jane wrote:

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I wonder if this is a photograph of the band started by Job/Joseph Oliver? That photo (copyright of the Finstock Local History Society) was taken in Finstock but according to an article from the Oxford Times from 2008, the band is the Stonesfield Brass Band.

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Hi Jane,

I had seen that picture before on the Finstock History website but I don't think it mentions that it's the Stonesfield band so I never made the connection, so excellent that you found the Oxford Times article to provide that extra details, thank you!. It's tantalizing isn't it that Job and maybe other Olivers are in there, to date I've not seen a picture of Job to help spot him and I don't immediately recognize anyone else through all of their big bushy moustaches!

Thanks
Shane

Hi Everyone:

I've just got back to Canada from a visit to Stonesfield.  When I was there I was sorry to hear that Sandra Bright (don't know her married name!) had passed away.  I think she was a long-time member of Stonesfield Band.  Her mum was Doris Oliver and her dad (Geoffrey Bright) was killed right at the end of WWII.  I think a photo of him has been posted on the website.

Barb

Hello Jane

Good to hear from you again.  I know as soon as I see your name on the messageboard  that your 'post' will contain another interesting story.  Shane has already mentioned Rachel and I suspect that over the years there have been a few Oliver musicians in the Stonesfield Band and maybe we will hear from some of them now this topic has been started.  

Bye for now - Linda

Hi Jane!

Really great to read your post, thank you for taking the time to do that

The Mr. J. Oliver in the article is a man with many connections to the stories and people we have discussed on the messageboard and at the Oliver Family History days, we've learned so much that so much seems to be connected these days!

So, Mr. J. Oliver is Joseph 'Job' Oliver and indeed was a military man, just like his father, Waterloo Joseph. His sister was Sophia Oliver who you might recall from your Crime and Punishment talk in 2011 i.e. the smashing of police station windows!, his son was John Joseph Oliver who we have a story on the website about regarding his Cricket successes, his Grandaughter Ruth won a number of awards at Henry Box Grammar School, his Great-Grandson Bernard Barrett will be known to many as a life long Stonesfield inhabitant and on a really nice musical connection note his Great-Grandaughter Rachel was in the band who played at the last Oliver Family History day! So you see, connections everywhere!

Here's a little tree diagram I found:

I can see from the diagram I wasn't sure when he died, so I'll need to look into that.

Having talked to Bernard at the last Oliver day it seems it was well known just how much of a military man he was with stories of his long spells away from home and apparently the children seeing very little of him when they were growing up.

Job signed as a Private up in 1868 and served more than 12 years in the East Indies between 1869 and 1882, he was promoted to Lance Corporal in January of 1883 and within just 3 months promoted again to Corporal, a role which he continued for another 4 years until retiring on the 29th March 1887 with 18 years 328 days military service to his name.

On the musical note, interestingly his military service records show that he was appointed Bandsman in 10th May 1874, so that give some background and context to him setting up the Stonesfield Brass Band.

Was interesting to read he part about the glee club too; glee clubs what glee's are was previously unknown to me, so was good to take a look into that.

Job married Elizabeth 'Sophia' Collett and it was just the other day actually that I found this website which had some Oliver related content:

http://www.collettfamilyhistory.net/Part-38-The-Oxford-Stonemasons-Line-(Combe)-Rev.12.htm

Elizabeth S Collett was born at Combe in 1860, although no record of her, or her parents, or her older sister Matilda, have been found in the census the following year.  However, by the time of the census in 1871 Elizabeth Collett of Combe was ten and was living with her parents in her mother’s home village of Stonesfield.  On leaving school she entered into the world of domestic service and was a lady’s maid, working with her older sister Matilda (above) at the home of William C Scott in 1881 when she was 20.  The Scott household at Church Road in Chertsey comprised William Scott aged 30 of London, his wife Ursula K Scott 21 of Clapham and their two months old daughter Katherina Alethia Scott born at Brompton.  Today Church Road runs between the M25 and the Brighton Road (A318).

It therefore looks very much like the two sisters were employed either just before or around the time of the birth of the baby.  In addition to all of these, there were a further two people living at the address and they were Emma Hart, the 26 years old cook and 18 years old footman Charles Hunt.  Charles Hunt was previously known to the two Collett sisters.  He was their cousin from Stonesfield, being the nephew of the girl’s mother who, before marrying their father, was Matilda Hunt.
 
It was during the following year that Elizabeth married the much older Job Oliver who was born at Stonesfield near Combe in 1844.  The couple’s first child was born at Aldershot in Hampshire, but thereafter the family returned to Stonesfield where two more children were added to the family, and where they remained living for the rest of their life.  In 1891 the family at Stonesfield comprised Job Oliver from Stonesfield who was 45, Elizabeth S Oliver from Combe who was 30, and their three children.  They were Ernest Oliver who was seven, John J Oliver who was five, and Matilda H Oliver who was not yet one year old.
 
It may have been during the next decade that Job passed away, since he was absent from the Stonesfield census in both 1901 and 1911.  In the former the family was made up of Elizabeth S Oliver, age 39, who was a dressmaker with her own account, Ernest F Oliver from Aldershot who was 17 and a horseman working on a farm, John J Oliver who was 15 and a stonemason’s assistant, and Matilda C H Oliver who was ten.  On that occasion the family was living at the home of Elizabeth’s parents in Woodstock Road in Stonesfield.  Elizabeth’s mother died at Stonesfield during the years following 1901, at which time her widowed father John and her older unmarried sister Matilda moved in with Elizabeth and her family at Hump Wood Farm in Stonesfield.
 
That situation was confirmed by the next census in 1911 when the occupants of the six-roomed dwelling known as Hump Wood Farm were recorded as: S Elizabeth Oliver from Combe who was a farmer and an employer at the age of 50 who had been married for 28 years with three children all of whom had survived and were living there with her; Ernest F Oliver, age 27 a farmer and an employer from Aldershot; John Joseph Oliver a farmer from Stonesfield who was 25; and Matilda M Oliver who was also from Stonesfield, who was 20 with no stated occupation, so presumably was helping her mother keep house.  The other two occupants were John Collett from Combe who was 88 and described as the father of Elizabeth, and Matilda M Collett, age 54 from Combe who was a lady’s maid and named as the sister of Elizabeth Oliver.

Thanks Jane!

Shane