22: Oxford Chariot
The group of five shops numbered 19–23 High Street dates from the late eighteenth century, and the upstairs rooms were converted to Brasenose College accommodation around 1930. They were in the parish of All Saints until that church closed in 1971. They are now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.
No. 22, the shorter building with a dormer window shown above, towards the right of the group, is a Grade II listed building (List Entry No. 1369359).
At the time of the 1841 census the hatter Thomas Randall was living here over his shop with his wife Elizabeth and their four-year-old daughter Eliza and ten-month old son Thomas junior, plus four servants and two lodgers. Thomas Randall may have been Charles Dodgson's inspiration for the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland: see Mark Davies, “The real Mad Hatter”, Times Literary Supplement, 15 May 2013.
The 1851 census shows the Randall family still living over the shop here. By the time of the 1861 census they had moved to Grandpont House on Folly Bridge, but Randall initially held on to this shop, and his assistant John Molyneux was living upstairs with his wife Maria and their servant, plus an undergraduate lodger .
On 22 October 1864 Thomas Randall announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that he was retiring from business after nearly forty years and introduced his customers to his successor, Mr Prior. The 1871 census duly shows the hosier, hatter, and shirt-maker Thomas Mallam Prior (30) living upstairs with his wife Emily and their two children, plus three servants. On 20 February 1875 Prior & Co disposed of their business to Molyneux & Allnutt (with Mr Molyneux announcing in Jackson's Oxford Journal that he had been employed by Thomas Randall for eighteen years in this shop).
At the time of the 1881 census the Swedish tailor Isaac Olaf Winstedt was living over the shop with his wife, his two sons, and his father-in-law Richard Castell, plus a servant.
From 1888 to 1907 the hairdresser Edward Bassett and his wife the stationer & perfumer Jane Christiana Bassett had this shop. The 1891 census shows Edward Bassett ( (67) and Jane (69) living over the shop with their two daughters Mary (31) and Amelia (29) and their son Hubert (23), who was an undergraduate, plus their servant. Jane died in 1894 and Edward in 1896, and the 1901 census shows their daughter Miss Madeline Bassett (46), described as a hairdresser & stationer, living over the shop with her unmarried sister Mary and their servant. From 1905 to 1908 Miss Bassett also ran a university lodging house here.
In 1908 the cigar merchant Colin Lunn moved here from No. 23 next door , while the rooms upstairs were a lodging house. At the time of the 1911 census the widowed lodging-house keeper Florence Hill (55) lived in the seven rooms above this shop with her daughter.
The Leicester Permanent Building Society was here from 1962 to 1965: see painting of it in 1960.
Occupiers of 22 High Street | |
1839–1864 |
Thomas Randall, Hatter & hosier |
1864–1875 |
Prior & Co., Hatters & tailors |
1875–1878 |
Molyneux & Allnutt, Hosiers & shirt makers |
1880–1887 |
J. Winstedt, Tailor, robe maker, hatter, hosier, & men’s mercer |
1888–1908 |
Edward Bassett, Hairdresser & stationer (listed, probably wrongly, as J. Bassett in 1888) H. F. William Germer, Hairdresser (1908 only) (also from 1905) Miss Bassett, University lodging house (1905–1908) |
1909–1915 |
Colin Lunn, Cigar merchant |
1921–1925 |
Rudkin & Wicks, Hairdressers |
1926 |
The Dark Blue Toilet Saloon, Ladies’ & gentlemen’s hairdressers & chiropodists |
1928–1929 |
Mrs Katherine A. Higgs, Hairdresser |
1930–1952 |
Angelo D. Del Nevo, Ladies’ hairdresser |
1954–1956 |
Oxford Stationery Co. Ltd. |
1958–1960 |
R. C. Phillips, Stationer |
1962–1995 |
Leicester Permanent Building Society (Leicester Building Society from 1984) |
1998 |
Vacant |
1999–2003 |
Melson Wingate, Optician |
2003–2015 |
Scrivens Opticians (incorporating Melson Wingate) |
2016–2023 |
Shoe Embassy |
2023– |
Oxford Chariot |
