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William PARKER (1766–1858)
His wife Mrs Lucy PARKER (1793–1855)
Their daughter Margaret Cleland PARKER (1836–1852)
St Giles section: Row 19, Grave F31

William Parker was born in London on 16 April 1766, and his wife Lucy (surname unknown) was born in Deeping St James, near Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1793.

Given the 27-year difference in their ages, it is possible that William had an earlier wife and other children. These are the four of his children who appear in the censuses:

• Abraham Parker (born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1822/3)
• Charles Parker (born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1829/30)
• George Parker (born in Birmingham in 1833/4)
• Margaret Cleland Parker (born in St Giles’s Road, Oxford in 1836 and baptised at St Giles’s Church on 18 September).

William Parker was a saddle-tree plater, and he and Lucy were evidently living near Lucy’s birthplace of Stamford in Lincolnshire in the late 1820s. By 1834 they had moved to Birmingham, and by about 1835 they had settled in north Oxford with three of their children, and a fourth was born shortly afterwards.

At the time of the 1841 census William Parker (74) was still working as a saddle-tree plater and living in St Giles’s Field (just to the north of St Giles’s Street) with his wife Lucy (48) and his children Abraham (18), Charles (12), George (8), and Margaret (5). The poll of freemen and electors that year shows that he lived in Jericho Terrace.

By 1848 their address was at North Parade. Their eldest son Abraham was married that year:

• On 25 March 1848 at St Giles’s Church, Oxford, Abraham Parker, who was a printer/compositor, married Maud Pound, who was born in Nuneham Courtenay in 1823/4, the the daughter of the labourer George Pound: back in 1841 she was working as a servant at Burcot House, Dorchester, but both she and Abraham were living in North Parade at the time of their marriage, and they continued to live there in a separate house from Abraham's parents.

The 1851 census shows William Parker (84), who was still working, and his wife Lucy (60) who was a laundress, living at North Parade. Their three younger children were still at home: Charles (21), who was a gardener; George (17), who was an apprentice compositor; and Margaret (14).

Their daughter Margaret died the following year:

† Margaret Cleland Parker died at North Parade at the age of 15 on 5 January 1852 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

She was described as being the youngest daughter of Mr William Parker in her death notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal, which suggests that she had older sisters; and her middle name was given as Acland, but as it is given as Cleland everywhere else and the footstone of the grave clearly shows that her middle initial was C, it must have been misread.

Mrs Parker died at the age of 61 on 29 September 1855:

† Mrs Lucy Parker died at North Parade at the age of 61 on 29 September 1855 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 4 October (burial recorded in the parish register of St Giles’s Church).

Again, a death notice appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal.

Her husband may then have moved to Observatory Street in St Paul’s district chapelry. His son George was certainly living there when he was married in 1856:

• On 26 January 1856 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, George Parker married Sarah Wilson Hall, who was born in St Thomas’s parish in 1832/3, the daughter of the shopkeeper William Hall: she too was living in Observatory Street at the time of her marriage.

William Parker died in 1858, according to the gravestone:

† William Parker appears to have died at the age of 92 on 8 January 1858 and to have been buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery with his wife and daughter. There is, however, no record of his burial in the relevant St Giles’s burial register, or of the death of anyone of that name and year in the Headington or Oxford registrations districts in the GRO indexes:

The surviving sons of William and Lucy Parker

• Abraham Parker (born in 1822/3) and his wife Maud had three daughters, all born in North Parade and baptised at St Giles’s Church on the dates shown: Maud Eliza Burton Parker (25 April 1849); Fanny Lucy Parker (29 January 1851); and Margaret Anne Cecilia Parker (22 September 1852). Abraham, who continued to work as a compositor, can be seen living in North Parade at the time of the 1851 census with his wife and their first two daughters, and a servant. By the time their next son Walter Parker was baptised on 2 September 1857, Abraham was the publican of the Clarendon Arms in Walton Street; Walter died at the age of 16 months, on 5 September 1857, and a death notice was was put in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. The 1861 census shows Abraham (38) and Maud (37) living at 35 Walton Street, with Abraham described as both a compositor and innkeeper. They now had five children: Maud (12), Fanny (10), Margaret (8), [Abraham] William (6), and Blanch[e] (3), and a house servant and nursemaid. Their next son Frederick Abraham Parker was born near the end of 1862, and on 1 January 1863 he was baptised at St Paul’s Church together with his brother Abraham William and sister Blanch. In 1871 Abraham was still the innkeeper at the Clarendon Arms in Walton Street and living there with his wife and Fanny (20), Margaret (18), William (16), and Blanche (13). By 1881 Abraham (58) was living with his wife Maud in Headington but was still working as a compositor. Abraham Parker became a supplier of firewood to the University, and in 1891 he and his wife (both 67) were living at Dereham in New High Street, Headington (later renamed Woodman’s Villa, and now replaced by six houses with that name). Their unmarried daughter Blanche Parker (33) and granddaughter Elinor Parker (12) lived with them, and they had a male servant who probably helped with the business. Abraham died in April 1900 at the age of 77, and his effects came to £414 12s. He was buried in Headington Cemetery on 24 April, and his occupation was given as printer.

• Charles Parker (born 1829/30) was working as a railway porter at the time of the 1861 census and living with his wife Mary Matilda at Southall Green, Norwood. By 1871 he had taken on the Britannia Inn at Kidlington. He is probably the Charles Parker, late of Norfolk Street, St Ebbe’s. who died at Orchard Street, Oxford at the age of 45 on 24 March 1876: probate was granted to his widow Mrs Mary Parker, and his effects came to nearly £50.

• George Parker (born 1833/4) became Clerk of the Examination Schools: see separate grave of his wife Mrs Sarah Parker