Cox family history

We know that Violet Cox was born in 1902 and married Harry Hallworth in September 1929, when she was 26 and he was 29. We also know that her parents were Ellen & Richard Cox, who had 3 children - May, Violet & Jack.
May is remembered as dying at a young age. Jack married to Gertrude & lived in the Northampton/Oxfordshire area.


Violet's marriage certificate to Harry Hallworth gives her father's name as Richard COX, a shepherd. She married at the church of St. Peter & St. Paul in King's Sutton, (a small town near Banbury, on the border of Oxfordshire).

I have made up a Google Map featuring the places named in this section - you might find it useful to keep it open and find out where the different places are in relation to each other? A page on Wikipedia and on the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica about Brackley may help you learn more about the town. Note that here we are pretty close to Ampthill where the Hallworth family originated - it's just the other side of Milton Keynes.

So I first of all looked for Census returns from the year 1901, hoping to find Richard & Ellen as a young married couple with little May. Next I searched for BMD data on the names given, and then I travelled back a little in time to earlier Census returns.



National Census Returns - 1901
The 1901 Census Return for King's Sutton, near Brackley, Northampton shows us Richard Cox (28; a farm worker; born King's Sutton) & Ellen Cox (25; born Brackley).
with 2 yr old May E. Cox,
and a young Blacksmith who was a boarder.

BMD details
There is a record of Richard Cox's marriage to Ellen in the Brackley area of Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire (borders), in 1898. Ellen's maiden name could be either Blaby, or Garrett.

Searched the registry of births in the area:
A couple of choices for May, nothing very clear; best bet is this one in Brackley: 1899 - May Ellen Cox.
There is a birth record for a Violet Annie Cox in last quarter of 1902 (vol 3b, page 5), in the Brackley area.
There is a birth record for Jack Cox in 1912, Brackley area. That record helpfully confirms for us that his mother's maiden name was Garrett.

A record can be seen for their eldest child, May E. Cox who died at the age of 19, in the year 1918, in the Banbury district.

National Census Returns - 1891
Back 10 years to 1891, and we find 19-yr-old Richard with his parents in Astrop Road, King's Sutton:

His father was Richard Cox, a Farm labourer, 51. Mother was Elizabeth, 50. Also a brother Ernest (6). All were born in King's Sutton.

We also find Ellen Garrett (15; born Brackley) as a servant to a Farming family in Banbury.
Her family are not yet found in the 1891 census. I shall list more about Ellen's family below, but first let's focus on the Cox family.



National Census Returns - 1881
In 1881, young Richard Cox (10) is described as a patient in Warneford Hospital, Leamington Priors, Warwickshire. A link here is possibly relevant, and Warneford Hospital gets a mention in the 1871 Directory entry about about Leamington Priors here. It is the former name of Leamington Spa, a town famed for many years as a health resort (see link here). Whatever ailed him then, clearly he had recovered his health by 1891!
His parents are found in King's Sutton, with children Josephina (3) and 5 month old Alfred. Richard Senior is described as a Shepherd.

In 1871 - the Brackley census shows Richard Cox (shepherd) & wife Elizabeth with their 3 daughters; Mary A., Susan, and Catherine. They are living at Cockbills Yard.
{I searched for a record of their marriage & found none with the right names in that area, but there is a marriage in the Southam district {North of Banbury}, in 1867, between Richard COX & perhaps Elizabeth FENNELL. Further to that, we can see that a baby Elizabeth Fennell was born in 1842 in Southam, and perhaps her father is George Fennell who married in Banbury district in late 1839 to? and died in Southam in 1896, aged 80 - more work needed to check the Census for further clues.}

In 1861 - a Richard Cox (19, Ag Lab; born in King's Sutton) is lodging at a house in Faringdon, Berkshire (that's much further South - between Swindon & Oxford).
A further step back to the census of 1851 shows us young Richard Cox in the house of his parents, in Whittle St, Brackley: His parents are John (52, Ag Lab, born in Adderbury, Oxon) & Catherine Cox (50, born in Tadmarten, Oxon). Both are small towns to the South/West of Banbury.
Their children are William (20; Ag Lab), John (14), Our Richard, (11); and Catherine (7). As the children were all born in the King's Sutton area, we can assume we'll find them there again in 1841 - but no joy yet.
There is a reference to the birth of Richard Cox in the Registers for the 2nd quarter of 1839, in the Brackley district. No references, however, to an obvious marriage record for his parents - perhaps they married before records began in 1837?



The Garretts
Remember we saw our Ellen Garrett in service in Banbury on the night of the 1891 census, before she married Richard Cox in 1898. In 1891 her widowed mother Harriet Garrett (38, Charwoman) was living on Church Lane, Brackley with her other 3 children (Annie {14, Domestic servant}, Lizzie & William). (Father John had died in 1886, perhaps?)
In 1881 Ellen is aged 5, living in Hatwell Yard, Brackley St. Peter with her parents John (30; Labourer, born Brackley) and Harriett (29, born at Preston Bissett in Bucks)
Also the sisters Emily (6), Ellen (5), Annie (4) and Harriett (1) - all born in Brackley.
In 1871, John Henry Garrett is living with his parents in Church Road, Brackley: John (53, Labourer, born in Brackley or Astwick {not clear which}) & Ann Garrett (53, of Marston St. Lawrence, Northamptonshire). The children are John H. (20, Labourer), and Ellen (10; Lacemaker). Also in the household is the widowed father John Garrett (77, Labourer, born in Brackley). So John Henry's parents were born around 1818.
In 1861, John Garrett (born 1818, Brackley) is living next door to his widowed father John Garrett, again in Church Rd., Brackley. His wife is Ann (born in Marston). Their children are Eliz. (14, Lacemaker), Hannah (11), John Henry (9), Mary Jane (4) and baby Ellen.
The family are still found at that address in 1851, but now John Garrett (Senior) is the Head of Household, with his son John and his wife Ann and their 2 daughters. The nextdoor house is conveniently uninhabited - we know that John Senior had moved in by 1861.
FreeBMD helpfully told me that John Garrett married in 1841 in the Banbury district. If his bride was named Ann, then she must have been Ann GAYTON.

BIRTH CERTIFICATES
The useful site FreeBMD lists the following Garretts born in the Brackley district (not a complete list):
Samuel Garrett, 1839; William Garrett, 1841; Mary Ann Garrett, 1841
Henry Garrett, 1843; Lucy Garrett, 1845; Thomas Garrett, 1845
Elizabeth 1848; Hannah 1850; John Henry 1851; Mary Jane (only suitable record is in June 1856 - name given only as Female Garrett); Helen 1861.
Emily (Mar 1874), Ellen (Sep 1875), Annie (Mar 1877) and Harriet Elizabeth (Dec 1879 - or possibly Harriot born in Dec 1880).

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES
The useful site FreeBMD lists the following Garretts married in the Brackley district (not a complete list):
Samuell Garrett, 1838.
John Garrett to Ann Gayton, 1841, Banbury district,
Elizabeth to Alfred Butler, 1866 (she was aged 18);
John Henry Garrett to Harriet Cadd, 1872;
Mary Jane to (Albert Knibbs or John Chatwell), 1875;
Harriet Garrett to (William Jordan or Thomas Merivale), 1898.
Ellen Garrett to Richard Cox, 1898.
Ada Garrett, 1898.

DEATH CERTIFICATES
The useful site FreeBMD lists the following Garretts whose death was registered in the Brackley district (not a complete list):
John Garrett died in 1873 at the age of 79.
John Garrett died in 1880 at the age of 60.
Ann Garrett died in 1890 at the age of 73.
John Henry Garrett died in 1886 at the age of 34 (could well be Ellen's father).


Harriett Garrett:
As to John Garrett's wife (Ellen Cox, nee Garrett's mother - remember her?!) - we may have found a record of their marriage in the Brackley district, in 1872. John Henry Garrett marries Harriet Cadd.
Then when we search for the Cadd family, we find them in Preston Bissett in the 1861 census. Frances Cadd (no trade listed, born Preston Bissett ~1821) with wife Harriett (born Preston Bissett ~1822), and 6 children including Harriett Junior.
In the 1871 census, we can see that Frances (Harriett's father) has died and his widow Harriett remains in Preston Bissett with 5 of the children. Next to her 20-yr-old daughter Mary's name there is the note Lunatic (which could mean all sorts of things).

I found a reference to the death of a Francis Cadd in Summer 1861 in the Buckingham district.

I was unsuccessful when I searched FreeBMD for dates of death for Harriett Cadd Senior, or for Harriett (Cadd) Garrett. I did, though, get results when I looked for a marriage between Frances Cadd & a Harriet. In 1845 in the Buckingham district, the marriages of 2 Cadd lads are recorded. James & Frances Cadd were the grooms, while the brides were Maria Tugwood & Harriett Cox. Presumably the grooms were brothers/cousins. Interesting to see the name Cox reappearing! It would be interesting to find out more about this group.
A Harriet Cadd died in the Bucks district in 1903 (aged 83).
A Harriet Garrett died in the Brackley district in 1927 (aged 76).



It will be easier to understand when I've put some extra details onto the COX family tree - image at the base of the page.


***Latest News***

The latest available Census, 1911
In the Brackley Census for the year 1911, there are a large number of Coxes. We see 3 men named Richard Cox:

• Richard Cox - aged 72 (born 1839) - (Richard's father, with his wife Elizabeth - 1841)

• Richard Cox - aged 39 (born 1872) - with his wife Ellen (1876), children May Ellen (1899) & Violet Annie Cox (1903).
  

• Richard Cox - aged 24 (born 1887) - a cousin?

There is also a group of Coxes in the Workhouse in Brackley: Sarah Cox (aged 77, born King's Sutton) with Elizabeth Annie Cox (19) and William Cox (7).

As for Ellen's parents in 1911 - John & Harriet Garrett in Brackley - we see that John has died and Harriet was a 59-year-old widow, living alone in a 4-roomed house on Church Lane in Brackley.  She tells us on her form that she had 7 children, and that 2 of these children had died by 1911.