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Edwin WELFORD (1843/4–1903)
His wife Mrs Ellen WELFORD, née Woodward (1848–1923)
Their son William Ernest WELFORD (1875–1900)
St Paul section: Row 5, Grave A4 [St Paul ref B.2]

Edwin Welford was born at Westcott, Buckinghamshire in 1843/4, the youngest of the seven children of the shoemaker Joseph Welford and Susannah Bates. By 1851 the family had moved to Launton, and then around the middle of the 1850s Edwin’s father became a coal dealer in Oxford, and the family was living in Cardigan Street in the Jericho area. By the age of 17, Edwin was working for his father as an assistant coal dealer. For more information about Edwin Welford’s parents, and his maternal grandmother, see their separate grave

Ellen Woodward was born in Church Street, St Ebbe’s, Oxford in December 1846 and baptised at St Ebbe's Church on 17 January 1847. She was the youngest child of the shoemaker Thomas Woodward and Hannah Fletcher, who were married at Summertown Church on 19 August 1834. At the time of her parents' wedding Thomas, a widower, was nearly forty years older than Hannah, a spinster, who already had a young child, Edwin Fletcher (born in Oxford in 1829/30 and baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 9 May 1830). Both Thomas and Hannah were then living at Summertown, but they moved to St Ebbe’s soon after their marriage, and their four children were all baptised at St Ebbe’s Church: Emma (1839), Charles (1841), Sophia (1843), and Ellen (1846).

At the time of the 1841 census Thomas and Hannah were living at St Ebbe’s Street with their first two children, Emma and Charles, and Edwin Fletcher.

Ellen’s father Thomas Woodward died at the age of 82 in 1850: his funeral was at St Ebbe’s Church on 29 December, and he was probably buried at Osney. At the time of the 1851 census Ellen’s mother Hannah (44) was still living in Church Street, St Ebbe’s and working as a washerwoman, living with her son Edwin Fletcher (21), who was a shoemaker, and her four younger children, including Ellen (4).

By 1861 Ellen Woodward (14) was living at 11 Longwall Street, working as a general servant for a college laundress. Her mother Hannah (56) and her sister Emma (22) were also both washerwomen living at home at 4 Clarke’s Row, St Aldate’s, with Charles (20), who was a shoemaker, and Mrs Woodward’s granddaughter Ada Woodward (2).

On 12 October 1869 at St Paul's Church, Oxford, Edwin Welford married Ellen Woodward, and they had the following children:

• Edwin Charles Welford (born at 22 Cardigan Street on 1 October 1870 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 13 November)
• William Richard Welford (born at 89 Cardigan Street on 9 May 1873 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 29 June); died aged 13 months
• William Ernest Welford (born at 89 Cardigan Street on 16 February 1875 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on 4 April)
• Alfred Albert Welford (born at 23 Hart Street, Oxford on 27 August 1878 and baptised at St Barnabas's Church on 22 September; died aged three weeks
• Albert Alfred Welford (born at 23 Hart Street, Oxford on 10 December 1879 and baptised at St Barnabas’s Church on 8 February 1880)
• Florence Maud Welford (born at 23 Hart Street, Oxford on 5 March 1883 and baptised at St Barnabas’s Church on 13 May).

Initially Edwin and Ellen Welford lived at 22 Cardigan Street with Edwin’s parents and they can be seen there with their baby son Edwin Charles in the 1871 census.

By 1873 they had moved to 89 Cardigan Street, and their next two children were born there. Their son William Richard Welford died there on 1 June 1874 aged nearly thirteen months and was buried on 5 June 1874 in St Sepulchre's Cemetery (their ref. B.2), which is likely to be this grave.

By mid-1878 the family was living at 23 Hart Street (then called Union Street). There were stables and a yard through the archway which divided this house in two, with living accommodation on both sides of the arch, and with one room as an office. After moving here the family favoured St Barnabas's Church rather than St Paul's.

Their next son Alfred was born there on 27 August 1878 but died aged three weeks. His burial on 23 September 1878 is recorded in the St Barnabas's register, and he too is likely to be buried in this grave.

At the time of the 1881 census Edwin (36), a coal merchant, was living at 23 Hart Street with his wife Ellen (33) and their children Edwin Charles (10), William (6), and Albert (1). They had a 15-year-old servant girl.

They were still at 23 Hart Street at the time of the 1891 census. Edwin Charles (20) was now an assistant coal merchant; William (16) was a pupil teacher; and Albert (11) and Florence (8, and born after the previous census) were at school.

Above: Edwin and Ellen Welford with their children: left to right William Ernest,
Edwin Charles (seated) and Albert Alfred, with Florence Maud in front

Kelly’s Directory of 1899 lists the family business as “Welford Edwin, coal & coke mer. 5 London & North Western coal wharf, Rewley road and 23 Union street, Jericho”. Very shortly after this Edwin & Ellen Welford moved to 77 Kingston Road.

Their son William Ernest Welford died in 1900:

† William Ernest Welford died at 77 Kingston Road at the age of 25 on 20 November 1900 and was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 23 November (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Edwin Welford and his wife can be seen at 77 Kingston Road in the 1901 census with two of their children: Albert (21), who was described as a student, and Florence (18), who was a coal merchant’s assistant.

Edwin died in 1903:

† Edwin Welford died at 77 Kingston Road at the age of 59 on 20 October 1903 and was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 23 October (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

At the time of the 1911 census his widow Ellen (63) was living alone at 77 Kingston Road with one servant. She died there in 1923:

† Mrs Ellen Welford (née Woodward) died at 77 Kingston Road at the age of 75 on 7 May 1923 and was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 May (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Surviving children of Edwin and Ellen Welford

• Edwin Charles Welford (born 1870) is shown right with his wife and two of his sons. He carried on the family business using an office in Rewley Road as well as in Union (Hart) Street. He married Edith Arnett at St Barnabas Church on 20 April 1897: she was the daughter of Harry John Arnett, stone carver and builder of houses in Walton Well Road, the granddaughter of John Arnett (brother of Joseph Arnett), and the great-granddaughter of John Arnett, who after many years as overseer of the classical side of the Clarendon Press was appointed Manager of the Bible Department in 1814. After their marriage Edwin Charles and Edith Welford lived at 85 Southmoor Road: they can be seen there in the 1901 census with their son Montague Walter Welford (born 1898/9) and in 1911 with their son Edwin Donald (born 1904/5). Edwin Charles Welford died in 1943, and is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery.
• Albert Alfred Welford (born 1879) married Blanche May Poulter of 49 Kingston Road, daughter of Edward James Poulter, carpenter, on 17 August 1911 at Ss Philip & James Church. He was a schoolmaster.
• Florence Maud Welford (born 1883) married Henry J. Haines in the first quarter of 1911, probably at St Margaret’s Church. He farmed at Besselsleigh.

The firm E. Welford & Son continued until 1962, when it was sold by Montague Walter Welford, son of Edwin Charles.