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George MULLINS (1800–1867)
His wife Mrs Susannah MULLINS, née Gardiner (c.1805–1879)
Their daughter Miss Elizabeth Susannah MULLINS (1846–1928)
St Giles section: Row 16, Grave B30

George Mullins (left) was born in Box, Wiltshire on 17 August 1800 and baptised there on 14 September. He was the only son of George Mullins senior, the schoolmaster there, and his wife Mary.

Young George was ordained Deacon on 21 December 1823 and was appointed Stipendiary Curate of Ditteridge in Wiltshire on the same day. He was ordained Priest on 19 December 1824, and the following day was appointed Stipendiary Curate of Great Chalfield, also in Wiltshire. On 14 January 1825, when he was aged 24, he was appointed Rector of Ditteridge, a position he held simultaneously with his curacy of Great Chalfield for 27 years, until he was appointed Rector of Great Chalfield.

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Susannah Gardiner (right) was born in Bristol in 1805/6, the daughter of Joel Gardiner and Mary Anne Godden, who were married at St John the Baptist Church, Devizes on 14 January 1793. Her three siblings were also born in Bristol: Joel (1795), Elizabeth (1797), and Henrietta (c.1807).

On 5 January 1835 at St Paul’s Church, Bristol, George Mullins junior married Susannah Gardiner of Catherine Place, Bath, and they had the following children:

• George Henry Mullins (born in Box in 1837 and baptised at St Mary’s Church, Devizes on 18 July)
• Robert John Mullins (born in Box in 1838, reg. third quarter)
• Henrietta Jane Mullins and
  Mary Ann Mullins (twins, born in Box in 1839/40, reg. first quarter of 1840)
• Joel Francis Mullins (born in Box in 1841 and baptised at Ditteridge on 27 June; died aged 17 in 1859)
• Edwin Herbert Mullins (born in Ditteridge Wiltshire in 1844 and baptised there on 30 November)
• Elizabeth Susannah Mullins (born in Corsham on 15 January 1846 and baptised there on 19 February)
• Harriett Lydia Mullins (born in Corsham in 1849 and baptised there on 10 March; died 1853)

At the time of the 1841 census George Mullins was living in Box with his wife and four of their children: George Henry (4), twins Henrietta and Mary (1½), and baby Joel, who had not yet been named. Their son Robert (2) was staying with his maternal grandmother at Westbury-on-Trym.

At the time of the 1851 census George Mullins (50) was the Rector of Ditteridge and the Master of Corsham Almshouses in Wiltshire, and was living at the almshouses with Susannah (45) and their children Robert (12), the twins Henrietta and Mary (11), Joel (9), Edwin (6), Elizabeth (5), and Harriett (2), plus one servant, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Lake (70). George Henry (14) was boarding at Marlborough School.

Their youngest daughter Harriet died at the age of four in 1853.

On 8 June 1855 their eldest son George Henry Mullins was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Brasenose College, and obtained his B.A. in 1859.

Their son Joel died at the age of 17 in 1859.

At the time of the 1861 census George Mullins was still living at Hungerford Almshouses in Corsham, as although he was now the Rector of Chalfield, he remained the Master of Cosham Almshouses. At home with him were his wife and two of his children: George Henry (24) and Elizabeth (15).

In 1862 their son George Henry Mullins was appointed Curate of Ss Philip & James’s Church in Oxford, and from 1864 he was also assistant master at Uppingham School.

Three of their children were married in the 1860s:

• In 1861 (reg. first quarter) in the Chippenham district, their twin daughter Mary Ann Mullins married Henry Banks Spencer
• On 24 April 1862 at Blandford, Dorset their second son Robert John Mullins married Harriet Roe. The marriage announcement in the Sherborne Mercury of 29 April 1862 read “April 24, at the parish church, Blandford, by the Rev. Robert G. Swayne, assisted by the Rev. W. Harte, rector, Robert John Mullins, Esq., second son of the Rev. G. Mullins, rector of Chalfield Magna, Wilts, to Harriet Jane, youngest daughter of John Banister Roe, Esq., of Blandford, Dorset.”
• On 29 December 1864 at Ss Philip & James’s Church, Oxford, their eldest son George Henry Mullins (described as a Clerk in Holy Orders) married Jessie Martha Mallam, the daughter of Thomas & Martha Mallam of The Shrubbery in North Oxford (see their grave in this cemetery). The marriage was announced in the Gentleman’s Magazine and in the Guardian.

Their daughter Mrs Mary Ann Spencer (21), was living at Acre End Street in Eynsham at the time of the 1861 census with her new husband, the doctor Henry Spencer. She died in 1866.

The Revd George Mullins appears to have been living at 31 Park Town (then 12 Park Terrace) in Oxford when he died in 1867:

† George Mullins died at 12 Park Terrace at the age of 66 on 29 April 1867 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 2 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

His death announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal read simply: “April 29, at 12, Park-terrace, Oxford, the Rev. George Mullins, Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts.” His effects came to under £1,500, and his widow, who continued to live in Park Town until at least the date of probate (12 June 1867) was his sole executor.

By the time of the 1871 census Mrs Susannah Mullins (65) was living in Bromley in Kent at 24 Bromley College (a kind of almshouse for clergy widows) with her daughter Elizabeth Susannah (35) and one servant.

Two more of her children were married in the 1870s:

• On 9 December 1871 in Tooting, their twin daughter Henrietta Jane Mullins married Albert Francis Milton Druce, and the following notice appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal 9 December 1871: "Nov. 30, at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Upper Tooting, by the Rev. E. D. Cree, Vicar, A. F. Milton Druce, of Twelve Acre, Eynsham, Oxford, to Henrietta Jane, eldest daughter of the late Rev. George Mullins, Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts. No cards."
• In 1878 (reg. third quarter) in the Mansfield district, Edwin Herbert Mullins married Mary Benton Blythe.

Mrs Mullins died at Fyfield in Berkshire, the home of her daughter Mrs Harriet Druce, in 1879:

† Mrs Susannah Mullins née Gardiner died at Fyfield at the age of 74 on 24 November 1879 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 28 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her personal estate came to under £600, and her executor was her eldest son George Henry Mullins, then living at West Deyne, Uppingham.

Miss Elizabeth Susannah Mullins (Bessie) (born 1846)

Elizabeth, who had been her mother’s companion, never married. At the time of the 1881 census she was staying with the family of her sister Mrs Harriet Druce at Fyfield; but by 1891 she was in employment, working as a nurse at the Infirmary in Wrexham.

At the time of the 1901 census she was staying with the Druces again, this time at 258 Iffley Road.

Her sister Harriet Druce died in 1909, and at the time of the 1911 census Elizabeth (67) was boarding at the Dairy Farm at Cholsey in Buckinghamshire, where she rented two rooms, and Miss Amy Druce (48), a mother’s help, was paying her a visit.

Elizabeth was the last survivor of the eight children of George & Susannah Mullins, and died in Shropshire in 1928 and was buried with her parents in Oxford:

† Miss Elizabeth Susannah Mullins died at The Vicarage, Baschurch, near Shrewsbury at the age of 82 on 31 August 1928. She was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 3 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Her effects came to £2,109 3s. 1d., and her executor was the Revd Edward Druce.

Biography of the Revd George Mullins by his great-grandson Canon Peter Mullins

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The other surviving children of George & Susannah Mullins

• George Henry Mullins (born 1837) and his wife Jessie had ten children, including Jessie Margaret (1867), George James Herbert (1868, baptised at Ss Philip & James’s Church in Oxford on 19 July), Cecil Edward (1871), Agnes Mary (1872), Arthur Francis (1875), Walter R. (1878), Henry Lancelot (1879) and Cyril H. (1880). He was a master at Uppingham School, and at the time of the 1871, 1881, and 1891 censuses he and his wife were living at Uppingham. In 1901 and 1911 they were at the Rectory in Great Billing, Northamptonshire with their daughter Agnes; four of their ten children were already dead. George Henry Mullins died on 21 January 1928, and probate was granted to his eldest son George James Herbert Mullins, who was then living at Bix on the London Road in Headington.
• Robert John Mullins (born 1838) was ordained and became an Anglican missionary, and he and his wife Harriet emigrated to South Africa, where he was Principal of the Kafir Institution in Grahamstown (his diaries can be viewed here). They had 14 children: Jane Marion (1863), Ethel Frances (1865), Robert George (1866), Charles Herbert (1868), Hubert John (1870), Reginald Cuthbert (1872), Bertha Margaret (1875), Mildred Agnes (1877), Edith Hilda (1879), Gyneth Helen (1880), Henry Rubert (1882), Arthur Gilbert (1886), and Ruth Geraldine (1890). Reginald Cuthbert, known as Cuth Mullins, became a famous rugby player. Robert John Mullins died in Grahamstown, South Africa on 24 April 1913.
• Henrietta Jane Mullins, Mrs Druce (born 1839/40) was living at Fyfield in 1881 with her husband Albert, a farmer of 650 acres employing 13 men, four women, and one boy, and they had five children: Francis Druce (8), Edward Druce (7), Dorothea Druce (4), Philip Druce (3), and Rhoda Druce (three months). In 1901 Mrs Henrietta Druce (69) and her husband A. F. Milton Druce (69) and their daughter Rhoda (20) were living at 258 Iffley Road. Mrs Henrietta Jane Druce died in the Wallingford district at the age of 69 near the end of 1909.
• Edwin Herbert Mullins (born 1844) was in 1881 living at Eckington in Derbyshire (where he was Curate) with his wife Mary and their daughter Dorothy (ten months). By 1891 he was Rector of Langwith Bassett in Derbyshire, and was living at Upper Langwith with his wife and their five children: Dorothy (10), Marjorie (8), Mary Phyllis (4), Ciceley (3), and Alban Ferris (1); he was still there in 1901. Edwin Herbert Mullins died at Brookfield Nursing Home in Mansfield on 30 July 1926.