Buried in St. Sepulchre’s, Jericho.
William Bishop and family in the 1841 census…
…and the 1861 census.
William Bishop (1794-1866)
Alfred Wilmot
Having photographed the grave of Henry Sides, I took one of another grave which had caught my eye whilst walking the same path. This belonged to an Alfred Wilmot:
SACRED
To the Memory of
ALFRED WILMOT
Who died April 2 1846
Aged 30 Years
The only record I have been able to find of an Alfred Wilmot from the 1841 census is this:
It shows Alfred living with his mother Mary (60), brothers John (30) and Henry (5) and sister Eliza (16). However, if this was the Alfred on the gravestone, he would have been 25 in 1841. It could be that census is wrong and that he was actually 26.
In Jackson’s Oxford Journal, I did discover a marriage notice for an Alfred Wilmot, who married Emma Leader at St. Paul’s church on Christmas Day 1841.
Harriet Sides
Harriet Sides was the eldest daughter of Henry Sides. Born in 1834 she was married to William Cunningham in 1871 age 37. William Cunningham was born in 1826 in London to a William and Mary Cunningham and in 1861 is shown to be living at 20 Broad Street, Oxford.
In 1881, Harriet and William were living in Kidlington, Oxford with their two children, Clifford (6) and Walter (4). In 1891 they were living at 167 Walton Street, Oxford along with their two children and a servant, Clara Seppury.
William died on 1 July 1894 leaving £11,886 6s 8d in his will – almost £1.4 million in today’s money.
Harriet died two years later on 26 March 1896.
Henry Sides and family
Everyday, on my way to catch the bus after work, I pass by this grave at the edge of the path which cuts through St Giles churchyard.
Sacred to the Memory of
HENRY SIDES
Who died
January 8th 1844
Aged 36 Years
For months I’ve silently acknowledged the name as I’ve made my way home, wondering as I wait to cross the road who Henry Sides was. As I make my way to the bus up St. Giles I start to think about other things, and Henry Sides once again slips back to rest in peace and obscurity.
Recently however, I decided to see if I could find anymore about him. I know that he was born around 1808 and so searched for him on Ancestry. Here I discovered a Henry Sides, carepenter, born around 1811 who lived in Clarendon Street with his wife Ann (a dressmaker) and three children, Harriott (sic) (7), Henry (3) and a child ‘not named’ who was only a day old.
I decided too, to have a look in Jackson’s Oxford Journal where I discovered the following news from December 17, 1831:
It’s not certain of course that these are all the same Henry Sides, but given the dates and the fact he was the only Henry Sides I found, it seems quite likely.
So from complete obscurity residing in a name carved on a gravestone, we can build at least a little picture of the man who died at 36. The sad thing is of course, that he left behind a young family. Harriet would have been 10, Henry 6 and his other child, who in the 1851 census is named as Emily, would have been 3.
So what happened to his family after he died?
In 1851, they are all listed as living in Summertown. Ann 43, Harriet 17, Henry 13 and Emily 9.
In 1861, Henry J Sides, now 23 is living in North Parade and working as an assistant librarian. His mother Ann (53 and described as an Annuitant) is living with him, as are his siblings Harriet and Emily. Emily, now 20, is recorded as being a Governess.
Ten years on in 1871 and Henry J Sides is married to another Harriet and has a large family of his own, looked after by two servants. He is still an assistant Librarian in what we can now see was the Bodleian.
His children are listed as Lizzie (7), Constance (6), Effie (4), Mabel (3), Gerard (1). His sister Emily, now 29 is still living with them.
Ten years on, in 1881, Henry and Harriet have extended their family still further, with the arrivals of Arthur, Herbert, Gertrude and Archibald. They had moved too, living now in Bradmore Road with a Cook and a Nursemaid. At 42, Henry is still an assistant librarian and partner in a firm of rope makers.
Henry John Sides died on 25th August 1883, aged just 45…
…leaving £3,111 13s and 5d in his will.
But what of his mother Ann?
In 1871 Ann (63) was living at 4 Walton Crescent. In 1881 she was lodging at 2 St. John’s Villas off St. John’s Road and in 1891, 8 years after the death of her son, she was, at 83, boarding at 138 Walton Street. She died in 1895, 51 years after her husband.