Mrs Jane HOWSE, née Browning (c.1821–1857), first wife of William Howse
Their daughter Elizabeth HOWSE (1852/3–1864)
Mrs Hannah HOWSE, née Farmer (1830–1867), second wife of William Howse
Their daughter Sarah Hannah HOWSE (1861–1867)
St Paul section: Row 14, Grave A15 (St Paul ref. M11)
IN MEMORY OF
JANE WIFE OF
WILLIAM HOWSE
DIED DEC. 18, 1857, AGED 36 YEARS.
ALSO ELIZ. HER DAUGHTER
DIED DEC. 17, 1864
AGED 11 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS
ALSO OF
HANNAH, SECOND WIFE
OF WILLIAM HOWES
DIED JUNE
1, 1867, AGED [37] YEARS
ALSO OF [SARAH HANNAH]
[HER DAUGHTER DIED
NOVEMBER …1862
AGED 1 YEAR 11 MONTHS]
.
In the 1970s Canon Bostock was able to read the last inscription to Sarah Hannah Howes, but it is now badly eroded and the words in square brackets above have been deduced
This headstone is made of Banbury ironstone.
Jane Browning, the first wife of William Howse
Jane Browning was born in Hanborough, Oxfordshire in c.1821, the daughter of Henry Browning, a publican. At the time of the 1841 census when she was aged about 19, she was a lodge maid at Lincoln College in Oxford.
In 1851 when she was 29 she was still at Lincoln College and was now the housemaid of the Rector (head) of the college. Also living in the Rector’s house was his footman, William Howse (29), her future husband. Born in Long Combe in c.1821, William was the son of Philip Howse, who was a carpenter, and Rosa Green. The first Rector they would have worked for was John Radford, who had been Rector since 1834; and then for a short while they would have worked for James Thompson, who succeeded Radford in 1851.
On 22 March 1852 at St Michael & All Angels Church in Summertown, Jane Browning, described as being of that parish, married William Howse of St Michael’s parish, who was still working as a servant. They had the following children:
- Elizabeth Howse (born at Little Clarendon Street in 1852/3, and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 26 January 1853)
- Philip Henry Howse (born at Little Clarendon Street in 1854/5 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 9 February 1855)
- Rose Ann Howse (born in King Street, Jericho in 1857 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 16 August).
William and Jane Howse ceased to work for Lincoln College after their wedding, and at first lived in Little Clarendon Street. The baptismal register describes William as a coal merchant in 1853, and as a shopkeeper in 1855.
By 1857 Jane and her husband had moved to King Street in Jericho (which was in St Paul’s parish until St Barnabas’s Church opened in 1869), and William had gone back to working as a college servant.
Jane, the first wife of William Howse, died in 1857, just four months after the baptism of her younger daughter:
† Mrs Jane Howse née Browning died at King Street at the age of 36 on 18 December 1857 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 24 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
Hannah Farmer, the second wife of William Howse
Hannah Farmer was born in Filkins in 1830 and baptised at Broadwell Church on 14 March. She was the daughter of the stonemason William Farmer and his wife Eliza.
On 6 September 1860 at St Paul’s Church, Oxford, Hannah Farmer became the second wife of William Howse. Hannah was living in Cardigan Street at the time of her marriage; and William was still living in King Street and working as a servant. They had the following children:
- Sarah Hannah Howse (born in Oxford in 1861 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 8 September)
- William Farmer Howse (born at King Street, Jericho in 1862 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 27 July)
- Emmanuel Farmer Howse (born at King Street, Jericho in 1865 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 23 July).
The 1861 census shows Hannah (31) and William (38), described as a servant, living at 19 King Street with the three children he had by his first wife.
Hannah's first child Sarah was born later that year, but died early in 1862:
† Sarah Hannah Howse died at King Street at the age of 1 year 11 months in November 1862 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 6 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
William Howse’s daughter by his first wife Jane died in 1864:
† Elizabeth Howse died at King Street at the age of nearly 12 on 17 December 1864 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
Hannah, the second wife of William Howse, died in 1867:
† Mrs Hannah Howse née Farmer died at King Street at the age of 37 on 1 June 1867 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul’s Church).
William Howse after the death of his first two wives
At the time of the 1871 census William Howse was a 49-year-old widower, living at 7 King Street with his four surviving children: Philip (16), who was a college servant like his father and Rose (13), who was still at school, from his first marriage; and William (8), and Emanuel (5) from his second marriage.
On 1 January 1876 at St James’s Church, Cowley, William Howse (53) (with his name spelt House on his marriage certificate) married his third wife Susannah Rhoda Willmott, née Payne, of Cowley, the daughter of the butler John Henry Payne.
At the time of the 1881 census William (59) and Susannah were living at 42 Rectory Road in east Oxford (then called Pembroke Street) with his son Emmanuel (15), who was a publisher’s clerk, and her son Christopher Willmott (15), who was a bookbinder’s apprentice.
William Howse was still working as a college servant when he died at 39 Rectory Road on 3 September 1890 at the age of 68: he was buried in Cowley St John churchyard on 6 September. His effects came to £167 9s.
His third wife Susannah outlived him, and was buried with him on 13 November 1909.
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