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Joseph PARKER (c.1818–1877)
His second wife Mrs Penelope PARKER, née Parker (1810–1883)
Their grandson Walter Cunningham BENNETT (1875–1878)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 9, Grave D61

Joseph Parker was born in Fulham in c.1818. He was the son of Philip Joseph Parker (born in Dilwyn, Herefordshire in c.1790) and his wife Elizabeth Dyke Smith (born in Pixley, Herefordshire in c.1789) who were married in Hereford on 8 June 1813. By 1845 Joseph was a broker in St Aldate's Street, Oxford, and had lost his first wife (name unknown).

Penelope Parker was born in Fulham on 2 October 1810 and baptised at All Saints Church there on 31 March 1811. She was the daughter of the nurseryman Christopher Robert Parker and his wife Harriet. In 1841 Penelope appears to have been a servant in a household in Harley Street, London.

On 21 October 1845 at All Saints Church in Fulham, Joseph Parker, described as a broker of St Aldate's, married his second wife Penelope Parker. They had just one child:

• Penelope Parker (born in Oxford in 1848 and baptised at St Aldate's Church on 22 December).

At the time of the 1851 census Joseph (31), described as a broker, was living in St Aldate's Street, Oxford with his wife Penelope (40, but recorded as 30) and their daughter Penelope (3): they had a servant girl. His parents were also now in Oxford: Philip Joseph Parker (57) who was a furniture broker, was living at Friar's Entry in St Mary Magdalen parish with his wife Elizabeth (58) and their son William (17), who had been born in Ledbury, Herefordshire.

Joseph's mother Mrs Elizabeth Parker died at Friars Entry at the age of 66 in 1855 and was buried on 7 November, probably elsewhere in St Sepulchre's Cemetery. A year later, near the end of 1856 in Oxford, Joseph's father Philip Joseph Parker married his second wife, Mary Ann Couling, who was aged 29 and hence 32 years his junior.

At the time of the 1861 census Joseph Parker (40), described as a dealer & broker, was living in George Street in St Mary Magdalen parish with his wife Penelope (50, but recorded as 45) and their daughter Penelope (12). His father Philip Joseph Parker (66) was living at 10 Friars Entry with his second wife Mary Ann Parker (34) and their children Benjamin (4), Edward (3), and Mary Ann (seven months).

By 1866 Joseph Parker was the publican of the Oddfellows Arms in George Street. (The Oddfellows Arms pub and other buildings at the south-west end of George Street were demolished in 1908 to make way for a large Co-op department store.)

Joseph's father Philip Joseph Parker died at Friars Entry at the age of 79 and was buried on 21 December 1869, probably with his first wife. It appears that Joseph then took in his half-brother Benjamin to live with his family.

At the time of the 1871 census Joseph Parker (51), described as a broker & publican, was living at the Oddfellows Arms (curiously described as the “Hand in Hand”) in George Street with his wife Penelope (60) and their daughter Penelope (22), and Joseph's half-brother Benjamin Parker (13).

Their only child was married in 1874:

• On 17 September 1874 at St Mary Magdalen Church, Oxford, Penelope Parker, described as a spinster of St Peter-le-Bailey parish, married Walter George Bennett, a dyer of St Mary Magdalen parish and the son of the dyer George Bennett.

The first grandson of Joseph & Penelope Parker, Walter Cunningham Bennett was born at 33 George Street on 25 June 1875, with the birth announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal, and he was privately baptised by St Mary Magdalen Church on 12 July 1875.

Joseph Parker died in 1877:

† Joseph Parker died at George Street at the age of 59 on 30 December 1877 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 4 January 1878 (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “Dec. 30, Mr. Joseph Parker, of the Odd Fellows' Arms, George-street, Oxford, aged 60; much respected by all who knew him.”

His infant grandson Walter Cunningham Bennett, the eldest child of Walter & Penelope Bennett, died the following year and was buried with his grandfather:

† Walter Cunningham Bennett died at the age of two in April 1878 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 26 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

At the time of the 1881 census Mrs Parker (70) was living at 34 Walton Crescent with her daughter Penelope Bennett (32) and her son-in-law Walter Bennett (32), who was a general clerk and their children Philip (3), Alexander (1), and Harry (five months).

Mrs Parker died in 1883:

† Mrs Penelope Parker née Parker died at 34 Walton Crescent at the age of 72 on 16 March 1883 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 20 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).

The only child of Joseph & Penelope Parker (and mother of Walter Cunningham Bennett)

• Mrs Penelope Bennett, née Parker (born 1848) was living at 36 Juxon Street in Jericho in 1891 with her husband Walter, who was now a music warehouse clerk, and their four surviving children Philip Parker Bennett (13), Alexander William Bennett (11), Harry Bruce Bennett (10), and Ida Penelope Bennett (7). Her husband Walter George Bennett died in 1893 at the age of 44. At the time of the 1901 census Penelope (52) was a lodging house keeper at 33 Kingston Road, and her four surviving children were still at home: Philip (23) and Alexander (21) were both clerks in a printing office; Harry (20) was a student; and Ida (17) was a telegraph clerk. In 1911 Penelope was a lodging house keeper at 147 Kingston Road, and her two cousins, the Misses Jessie and Kate Parker, were living with her. Mrs Penelope Bennett died in Oxford at the age of 79 near the end of 1927.