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Richard Beeston LOCKEY (1811–1878)
His younger brother John LOCKEY (1814–1875)
Their nephew Charles Oliver LOCKEY (1854–1881)
St Giles's section: Row 16, Grave B26½

Richard Beeston Lockey was born in Burghfield near Reading in 1811 and baptised there on 8 May, and his younger brother John Lockey was born in Reading itself in 1814 and baptised at St Giles's Church there on 24 July. They were two of the ten children of Angel Lockey and Ann Elizabeth Beeston.

Their father Angel Lockey was born in Uffington (then in Berkshire) in 1773 and baptised there on 26 March, the son of Angel Lockey senior and his wife Martha. In 1804 he was in the meal trade, in partnership with Thomas Dry and in occupation of Sandford Mills near Oxford. By 1806 he was living in St Peter-in-the-East parish, Oxford.

Their mother Ann Elizabeth Beeston was born in Shoreditch, London on 12 September 1787 and baptised at St Leonard's Church in Shoreditch on 4 November, the daughter of Richard and Ann Beeston. By 1806 she was living in St Mary Magdalen parish, Oxford.

Richard and John's parents Angel Lockey and Ann Elizabeth Beeston were married at St Mary Magdalen Church in Oxford on 21 December 1806. They evidently moved to Angel's home village of Burghfield near Reading soon after their marriage, and had the following children:

• Ann Lockey (born in Burghfield near Reading in 1908 and baptised there on 21 February)
• Angel Lewis Lockey (born in Burghfield near Reading in 1809 and baptised there on 7 November)
• Richard Beeston Lockey (born in Burghfield in 1811 and baptised there on 8 May)
• Oliver Lockey (born in Burghfield in 1812/13 and baptised there on 15 January 1813)
• John Lockey (born in Reading in 1814 and baptised at St Giles's Church there on 24 July)
• Elizabeth France Lockey (born in Thatcham, near Newbury in 1816 and baptised there on 12 May)
• Charles Lockey (born in Thatcham near Newbury on 20 March 1820 and baptised there on 23 April)
• William Henry Lockey (born in Thatcham near Newbury in 1822 and baptised there on 22 March)
• Charlotte Lockey (born in Oxford in 1827 and baptised at St Martin's Church on 19 September); died aged fifteen months and buried in its churchyard on 20 November 1828)
• Frederick Augustus Lockey (born at New Inn Hall Street, Oxford in 1830 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 11 June).

The brothers were living with their parents in Reading proper in 1814. By 1816 they had moved to Thatcham near Newbury, and when he went bankrupt in January 1826, their father Angel Lockey was described as a miller of Thatcham, Berkshire .

Following his bankruptcy their father Angel Lockey moved his family to Oxford, and in September 1827 where their sister Charlotte was baptised he was a publican in St Martin's parish there.

The family then moved to the top part of New Inn Hall Street (possibly what is now St Michael's Street) in St Michael's parish, and when their youngest sibling Frederick Augustus Lockey was baptised there on 11 June 1830, their father was described as a miller. In the 1830s their son Angel Louis Lockey was the Assistant Observer at the Radcliffe Observatory.

By 1841 Angel Lockey was living with his family at 18 Holywell Street (left), and described himself as a gentleman or as independent,

The 1841 census shows Richard (29), described as an accountant, and John (26), described as a cook still living at home here with their parents Angel and Ann Elizabeth Lockey, and four of their other siblings: Ann (c.33); Angel junior (31); Oliver (28), who was an engineer; and Elizabeth (23). The family had a 15-year-old servant girl. Their four youngest siblings were missing: Charles (20), who was a music teacher, was living at Dundas Cottage, Claverton near Bath with his youngest brother Frederick (10); William (18) may be the young surveyor of that name living in Bletchingley, Surrey.

Richard and John's brother Oliver Lockey died at Holywell Street on 28 July 1841 at the age of 28 and was buried on 5 August in St Peter-in-the-East churchyard (now part of St Edmund Hall): his grave is recorded here.

The two brothers buried in this grave went their separate ways soon after the 1841 census.

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John Lockey (born 1814) continued

By 1846 John Lockey was listed in directories as the householder at 18 Holywell Street. He never married.

His father Angel Lockey died at Holywell Street at the age of 76 on 3 November 1849 and was buried in St Peter-in-the-East churchyard on 9 November in the same grave as his son Oliver above.

At the time of the 1851 census John (36), who was now the Cook & Manciple of The Queen's College, was living at 14 Holywell Street with his widowed mother Ann (60) and two of his siblings, Ann (39) and Angel (37), plus a female servant and a 14-year-old errand boy. His brother Angel Lewis Lockey was admitted to the Warneford Asylum in Headington on 3 April 1854 and discharged on 30 November the same year.

At the time of the 1861 census John (46) was still Manciple of Queen's and living at 14 Holywell Street with his mother Ann (69) and his siblings Ann (46), Angel (47) and Frederick (28), plus a servant. None of his siblings had an occupation.

By 1865 William Henry Horn had taken over as Cook & Manciple of The Queen's College, and John Lockey moved to Essex to try his hand at hotel-keeping. His mother evidently moved to the Iffley Road.

Mrs Anne Elizabeth Lockey died at Iffley Road, Oxford at the age of 80 on 19 October 1868, and was buried in St Peter-in-the-East churchyard on 23 October in the same grave as her son Oliver and her husband.

By the time of the 1871 census when he was 56 years old John Lockey described himself as a retired hotel keeper, and was living at 1 The Parade, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex as the head of the household with four of his unmarried siblings, namely Ann (63), Angel (61), Elizabeth (54), and Frederick (40), who again had no occupations.

By early 1874 John Lockey had returned to Oxford and was living with some of his siblings at Presteign Villa at 60 Banbury Road (whose address was then 20 St Giles-road-East).

His sister Miss Ann Lockey died at 60 Banbury Road on 23 March 1883 and was buried in St Peter-in-the-East churchyard on 23 October in the same grave as her parents and two of her siblings.

John Lockey himself died there in 1875, and was buried in a new grave in St Sepulchre's Cemetery:

† John Lockey died at 60 Banbury Road at the age of 59 on 18 June 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 June (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “June 18, at Presteign Villa, Oxford, in his 60th year, John, fourth son of the late Mr. Angel Lockey. Friends will please accept this intimation.” A different notice appeared in the Standard on 23 July 1875: “LOCKEY—18th, at Presteign Villa, Oxford, John Lockey, formerly of Bridge-street, Blackfriars. Friends will please accept this intimation.”

His effects came to under £6,000, and his executors were his sister Miss Elizabeth France Lockey of Presteign Villa, Banbury Road, and his brother Charles Lockey, a hotel keeper of West Street, Gravesend.

At the time of the 1881 census his sister Miss Elizabeth France (Lockey) was the head of the household at 60 Banbury Road, and her brother Angel Lewis Lockey (71) was in her care: they were both getting an income from houses, and had one servant.

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Richard Beeston Lockey (born 1811) continued

Richard never married. At the time of the 1861 census he was aged 49 and working as a civil engineer, living at Carisbrooke Villa, New Road, Camberwell with his sister Elizabeth Frances Lockey (44) and his brother William Henry Lockey (39), who was also a civil engineer, plus a servant.

By the time of the 1871 census Richard (59) was a farmer of 50 acres employing six men and three boys, living alone with a servant at 32 Scratton Road, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

Richard appears to have moved to his brother John's house in Oxford later in the 1870s (possibly taking on the lease after John's death in June 1875) and died there in 1878:

† Richard Beeston Lockey died at 60 Banbury Road at the age of 66 on 17 March 1878 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 22 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “March 17, at Presteign Villa, St. Giles's Road East, Oxford, Richard Beeston, second son of the late Mr. Angel Lockey, Holywell-street, Oxford.”

His personal estate came to under £50, and his executor was his brother William Henry Lockey, now a civil engineer in Southend.

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Charles Lockey (born 1820, brother of Richard Beeston Lockey and John Lockey (buried in Hastings);
and his son Charles Oliver Lockey (born 1854), buried here with his uncles

Charles Lockey, who had been admitted as a chorister to Magdalen College School on 1 April 1828, studied singing with Edward Harris at Bath when he left in 1836. At the time of the 1841 census when he was aged 20, he was a music teacher living in Bath.

His first public appearance was in 1842 and he became a well-known tenor singer: see his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Mendelssohn was so impressed with him at the first performance of his Elijah in Birmingham that he wrote to his brother that Lockey had sung the last aria so beautifully that he was almost unable to control his feelings and to carry on beating time steadily.

In 1848 Lockey was appointed a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. He is hard to find in the 1851 census, but by 1853 he was living in Marylebone.

On 24 May 1853 at All Souls Church, Marylebone, Charles Lockey married Martha Rae Williams (born in Bitterley, Shropshire in c.1820): he gave both his occupation and that of his father Angel as “Esquire”. He was the only one of the nine surviving Lockey children who married. He and Martha had the following children:

• Charles Oliver Lockey (born at Battersea on 6 May 1854 and baptised at St Mary's Church there on 11 June)
• William Thomas Lockey (born at Battersea in 1856 and baptised there on 28 June)
• John Beeston Lockey (born at Battersea on 26 April 1858 and baptised at St Mary's Church there on 30 August 1859).
• Martha Lockey (born at Battersea in 1860).

Charles Lockey lost his voice as the result of a throat infection in 1859 and retired from singing.

At the time of the 1861 census Charles (41), who still described himself as a musician, was living at 6 Caroline Place, Hastings with his wife Martha Rae (40) and their son Charles Oliver Lockey (6).

The family is hard to find in the 1871 census, except for their son John, who was at school in Prittlewell, Essex.

In 1875 John Lockey kept a hotel in West Street, Gravesend according to his brother John's probate record.

At the time of the 1881 census John Lockey, described as the Vicar Choral of St Paul's Cathedral, was living at 45 St Helen's Road, Hastings with his wife Martha, described as a vocalist, and three of their children: Charles Oliver Lockey (26), who was a wine merchant; John Lockey (22), who was a music seller; and Martha (19).

Charles Oliver Lockey came to stay at his uncles' old house in the Banbury Road, probably with his aunt Elizabeth, soon after the census, and died there just a few months later:

† Charles Oliver Lockey died at the south end of the Banbury Road at the age of 27 on 27 July 1881 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 1 August (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles's Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “July 27, at Presteign Villa, 20, St. Giles's Road East, Oxford, Charles Oliver, eldest son of C. Lockey, Esq., of Hastings, aged 27.”

The addresses in the Banbury Road were evidently rationalized between 1881 and 1883, and Presteign Villa changed from 20 St Giles's Road East to 60 Banbury Road. Charles Oliver Lockey's aunt Miss Elizabeth France Lockey died there in 1883. Her death notice in the Morning Post of 20 June 1883 read: “LOCKEY—On the 10th inst, at Presteign villa, 60 Banbury-road, Oxford, Elizabeth France Lockey, second daughter of the late Angel Lockey, Holywell-street, Oxford.” Again she was buried in the family grave in St Peter-in-the-East churchyard. Her effects came to £2,086 17s. 11d., and her executor was her brother William.

At the time of the 1891 census Charles and Martha, both aged 71, were living on their own means at 15 St Helen's Road, Hastings with their son John (32), who was a music teacher, and Martha (30), plus a servant.

Their daughter Martha Ann Elizabeth Lockey died at 15 St Helen's Road, Hastings on 30 August 1893 at the age of 33. Her effects came to £236 12s. 6d., and her executor was her brother Charles.

Mrs Martha Rae Lockey née Williams died at Hastings in 1897 at the age of 76.

At the time of the 1901 census Charles Lockey was living at 1 Elphinstone Road with his son John (42) and their two servants.

Charles Lockey died at Lyndhurst, St Helen's Road, Hastings on 3 December 1901 at the age of 81. His effects came to £22,283 17s. 7d., and his son John was one of his executors.

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The other siblings of Richard Beeston Lockey and John Lockey

Angel Lewis Lockey (born 1809) moved to 60 Banbury Road to live with his brother John in about 1874 and was still there with his sister Elizabeth in 1881. He died there at the age of 76 and was buried on 23 February 1886: his burial is recorded in the St Giles's parish register, and it is possible that it took place here in the same grave as his two brothers. His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “Feb. 18, suddenly, at 60, Banbury-road, Oxford, Angel Lewis Lockey, eldest son of the late Angel and Ann Elizabeth Lockey, of Holywell-street, Oxford, aged 77.”

William Henry Lockey (born 1822) described himself as a railway engineer in 1871 and was living at 1 Station Yard, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex. In 1881 when he was aged 58 he described himself as a civil engineer and gave his address as Railway Villa, Prittlewell. He died on 27 August 1892. His effects came to £4,594 9s. 1d., and his brother Charles was his executor.

Frederick Augustus Lockey (born 1830), who in 1871 at the age of 40 was still living with his brother John in Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, is hard to find in 1881. He died there in 1887, and the following notice appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal: “At Southend, Essex, Mr. Frederick A. Lockey, formerly a resident in this City, and youngest son of the late Mr. Angel Lockey, of Holywell-street. The deceased was a brother of Mr. Charles Lockey, the celebrated tenor singer, and was in his 57th year.”