• BURIALS  A–Z
• Brief history of the cemetery
• Notable people
• Grimsley gravestones
• Location/Plans
• Restoration
• Contact/Search

John CHILLINGWORTH (1777–1850)
His wife Mary CHILLINGWORTH, née Kirrey (1785–1859)
Their son John CHILLINGWORTH junior (1820–1896)
Their son’s wife Mrs Maria Chillingworth, née Hills (1819–1900)
St Paul section: Row 10, Grave A20 [St Paul ref Q.7]

.

The Chillingworths were farmers of Marston, whose land was near the Victoria Arms in Mill Lane.

By 1827 John Chillingworth farmed Black Hall Farm, which stretched from the north end of St Giles' as far as the present Belbroughton Road

John Chillingworth was born in Marston on 26 June 1777 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 27 July. He was the son of Richard Chillingworth and Jane Harris, who were married at St Giles' Church, Oxford on 17 December 1766: the announcement in Jackson's Oxford Journal described Richard as a farmer and grazier of St Giles's in the suburbs of the city and Jane (recorded as Jenny) as the daughter of Mrs Mary Harris, a widow gentlewoman of the same place . John's older sister Ann Chillingworth was also baptised in Marston in 1768. In July 1793 John's father Richard Chillingworth was described as a flex grower, and as a yeoman on 17 February 1794 when he was granted a lease by Balliol College of a house in St Giles's parish that had formerly held by John’s grandparents. From 1794 John's father Richard leased Black Hall Farm, which then adjoined 21 St Giles' Street.

Mary Kirrey (or Kerrey) was born in Holywell, Oxford in 1785 and baptised at St Cross Church on 8 March. She was the daughter of the baker William Kirrey and his wife Ann, who also had another daughter, Ann, baptised at that church on 28 August 1786.

On 25 May 1804 at St Cross (Holywell) Church, John Chillingworth of Marston married Mary Kirrey of Holywell, with the following announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal: “Thursday last was married Mr. John Chillingworth, Farmer, of Marston, in this county, to Miss Kirrey, daughter of Mr. William Kirrey, Baker, in Holywell.” They had the following children:

• Mary Ann Chillingworth (born in Marston on 9 April 1806)
• Jane Chillingworth (born in St Martin’s, Oxford on 10 October 1807)
• Richard Chillingworth (born in St Giles’s parish, Oxford on 8 March 1809); died 1828
• Ann(e) Chillingworth (born 12 March 1811)
• Naomi Chillingworth (born at Marston in c.1812), died 1843
• Elizabeth Chillingworth (born in St Giles's parish on 18 July 1813); died 1831
• Sarah Ruth Chillingworth (born in Marston on 5 June 1817)
• John Chillingworth junior (born in Marston on 8 February 1820)
• Charlotte Chillingworth (born in St Giles’s parish on 24 July 1824)
• Benjamin Chillingworth (born in St Giles’s parish on 3 October 1827)

The first four children (Mary Ann, Jane, Richard, and Anne) were entered by the Minister into the register of New Road Baptist Church on 23 October 1811; Naomi was added on 23 July 1815; John on 8 February 1820; Elizabeth and Sarah Ruth on 29 November 1823; Charlotte on 8 December 1825; and Benjamin on 8 November 1827.

John Chillingworth was a farmer in Marston until at least 1820, but by 1824 he had taken over Black Hall Farm at the south end of St Giles' parish from his father Richard, who died there on 11 January 1827. John was duly listed as the tenant in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 24 March 1827 when the farm was put up for sale: it was described as: “A Cottage and Barn, large Homestead, and about 105 statute Acres in the fields of St. Giles's, and about seven statute Acres in Osney, Oatland's, and Botley Meadows, in St. Thomas's”.

In 1827 two of John Chillingworth's daughters were married at St Giles' Church:

• On 17 September 1827 his eldest daughter Mary Ann Chillingworth married the saddler William Blackwell of Oxford’s High Street
• On 12 November 1827 his second daughter Jane Chillingworth married the butcher John Alden of All Saints’ parish.

On 27 December 1827 John's widowed mother Elizabeth Chillingworth died at the age of 82.

Two of his other children died in St Giles’s parish soon afterwards, each of them at the age of 18: Richard Chillingworth on 8 July 1828, and Elizabeth Chillingworth on 13 June 1831. Both were buried at New Road Baptist Chapel.

When the bookseller Joseph Parker acquired the lease of Black Hall at 21 St Giles' Street from St John's College in 1828, he undertook “to remove the Farm buildings to a suitable spot upon the land belonging to the property in St Giles' Field”. Following the enclosure of St Giles' parish in 1832, the arable land belonging to the farm was all further north and about half the acreage it had been. A new farmhouse was built on the site of what is now Charlbury Road, and John Chillingworth duly moved there from the original farmhouse at 21 St Giles' Street, and henceforth Black Hall Farm was sometimes described as Summertown Farm.

Right: Map showing Blackhall Farm and farmhouse in Summertown in 1876

At the time of the 1841 census John Chillingworth was living in Black Hall Farmhouse in Summertown with his wife Mary and their children Ann, Sarah, and John, plus two servants and their granddaughter Elizabeth Blackwell (5). Their daughter Naomi was then a schoolmistress at Union Place, Speedwell Street, Oxford, and her younger sister Charlotte (15) was a pupil at that school.

In 1842 John Chillingworth, his wife Mary, and their unmarried children Anne, Sarah, and John, were all entered on the roll of Summertown Congregational Church; but in April 1846 they all transferred to the Congregational Church in George Street, Oxford, which had been opened in 1832 by a group, largely composed of Paedobaptists, who had seceded from the New Road chapel in 1830.

Their daughter Naomi died in 1843.

Their eldest son surviving John was admitted free on 12 April 1844.

Their third daughter Anne was married in 1847:

• On 13 February 1847 at Summertown Church, Anne Chillingworth married Benjamin Coles, a tailor of Tunbridge Wells.

Anne's father John Chillingworth was described as a farmer in the marriage register, and her siblings Sarah, John, and Charlotte Chillingworth and her brother-in-law William Blackwell were the witnesses.

John Chillingworth died in 1850:

† John Chillingworth died in the Headington registration district (probably at Blackhall Farm in Summertown) at the age of 73 on 22 July 1850.

Although it appears from the above headstone that he was buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery, there is no record of his burial in the St Paul's parish register, and he did not even live in its district chapelry, so this is a mystery. His name may have been added at the top when his widow died in that chapelry in 1859.

At the time of the 1851 census John's widow Mrs Mary Chillingworth (64) was still living in Summertown at the family farm with her son John Chillingworth junior (30), who was described as a farmer of 118 acres employing seven servants, and her daughters Sarah (34) and Charlotte (24), plus a maidservant.

Mrs Chillingworth had moved to Walton Place (now Walton Street) in the St Paul's district chapelry by the time of her death in 1859:

† Mrs Mary Chillingworth died at her residence in Walton Place (now Walton Street) on 21 February 1859 at the age of 74 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 27 February (burial recorded in the register of St Paul’s Church).

Her death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read: “Feb. 21, at her residence in Walton-place, in this city, aged 74, Mrs. Mary Chillingworth, widow of the late Mr. John Chillingworth, of Summer Town.”

Her effects came to under £200, and letters of administration were granted to her son John.

---

John Chillingworth junior and his wife Maria Hills

John Chillingworth junior moved back to Marston after the death of his mother. At the time of the 1861 census he was an unmarried man running a farm of 140 acres there called Chillingworth’s Farm, and employing four men, three women, and four boys. Living in the farmhouse with him was a mill boy aged 36 and a carter aged 19.

It was reported in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 3 July 1869 that John Chillingworth, who was described as a farmer and guardian [of the poor] for Marston, had been in the milk trade several years, and that he thought that “the retailers made a net profit of 5d. per gallon, and more if watered”.

Maria Hills was born in Bethersden, Great Chart, Kent in 1819 and baptised there on 6 June. She was the daughter of the farmer Clark Hills and Sarah Else. She had fourteen younger siblings: Sarah (1821), Mary Amanda (1825), Deborah (1827), Emily and Elizabeth (1831), Elish (1832), Ellen (1833), Elizabeth (1834), Horatio Herbert (1835), Kate (1837), Alfred Clark (1839), and Frank (1840). At the time of the 1841 census Maria (21) was living at Ingleton in Great Chart, Kent with her parents and ten of her siblings, three female servants, and two young agricultural labourers.

In 1851 Maria (31) and her sisters Sarah (29) and Ellen (17) were running a berlin wool shop at 30 Week Street, Maidstone, Kent with the help of a 15-year-old servant girl. Their mother died on 14 November 1859.

In 1861 Maria (42) was a housekeeper to a widower of 46 and his children in Ramsgate.

In the second quarter of 1870 in the West Ashford district, John Chillingworth junior married Maria Hills. She was aged 50 at the time of their marriage, and there were no children.

At the time of the 1871 census, John and his wife Maria, both aged 51, were living at Mill Lane, Marston, near the Victoria Arms, which identifies where in Marston their farm was. John was now farming 154 acres, with three men, two women, and two boys. Two farm workers were also living in the house (a cowman and shepherd), and they had a servant girl of 18.

In 1872 John Chillingworth junior, still described as a farmer, took out the first lease on 4 Bradmore Road.

In 1877 he gave a building to Marston village called the Workmen's Hall (later used as the British Legion Hall). 

At the time of the 1881 census, John Chillingworth junior (61), described as a retired farmer, was living at 103 Iffley Road, Oxford (then numbered 43) with his wife Maria (62) and one servant.

In April 1887 he was summonsed for not clearing snow outside his Iffley Road home and was fined 1s., with 6s. costs,

By the time of the 1891 census John (71), described as a retired farmer and lunatic, was a patient in the Warneford Asylum in Headington, while his wife Maria (72) was living at 12 Warnborough Road in north Oxford with a companion and a servant.

John Chillingworth junior died at the Warneford Asylum in 1896 and was buried in his mother's grave:

† John Chillingworth junior, described as being of 12 Warnborough Road, died at the Warneford Asylum on 8 September 1896 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 11 September (burial recorded in the register of St Paul’s Church)

The parish register states that the officiating minister at his funeral was a Baptist, J. Dunn.

His effects came to £3,951 14s. 2d., and probate was granted to his his widow, the farmer Frank Hills, and his nephew Benjamin Chillingworth Blackwell, now a saddler like his father.

John Chillingworth junior's wife Maria remained at Warnborough Road. She died there in 1900, and was buried with her husband:

† Mrs Maria Chillingworth née Hills died at 12 Warnborough Road at the age of 80 on 23 January 1900 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 26 January (burial recorded in the register of St Paul’s Church).

Her effects came to £179 18s. 7d., and the outfitter Frank Simmonds was her executor.

---

Chillingworth family records available in the Oxfordshire History Centre:

• Typed notes on the Chillingworth & Blackwell family history, compiled by David Chillingworth in 1993 (F118/G/1)
• Material donated by David Chillingworth including the family bible, probate records, letters, registration papers, obituaries, and genealogical notes (F118/PR/1)