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Miss Harriet HOWKINS (1838–1879)
***
Mrs Sarah Sanyard HOLLWAY, née Teagle (1805–1883)
Her son John Richard HOLLWAY (1830–1883)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 10, Grave C52

Harriet Howkins was born in Loxley, Warwickshire, the daughter of the agricultural labourer Daniel Howkins and Mary Green. Her grave marker clearly states that she was born on 8 March 1840, but records show that she was baptised at Loxley on 17 March 1838. Her older sister Hannah Green Howkins, whom she followed down to Oxford, was baptised there on 30 August 1828.

At the time of the 1841 census Harriet (3) was living at Loxley, Warwickshire with her father Daniel, who was an agricultural labourer, and her older siblings John (18), Sarah (14), Hannah (12), Daniel (10), and Ann (6).

In 1851 Harriet (13) was at home in Loxley with her parents and her brothers John (28) and Leolin (3).

By 1861 Harriet (23) was a housemaid to a farmer at Wasperton in Wiltshire, while her older sister Hannah (31) had moved to Oxford and was a housemaid at Worcester College.

In 1867 Harriet's sister Miss Hannah Green Howkins took over from Thomas Buckingham as the licensed victualler at the University Arms at 10 Gloucester Street, which was on the site of the garden of the present Red Lion. She was living on the premises in 1871 with various lodgers, including Mrs Sarah Hollway (see below). On 18 July 1871 she was fined in court for harbouring prostitutes.

Harriet Howkins is hard to find in the 1871 census, but she evidently came to live with her sister in Oxford before her death there in 1879, apparently on her 41st birthday:

† Miss Harriet Howkins died at Gloucester Street at the age of 41 [grave says 39] on 8 March 1879 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 15 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

Her personal estate came to under £200, and her older sister Hannah was her executor. Hannah must have arranged the burial, as the inscription on this grave marker states “In memory of a beloved sister”.

Harriet's sister Hannah was prosecuted for keeping the University Arms open on Sunday 18 November 1877 during prohibited opening hours, and again for keeping it open on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 February 1884. The pub was described as "a house which gave the police a great deal of trouble", and she lost her licence. Alfred Newell took over the pub temporarily and was granted the licence in September 1884.

Sarah Senyard Teagle was born in Marylebone on 21 October 1805. On 10 August 1828 at the Church of St Pancras in London, she married John Hollway (born in South Molton, Devon in c.1802): both were then living in that parish. They had one son:

• John Richard Hollway (born in Marylebone on 17 December 1830).

By the time of the 1851 census Sarah and her husband John were living in Oxford at Mill House Cottage, Osney with their son John Richard Hollway (20): both father and son were carpenters. The three of them were still living there in 1861.

By 1871 Sarah and her husband were lodging at the University Arms in Gloucester Street with Miss Hannah Howkins (39), who had been the licensed victualler there since 1867: she was the older sister of Harriet Howkins, the first person buried in this grave (see above). Their son is hard to find in the 1871 and 1881 censuses.

At the time of the 1881 census Sarah (76) and John (78), who was still described as a carpenter, were still at the University Arms in Gloucester Street with Miss Hannah Howkins.

Mrs Sarah Hollway died there in May 1883, and her landlady Miss Hannah Howkins evidently allowed her to be buried in the grave of her sister Miss Harriet Howkins:

† Mrs Sarah Hollway née Teagle died at the University Arms, Gloucester Street at the age of 78 on 4 May 1883 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

Sarah's son John Richard Hollway died just two months later:

† John Richard Hollway died at Gloucester Street at the age of 50 on 15 July 1883 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 July (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

At the time of the 1891 census Sarah's husband John Hollway (88) was a pensioner occupying two rooms in the men's section of Tawney's Almshouse at 3 Lower Fisher Row. He died there in 1895 (with name registered as Holloway) and was buried on 2 April, probably in Osney Cemetery, as his burial is recorded in the register of St Thomas's Church.