Mrs Anne SPELLER née Humfrey (c.1798–1875)
Her daughter Miss Elizabeth SPELLER (1833–1869)
and her daughter Anne's son Robert Frederick JOLLIFFE (1855–1881)
St Paul (St Barnabas) section: Row 34, Grave J24 [St Paul ref T31]
In Loving Memory
of
ELIZABETH SPELLER
DIED NOVR 4TH 1869
AGED 37 YEARS
ALSO ANNE SPELLER
DIED APRIL 4TH 1875
AGED 78 YEARS.
ALSO
ROBERT FREDERICK JOLLIFFE
DIED MARCH 5TH 1881
AGED 26 YEARS.
“LORD HAVE MERCY.”
Anne Humfrey or Humphrey/Humphreys was born at Epsom, Surrey in c.1797. On 12 April 1825 at Much Hadham, near Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire, she married Andrew Speller, and they had the following children:
- William Speller (born in Much Hadham in 1826 and baptised there on 5 March)
- Jane Speller (born in Much Hadham in 1827 and baptised there on 25 November)
- Susanna Speller (born in Much Hadham in 1828 and baptised there on 30 August)
- Anne Speller (born at Much Hadham in 1831 and baptised there on 6 February)
- Andrew Speller (born at Much Hadham in 1832 and baptised there on 21 October)
- Elizabeth Speller (born in Much Hadham in 1833 and baptised there on 29 December)
- James Albert Speller (born in Much Hadham in 1840 and baptised there on 8 March).
At the time of the 1841 census Mrs Anne Speller was living at Much Hadham in 1841 with her husband Andrew, who was a glazier, and their children William (15), Jane (13), Susanna (12), Andrew (9), Elizabeth (7), and James (1). Their missing daughter Anne (10) was living in the home of Miss Alice Deacon (60), who was the schoolmistress of Much Hadham.
Anne's husband Andrew Speller died in the 1840s, and he must be one of the two men of that name who were respectively buried at Much Hadham on 16 June 1841 and 5 November 1849.
Her daughter Anne was married near the beginning of 1850:
- In the first quarter of 1850 in the Bishops Stortford district of Hertfordshire, Anne Speller married Henry Jolliffe.
At the time of the 1851 census the widow Mrs Anne Speller (56) was living at Much Hadham with four of her children: William (25) was a plumber & glazier; Jane (23), helped at home; Elizabeth (17) was a tutor at a school; and James (11) was at school.
Mrs Speller is hard to find in the 1861 census. Her married daughter Anne Jolliffe had moved to Oxford with her husband; her daughters Jane (32) and Susanna (30) were running a school at Braughing, Hertfordshire; and her son Andrew (29) was a painter, lodging in Great Hadham.
By 1869 Anne's unmarried daughter Elizabeth Speller had also moved to Oxford, probably to be near her married sister Anne Jolliffe, who was then living in Little Clarendon Street. Elizabeth's address is given as Great Clarendon Street, which was in St Paul's parish, when she died of phthisis at the Radcliffe Infirmary in November that year:
† Miss Elizabeth Speller died at Great Clarendon Street at the age of 36 [wrongly recorded as 37] on 4 November 1869 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 10 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).
At the time of the 1871 census Mrs Anne Speller (with her age given as 73) was living at the School House in Luddersdown, Kent with her daughter Miss Susanna Speller (40), who was the schoolmistress there.
By 1875 Mrs Anne Speller had moved to Oxford to live with her daughter Mrs Anne Jolliffe and her husband, and she died at their house in Jericho that year:
† Mrs Anne Speller née Humfrey died at 38 Cardigan Street at the age of 76 on 4 April 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Barnabas's Church).
Her effects came to under £100, and her executors were her sons William and Andrew Speller, plumbers & glaziers of Much Hadham.
Her daughter Anne Speller, Mrs Henry Jolliffe, is buried in a separate grave in St Sepulchre's Cemetery.
Robert Frederick Jolliffe
Robert Frederick Jolliffe was born in Amwell, Hertfordshire in 1855, the son of Henry Jolliffe and Anne Speller, who were married in the Bishops Stortford district of Hertfordshire near the beginning of 1850. His mother Anne was the daughter of Mrs Ann Speller and the sister of Miss Elizabeth Speller above.
For more about his parents and background, see his parents' grave.
By 1861 census his family had moved to Oxford, and the census that year shows Robert (6) living at Little Clarendon Street, Oxford.
By 1871 Robert (16) was a compositor, probably at Oxford University Press, and was living with his family at 38 Cardigan Street.
The family had moved to Cranham Street by early 1881, and Robert died there before the census:
† Robert Frederick Jolliffe died at Cranham Street at the age of 26 on 5 March 1881 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 9 March (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).
He was buried in the grave of his grandmother and aunt.
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