Harris at 55 St John Street; and Henry (18) is hard to find.

At the time of the 1891 census Cottrell William Horser, whose wife was away from home, was retired and living on his own means at 18 Winchester Road with three of his children: Percy (26) was a tailor’s assistant; Cottrell junior (24) was a bookseller’s assistant; and Annie (22) was a photographer’s assistant. Charles (26) had emigrated to Australia, while Henry (28) is hard to find.

His daughter Annie appears to have gone to Utrecht in the Netherlands, as records show that she was the governess to the family of Otto Daniel van Deipenbrugge there.

Annie and two of her brothers were married in 1892/3:

• In Paris on 14 March 1892, by special licence, Annie Florence Mary Horser of 18 Winchester Road married Dr Arthur Jacob Bérhard (of the Avenue de Clichy in Paris). The marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal;
• On 6 August 1892 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, Oxford, Percy George Horser (27), described as salesman of 18 Winchester Road, married Emily Buckingham (25) of 29 Castle Street, the daughter of the coal merchant John Buckingham;
• On 4 April 1893 in Queensland, Australia, Charles James Sadler Horser married Mary Katharine Kilham.

Cottrell William Horser died in 1893:

† Cottrell William Horser died at 18 Winchester Road at the age of 67 or 68 on 20 December 1893 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 23 December (burial recorded in the parish register of Ss Philip & James’s and St Giles’s Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal had the words, “Australian papers please copy”.

His last two children were married in the 1890s:

• On 21 August 1895 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, Oxford, Cottrell Stephen Frederick Horser (29) married Mabel Lilian Ferris (27), the daughter of George & Sarah Ferris. He was then still living at 18 Winchester Road and working as a bookseller, and Mabel, who was the daughter of the accountant George Ferris, was living at 28 Southmoor Road.
• On 30 January 1897 at Prestbury Church in Gloucestershire, Henry Cottrell Jacob Horser, a commercial traveller like his father and living at 3 Warwick Villas, Cheltenham, married Annie Florence Davis of Prestbury.

At the time of the 1901 census Mrs Horser was living in London with her son Henry (38), who was still a commercial traveller, his wife Annie (30), and their two-month-old son Charles. She died in London in 1908, and was buried with her husband in Oxford:

† Mrs Annie Horser, née Jacob died at 62 Links Road, Mitcham at the age of 78 on 29 March 1908 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 2 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

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The five surviving children of Cottrell Horser

• Henry Cottrell Jacob Horser (born 1862) was still working as a commercial traveller in 1911 and living with his wife Annie in London (at Maida, Friern Park, North Finchley) and their children Charles Cottrell C. Horser (10), Lionel Henry C. Horser (9), and Mabel Florence L. Horser (7); another two of their children were already dead. Henry Horser died in Surrey at the age of 74 in 1937.
• Percy George Horser (twin, born 1864) was living at 19 Divinity Road in 1901 with his wife Emily and their children Gladys Kate Horser and Stanley Cottrell Horser. In 1911 the family of four was living at 37 Beechcroft Road, Summertown, and Percy was now a tailor’s manager, and they had a 16-year-old servant girl. Percy George Horser died at Bournemouth at the age of 78 in 1943.
• Charles James Sadler Horser (twin, born 1864) and his wife Mary emigrated to Australia. They had one son, Cottrell Wiliam Horser (born 1905). Charles died in Brisbane, Australia at the age of 78 on 18 September 1942. and his wife Mary died at the age of 102 on 7 November 1971 (see memorial plaque at crematorium)
• Cottrell Stephen Frederic Horser (born 1866) and his wife Mabel were living with Mabel’s widower father, George Ferris, at 131 Walton Street in 1901, and Cottrell was still working as a bookseller. In about 1908 he and Headley Vicars Storey opened their own bookshop at 33 High Street. In 1911 Cottrell (44) and Mabel (42), who had no children, were living at 25 Aston Street in east Oxford with one servant. His bookshop partnership was dissolved on 24 June 1911 and then Cottrell Horser continued on his own until 1929. He died in Oxford at the age of 87 in 1953.
• Annie Florence Mary Horser (born 1868), Mrs Arthur Bérhard, remained in France with her husband. Their two sons were born in Paris: Charles Alexandre Albert Bérhard on 25 February 1893 and William Arthur Bérhard on 11 October 1895.