Mrs Catherine RILEY, née Peers (c.1765–1849)
St Michael section: Row 12, Grave C49½
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
CATHERINE RILEY
RELICT OF THE LATE
EDWARD RILEY
OF WELLSBOURNE [sic],
WARWICKSHIRE
DIED SEPTEMBER
2,
1849
AGED 84 YEARS
THERE THE WICKED CEASE FROM
TROUBLING, AND THERE THE
WEARY BE AT REST
Catherine Peers was born in c.1765, probably in Warwickshire. On 25 February 1800 at Wellesbourne in Warwickshire, she married Edward Riley, and they had the following children:
- Richard Riley (born at Wellesbourne and baptised there on 27 May 1800)
- Ann Riley (born in Wellesbourne in c.1801; possibly the Ann Riley, daughter of Edward and Catherine Riley, who was baptised at Stafford 9 January 1802)
On 18 August 1829 at Wellesbourne, Catherine's daughter Ann Riley married James Castle (who was born in Oxford on 23 January 1803, the son of James & Mary Castle,and baptised at St Michael's Church): he had a tobacconist's shop at in Oxford at 44 Cornmarket Street in St Michael's parish, and the banns were read there. Ann moved to Oxford with him, and they had the following children (the first born five months after the wedding):
- James Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1829 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 24 December)
- Edward Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1831 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 2 September)
- John Riley Castle Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1833 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 6 January)
- Ann Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1834 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 21 December)
- Mary Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1836 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 5 July)
- Elizabeth Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1838 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 15 July)
- Edward Riley Castle (born at 44 Cornmarket Street, Oxford in 1840 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 16 February).
The 1841 census shows Mrs Ann Castle, née Riley living at 44 Cornmarket Street with her husband James and their children Ann (6), May (5), Elizabeth (2), and Edward (1), plus two independent young people and three servants.
It looks as though Mrs Catherine Riley came to live with them in Oxford at some point between 1841 and 1849, as she died at their house in 1849:
† Mrs Catherine Riley née Peers died at 44 Cornmarket Street in St Michael's parish, Oxford at the age of 84 on 2? September and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 30 September (burial recorded in the parish register of St Michael's Church).
Her death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “Sept. 25, Mrs. Catherine Riley, mother of Mrs. Castle, of Corn Market-street, aged 84.” She was one of the first people buried in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, just one year after it opened.
Her daughter Mrs Ann Castle, née Riley (born c.1801)
Ann was still living over the tobacconist's shop at 44 Cornmarket in 1851 with her husband James Castle and four of their children: John Riley Castle (18), who is described as an assistant, and Mary (14), Elizabeth (12), Edward (11), and Catherine (7). Also living with them were James Castle's aunt Miss Ann Castle (65), and one house servant and one under-servant aged 13.
Ann and James, both aged 59, were still there in 1861 with their John Riley Castle (28), now described as a tobacconist, and their daughter Catherine (17), plus one female house servant.
James Castle died at 44 Cornmarket in 1867 at the age of 65 and was buried on 10 December, probably in St Michael's churchyard. Certainly his wife Ann was buried there on 3 January 1888 after her death at 39A St Giles's Street at the age of 85..
For an illustration showing the Castle's old shop at 44 Cornmarket Street, see Michael L. Turner and David Vaisey, Oxford Shops and Shopping, p. 28, illustration 57
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