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Miss Isabella Rebecca KIDD (1806–1873)
Her sisters Mrs Beatrice WILSON, née Kidd (1807–1874)
and Miss Susan KIDD (1814–1894)
St Giles section: Row 16, Grave B43–44

This grave contains three of the four daughters of John Kidd (1775–1851), physician and regius professor of medicine, and his wife Isabella Savery.

For the earlier history of the family, see the separate grave in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery which contains their mother, Mrs Isabella Rebekah Kidd, née Savery (1774–1863), and their other sister Miss Frances Sarah Kidd (1812–1871), as well as their maternal aunt.

 

All four Kidd sisters remained at 37 St Giles’s Street (left) after the death of their mother, as their father’s will allowed them a life interest in the house, which was to pass to Christ Church when the last of them died.

They were all at home at the time of the 1871 census: their ages ranged from 56 to 63, and they had three servants plus a nurse, whose job was probably to look after Beatrice, the only sister who had married, and who was now widowed and described as a partial imbecile, and Frances, who died later that year and was buried in the other, older grave with her mother and aunt.

The next sister to die was Beatrice, the first to be buried in this new grave in 1874:

† Mrs Beatrice Wilson, née Kidd died at 37 St Giles’s Street at the age of 65 on 1 February 1874 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her effects came to nearly £6,000.

The eldest daughter of John Kidd died the following year in 1875:

† Miss Isabella Kidd died at 37 St Giles’s Street at the age of 69 on 24 November 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 27 November 1875 read simply: “Nov. 24, at 37, St. Giles’s, Isabella, eldest daughter of the late Dr. Kidd, Regius Professor of Medicine, aged 69.” Her effects came to nearly £7,000.

Miss Susan Kidd, the youngest sister, now lived in the house on her own. Soon after the death of her sister Isabella their housekeeper, the widow Mrs Mary Goodchild, married the widower Henry Truscott at St Giles’s Church, with Susan as one of the witnesses. Mrs Truscott continued to live with Miss Kidd and work as her housekeeper, and brought her husband and her daughter from her previous marriage, Sarah Goodchild, to live with her too. She continued to be employed by Miss Kidd even after she gave birth to a son at the age of 45.

The 1881 census shows Miss Susan Kidd (66) living at 37 St Giles’s Street with her housekeeper Mrs Mary Truscott (47), her husband Henry Truscott (65), who was a GWR railway inspector, and their one-year-old son Henry, and Mrs Truscott’s 16-year-old daughter Sarah Goodchild, who was an apprentice mantle maker. There was also one domestic servant.

In 1891 Susan Kidd (76) was living alone with two new servants. Mrs Truscott was visiting friends, but Henry Truscott (75), now a retired railway servant, was at home.

Susan Kidd died in late 1894:

† Miss Susan Kidd died at 37 St Giles’s Street at the age of 80 on 7 December 1894 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 12 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

The following report on her funeral appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 15 December 1894:

FUNERAL OF THE LATE MISS KIDD. — On Friday last Miss Susan Kidd died at 37, St. Giles’, where she had resided upwards of forty-five years. She was the youngest and only surviving daughter of the late Dr. John Kidd, Regius Professor of Medicine in this University, who died in 1851. The interment took place on Wednesday in the family grave at St. Sepulchre’s Cemetery, Walton-street, the officiating ministers being the Rev. R. W. Pope, D.D., and the Rev. H. de Brisay, M.A., the first part of the service being at St Giles’s Church and the latter part at the grave. The coffin was of polished oak with brass fittings, the inscription being—

SUSAN KIDD,
Born 18 December, 1814,
Died 7 December, 1894.

The mourners and also a considerable number of intimate friends of the deceased lady assembled in the church and at the cemetery, among whom were her cousin the Rev. H. F. Tozer, Sir H. W. Acland, F. P. Morrell, Esq., M.A. (executor), Archdeacon and Mrs. Palmer, Rev. H. A. and Mrs. Harvey, Rev. Canon Christopher, Rev. D. Stone (Vice-Principal of Dorchester College), Rev. J. Walker, Dr. and Mrs. Freeborn, Mr. G. Norton, Mr. and Mrs. Lott, Mrs. de Brisay, Mrs. E. T. Turner, Mrs. and Miss Shirley (Wyaston House), Miss Tyrrell and Miss Bridges, Misses Cooke, Misses Mallam, Mrs Villiars-Smith, Mrs. and Miss Faussett, Mrs. Truscott, son, and daughters, &c., and the female servants. Beautiful wreaths were sent by Mrs Tozer, Mrs Shirley, Mrs. F. P. Morrell, Mrs Bickerton Hudson, the Misses Greswell, the Misses Ward, and Miss Payne. The poor of St. Giles’s, and also many excellent institutions and societies, especially the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, have lost a good friend. By the will of the late Dr. Kidd, the house, 37, St. Giles’s, now belongs to Christ Church. The funeral arrangements were carried out by Mr. Charles Badcock, Queen-street.

Susan’s effects came to £9,143 9s. 7d., and she left a portrait of her father, John Kidd, to the University of Oxford.

The house at 37 St Giles’s Street is still owned by Christ Church, and was occupied by various scientific Students (=Fellows) of the college until 2006. The college has leased the premises out since 2007, and they are currently occupied by the Washington International Studies Council.