William Edward HOWELL (1822–1877)
His wife Mrs Sophia HOWELL, née
Allnutt (1820–1906)
Their son William John Ingram HOWELL (1853–1927)
[Plus mention on the back of the headstone of their son Edward Henry Allnutt HOWELL (1856–1920)
and their
grandson John Allnutt HOWELL (1886–1961), both buried in the USA]
St Giles section: Row 34, Grave K36
IN
Affectionate Remembrance of
WILLIAM EDWARD HOWELL
WHO DIED
11TH SEPTEMBER 1877,
AGED 55 YEARS.
ALSO OF SOPHIA,
WIFE OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED
19TH JANUARY 1906,
AGED 85 YEARS.
WILLIAM JOHN INGRAM HOWELL
BORN 1ST MARCH 1853,
DIED 21ST SEPT. 1927
[Other side of headstone,
shown below]
ALSO OF EDWARD
HENRY ALLNUTT
HOWELL
BORN 6TH OCT. 1856
DIED 11TH JUNE 1920.
JOHN ALLNUTT HOWELL
BORN 2ND NOV. 1886
DIED 1ST DEC. 1961
William Edward Howell was born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1822 and baptised there on 28 October. He was the son of the servant William Henry Howell and his wife Ann Ingram, who were married at St George's Church, Hanover Square on 28 June 1820. In 1851 William Edward Howell was a valet at 22 Grosvenor Square, London, one of the thirteen servants of a Royal Navy captain and his wife.
Sophia Allnutt was born in North Stoke, Oxfordshire in 1820 and baptised there on 8 October She was the daughter of John Allnutt from Ipsden, a labourer who later became a farmer, and Elizabeth Auger, who were married at Crowmarsh Gifford on 13 August 1802. Sophia had seven older siblings, the first six of whom were baptised at Ipsden: John (1803), Richard (1804), Anna Maria (1806), William (1808), Charlotte Martha (1811), and Mary Keziah (1813). Her next brother, Moses was born at Mongewell in 1817 but no baptism has been found. Her younger sister Sarah Emma was also baptised at North Stoke (1824). At the time of the 1851 census Sophia (30) was the ladies' maid of a captain's wife living at 21 Grosvenor Square, London.
See also the separate graves of her brother Moses Thomas Allnutt and her sister Sarah Emma Allnutt, Mrs Hemmins.
On 21 June 1852 at All Saints Church, Paddington, London, William Edward Howell, described as a servant of Stanley Street, married Sophia Allnutt of 6 Conduit Street East, and they had the following children:
- William John Ingram Howell (born at Benson, near Wallingford, Oxfordshire on 1 March 1853)
- Edward Henry Allnutt Howell (born at Benson, near Wallingford, Oxfordshire on 6 October 1856 and baptised at St Augustine's Church, Paddington on 7 December)
William continued to work as a servant in London, and he and Sophia moved between Oxfordshire and London after their wedding: hence their children were born in Benson near Watlington (then known as Bensington), which was the home of Sophia's mother, but Edward was baptised in London.
At the time of the 1861 census Sophia (40) was living in her mother's house at the High Street, Benson with her sons William (8) and Edward (10). Her husband is hard to locate, but was probably working in London.
In 1871 William (48) was the butler & valet to the Russian ambassador at Chesham House, Westminster. (The ambassador refused to enter his own name or the names of his family on the census form, but his twenty servants are listed.) Meanwhile Sophia (50) was in east Oxford, living with her widowed mother Elizabeth Allnutt (96) at 1 Temple Street and acting as her housekeeper. Both her sons were with her: William (18), who was an assistant librarian and Edward (14).
In 1876 William Howell was listed in the Oxford City & Suburban Directory as living at 12 Museum Terrace (now 23 Museum Road), where he and his wife probably kept a university lodging house. William died there the following year:
† William Edward Howell died at 12 Museum Terrace, Oxford at the age of 55 on 11 September 1877 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 14 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).
At the time of the 1881 census Sophia (60) was alone with a 17-year-old servant girl at the lodging house at 12 Museum Terrace. Her son William (28) was an Inland Revenue officer, lodging at London Road, Bicester, but her younger son Edward (24) is hard to locate.
Her son Edward was married in 1884:
- In the second quarter of 1884 in Wantage, Berkshire, Edward Henry Allnutt Howell married Eliza Jane Bettridge, who was born in Wantage in 1862, the daughter of William Fisher Bettridge and Jane A. Dixon.
By 1891 Sophia (70) had gone to London to live at 7 Bermondsey Square with her unmarried son William (38), who was still working for the Inland Revenue. They had one servant.
In 1901 Sophia (80) was living at Moulin in Perthshire with her son William (48) and their servant. Also staying with them were William Bettridge Howell and John Allnutt Howell, the children of her married son Edward, who had emigrated to the USA in 1897 (see below).
By 1906 William had moved to Sheffield with his mother, who died at his home there in 1906:
† Mrs Sophia Howell née Allnutt died at 26 Machon Bank, Sheffield at the age of 85 on 19 January 1906 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).
At the time of the 1911 census William (58), who was now a Customs & Excise supervisor, was living alone at that address with two servants.
William died in 1927:
† William John Ingram Howell died at Blenheim Cottage, Steventon at the age of 74 on 11 June 1927 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 24 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).
His effects came to £4,862 10s. 6d., and his nephew John Allnutt Howell, surveyor was his executor.
William & Sophia's younger son Edward Henry Allnutt Howell (born 1856)
and his son John Allnutt Howell (born 1886)
Edward Henry Allnutt Howell and his wife Eliza had the following children:
- William Bettridge Howell (born in Childrey, Berkshire on 6 February 1885)
- John Allnutt Howell (born in Childrey, Berkshire on 2 November 1886)
- Florence Jane Howell (born in Childrey, Berkshire in 1890, reg. second quarter).
- May Howell (born in Berkshire, probably Childrey, on 11 February 1896)
- George Howell (born in Illinois in 1900).
It is likely that the first four children were baptised at Childrey.
At the time of the 1891 census Edward (34), described as an innkeeper & coal merchant, was living at the Hatchet Inn in Childrey with his wife Eliza (27) and their first three children William Bettridge Howell (6), John Allnutt Howell (4), and Florence Howell (1), plus a servant.
Edward and Eliza emigrated to the USA with their first four children in 1897, and were living in Chicago in 1900.
Edward Henry Allnutt Howell died in Illinois at the age of 63 on 11 June 1920, and his name was added to the back of his parents' grave,right.
John Allnutt Howell
(son of Edward above)
John (born 1886) was the second son of Edward Henry Allnutt Howell and his wife Eliza Jane Bettridge.
John Allnutt Howell died in Chicago on 1 December 1961 at the age of 75, and his name was added beneath that of his father on the back of his grandparents' grave, right.
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