Edith Hannah RAVEN (1865–1878)
St Paul (St Barnabas) section: Row 33, Grave H17
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IN LOVING
REMEMBRANCE OF
EDITH HANNAH
THE BELOVED CHILD OF
JAMES AND SARAH RAVEN
WHO DIED DECEMBER 13, 1878
AGED 13.
.
This is one of the twelve or so terracotta graves in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery made by the sculptor Thomas Grimsley. The remains of the fleur-de-lys cross are lying on the ground in front of the stone
Edith Hannah Raven was born in Widnes, Lancashire in 1865 (reg. fourth quarter), the daughter of James Alfred Raven (born at West Lexham, Norfolk in 1837) and his wife Sarah Page (born in Mile End, Whitechapel, London in c.1838). Her parents were at St Mary’s Church in Battersea on 2 October 1862.
James Raven was a schoolmaster, and shortly after the wedding (probably to conceal the fact that there was a baby well on the way) they moved to Widnes, where James continued to teach. Their first daughter Fanny Louise Raven was born at Widnesnear the beginning of 1863, followed by Arthur Frederick Raven in 1864. A third child, Constance Raven, was born in 1869, but died in 1870.
At the time of the 1871 census Edith (5) was living at the Grammar School House in Farnworth, Widnes with her father James (33), who was the schoolmaster there, her mother Sarah (32), and her older siblings Fanny (8) and Arthur (6); also living in the house were five male pupils aged between 11 and 16, an assistant master, and a cook and a housemaid. Two more children were born at Farnworth soon after the census: George Ernest Raven (1871) and Mabel Gertrude Raven (1872).
The family then appears to have moved to Oxford, as their daughter Edith died there in 1878:
† Edith Hannah Raven died at Walton Crescent at the age of 13 on 13 December 1878 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 17 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas’s Church).
Her death was briefly announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal: “Dec. 13, in Walton Crescent, Oxford, Edith Hannah, daughter of Mr. James Raven, aged 13.”
Edith’s parents
By 1881 Edith’s father James Alfred Raven (who did not always use his middle name) was working as a schoolmaster in London and living at 23 Cologne Road, Battersea with his wife Sarah and his children Fanny (18), Arthur (16), George (9), and Mabel (8), who were all still at school. A curate was lodging with them, and they had a 13-year-old servant girl.
By 1891 James Raven was retired and living at 36 Park Road, Battersea with Sarah and two of their children: Arthur (26) was a clerk and Mabel (18) was a school governess. He and his wife were still at the house in 1901, as well as Sarah’s father G. H. Page, a retired architect of 91, and his attendant.
James Alfred Raven died at 35 Park Road, Wandsworth Common on 7 November 1906 at the age of 69, and his effects came to £2,277 14s. 6d. His widow Sarah Raven died early the following year at the age of 67.
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