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Caroline Ann Oakeshott (1824 - 1892)


Residence

1824 Frieston, Lincolnshire
1841 Frieston (Census)
1843 Llandawke, Carmarthenshire
1851 One Barrow Lodge, Whitwick, Leicestershire (census)
1861 Pen-y-Back, Llanstephan (census)
1865 Llanstephan
1871 Chelsea, Middlesex (census)
1875 Hastings?
1881 76 Trafalgar Road, Camberwell (census)
1891 58 Greenwich Road, Greenwich (census)
1892 Greenwich, Kent

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Biographical notes

There is much confusion over Mrs Oakeshott's specimens, which usually appear in herbaria associated with her husband's initials (Benjamin Morris). Although marrying relatively late in life, it appears that some of her earlier specimens may have been re-labeled to bear her married name. She appears twice in Kent and Allen, under her maiden name as a result of her medal-winning entry to the British Botanical Competition, and under her married name because of the number of specimens (largely 1875 to 1880) that appear in several national herbaria. She is credited as a contributor to F. H. Arnold's Flora of Sussex.

Timeline

1824: Birth Caroline Ann Shield was baptised at Caythorpe church, Lincolnshire in 22 January. She was the second youngest daughter of William Metheringham Shield of Frieston Hall, Lincolnshire. Her father was a prosperous yeoman farmer with strong Lincolnshire connections.
1843 March:
Death of father		 Caroline's father, William Metheringham Shield, was buried at Llandawke, Carmarthenshire on 23 March.
1864:
 British Botanical Competition		 During this year Caroline collected a set of plants from the county of Carmarthenshire for the Royal Horticultural Society's botanical competition. She was awarded a silver medal. [Middleton, R. 2014. The Royal Horticultural Society's 1864 botanical competition. Archives of natural history. 41.1 25-11.]
1866 June 18:
Death of mother		 ¹Stamford Mercury: 1866 June 29
 DIED. At Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire, on the 18th inst., Mary relict of W. M. Sheild, Esq., of Freiston, in this county.
1870: Marriage The marriage of Caroline to Benjamin Morris Oakeshott, a London ironmonger and widower, was recorded in Carmarthen in the second quarter of 1870.
1875: Exchanges Hardwicke's science gossip 11 240.
  FOR exchange, Nos, 131, 179, 284c, 318, 338, 405, 576, 637, 668, 704, 873b, 984. - C. A. Oakeshott, 19, Eardley-crescent, South Kensington.
1884: Sale of specimens. Hardwicke's Scientific Gossip 20 264.
 OFFERED, 150, 940, 1142, 1212, and many others, for 830 (if Irish), 1042, 1347. Lists exchanged : note change of address. - C.A. Oakeshott, Marlborough Avenue, Torquay.
  THREE hundred dried plants, including many rare species, all British, for shells - C. A. Oakeshott, Marlborough Avenue, Torquay.
1886: Publication? List of plants observed at Worthing, Shoreham &c. during several years. untraced but mentioned by F. H. Arnold.
1892: Death The death of Caroline Ann Oakeshott was recorded at Greenwich in the third quarter of 1892.

1 Transcription reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive

Managed by Richard Middleton: last updated 2023 March 29