Nos. 17–19: St John’s College:
accommodation and offices
Nos. 17, 18, and 19 (right to left in above photograph) were three separate houses until 1850, then one house, and then divided into two. Both the present houses are Grade II listed (List Entry Nos. 1369454 and 1047137). They date from the late eighteenth century, and lie in St Giles' parish.
Three separate houses to 1851, numbered 17, 18, & 19
No. 17 (right)
The 1772 Survey of Oxford measured the frontage of this house as 4 yards 2 feet and shows it occupied by Mrs Phillips
At the time of the 1841 census Harriet Elizabeth Bobart, an independent lady aged about 50 and the widow of Tilleman Hodgkinson Bobart, lived here with her five children: Harriet (c.15), William (15), who was a bookseller's apprentice, Mary (13), Helen (9), and Gamaliel (7).
A forthcoming auction of this house was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 12 February 1848:
A substantially-built DWELLING HOUSE, No. 19 [appears to be error for 17] , St. Giles'-street, Oxford, in the occupation of Mr. Segrave, at a rent of £24 per annum, pleasantly situate adjoining the Mansion in the occupation of Miss Speakman [No. 16], approached through a small flower garden, inclosed with pallisades, and containing front parlour on the ground floor, drawing room and large bed room on the first floor, and two bed rooms over; a good kitchen, detached wash-house, laundry, and other convenient domestic offices, all in perfect repair.—This property is held by lease under St. John's College, for a term of twenty years, from the 10th of October, 1842, subject to the following out-goings: Corn and Money Rent about 16s.; Land Tax, 6s. 8d.
Five months later on 8 July 1848 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised again a forthcoming auction of this house, this time with the correct number, 17:
A substantial-built DWELLING HOUSE, No. 17 St. Giles's-street, Oxford, in the occupation of Mr. Segrave, at a rental of £24 per annum, held by lease under St. John's College, for a term of twenty years, from the 10th of October 1842, subject to a Corn and Money ~Rent of about 16s; Land Tax, 16s. 8d.
At the time of the 1851 census the music teacher Hannah Willsher (20), the widow of the Magdalen Street grocer Joseph Willsher, lived here with her one-year-old son Joseph and a servant. Miss Mary Bunting (26), a dressmaker, lived in another part of the house with her servant.
No. 18 (middle)
The 1772 Survey of Oxford measured the frontage of this house as 7 yards and shows that it was then occupied by Mrs Gardiner.
At the time of the 1841 census Joseph Johnston, an independent gentleman of 72, lived here with his servant. He died in 1850, and the house was listed as uninhabited in the 1851 census.
No. 19 (left)
The 1772 Survey of Oxford measured the frontage of this house as 6 yards 1 ft 3 in. and shows it as occupied by Mrs Humfrey.
At the time of the 1841 census Charlotte Hewlett, an independent lady aged about 50, lived here with her children Thomas (30), who wasa farmer, Martha (25), and William (20), plus their servant.
The 1851 census shows John Coleman (58), described as the Sheriff of the City of Oxford and a master currier employing two men, living here with his wife Ann and their two servants.
One house from the 1850s to c.1920, numbered 17
In the 1850s it appears that the middle house lost its door, and from then until the 1920s the three houses were treated as one, usually numbered simply 17 (but there is at least one instance of the combined house being described as No. 1).
At the time of the 1861 census, the former trio of houses were occupied by the clergyman’s widow Mrs Mary Harington (44) and her two daughters, plus their lady’s maid, cook, and housemaid.
The 1871 census shows the widow Ann Yarde (64) living at No. 17 (helpfully described as “three Houses in one”) with her daughter and servant.
Walter Parratt had moved to this house by June 1877, and the 1881 census shows him living here, described as an organist, with his wife Emma and their five children, plus a nurse, cook, and housemaid.
The Revd. Robert Ewing, Senior Tutor of St John’s College, lived here in 1884, and he probably remained at this address until he left to take on a college living in June 1889.
Following the deaths of her brothers Major-General Gibbes Rigaud in 1885 and the Revd John Rigaud, (Fellow of Magdalen College) in 1888, Miss Jane Rigaud, the last survivor of the seven children of the Radcliffe Observer Stephen Peter Rigaud, moved from the siblings' home at 18 (& 19) Long Wall Street into this enlarged house. The 1891 census shows Miss Rigaud (73) living here with her niece Miss Mina Rigaud (31) and their cook and housemaid. Jane Rigaud died here at the age of 75 on 25 September 1892.
Directories from 1894 to 1919 list Miss Lightfoot as living here, but only servants were home at the time of the 1901 census. At the time of the 1911 census Miss Lucy Agatha Lightfoot (65) and her sister Miss Septimia Lightfoot were at home with their cook and parlourmaid. Lucy died near the beginning of 1917, and her sister continued to live here.
Two houses from 1921 to 1990, numbered 17 and 19
In c.1921 the single house that had been created by joining Nos. 17, 18 & 19 was divided into two dwellings: numbered 17 on the left and 19 on the right.
No 17 (right)
Miss Septimia Lightfoot, who had been occupying the whole house prior to the division, moved into No. 17 and can be seen listed here in the 1921 census with her cook and parlourmaid. She died at the age of 80 near the end of 1928.
The 1939 Register shows the masseuses Hilda Gamlen and Margery Temple living at No. 17 with their housekeeper.
No. 17 ceased to be a home when in 1970 when Queen Elizabeth House expanded into it, being granted planning permission (70/22642/A_H) for “Change of use from residential to hostel accommodation of 1st and 2nd floors and study and teaching rooms on ground floor”. Then in December 1981 St John's College was granted permission (81/00829/NFH) for “Change of use from ground floor surgery, offices and waiting room with residential on first and second floors, to College Teaching rooms”.
No. 19 (left)
The 1921 census shows the widow Baroness Pauline de Bush (48) living here with her daughter of the same name and their two servants.
Austin Lane Poole, tutor in modern history at St John's College, lived here in 1923.
Godfrey Rolles Driver, Fellow in Classics and Librarian at Magdalen College, lived here in 1927/8.
The 1939 Register shows the medical practitioner Alastair H. T. Robb-Smith living here at No. 19 with his wife Margaret
From 1954 St John's College used No. 19 as a house for its own Fellows, with Brebis Bleaney living there from 1954 to 1958 and Keith Vivian Thomas from 1975 into the 1980s.
Since 1990 the two houses at Nos. 17 and 19 have been part of St John's College.
Occupants of 17, 18, & 19 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories |
|||
| Date | 17 St Giles |
18 St Giles |
19 St Giles |
1841 |
Harriet Bobart |
Joseph Johnson |
Charlotte Hewlett |
1848 |
Mr Segrave |
Thomas Joy |
|
1851 |
Mrs Hannah Willsher |
Uninhabited |
John Coleman |
THREE HOUSES COMBINED AS ONE, NUMBERED 17 (18 & 19 LOST) |
|||
1861 |
Mrs Mary Harington |
||
1866 |
Mrs Sargent | ||
1867–1872 |
Mrs W. G. Yarde |
||
1877–1882 |
Walter Parratt, B.M. |
||
1884 |
Rev. Robert Ewing, M.A. |
||
1890–1892 |
Miss Jane Rigaud |
||
1894–1919 |
Miss Lightfoot (Lucy Agatha and Septimia E. Lightfoot) |
||
NOW SPLIT INTO TWO HOUSES, NUMBERED 17 & 19 (18 LOST) |
|||
17 (right) |
19 (left) |
||
1921 |
Miss Septimia E. Lightfoot (died aged 80 near the end of 1928) |
Baroness Pauline de Bush |
|
1923 |
Austin Lane Poole |
||
1927–1928 |
Godfrey Rolles Driver |
||
1930 |
— |
Christian James
Fordyce |
|
1932 |
Edward Conyers Payne Larabee, MA |
||
1934 |
Mrs R. H. Gretton, B.Litt., J.P. |
||
1935–1936 |
John Henry Constantine Whitehead |
||
1939–1949 |
Miss H. M. Gamlen |
Alastair H. T. Robb-Smith |
|
1952 |
Rev Geoffrey Lampe |
||
1954–1958 |
Brebis Bleaney |
Miss H. M. Gamlen |
|
1960–1962 |
W. G. Moore, M.A. |
||
1964–1969 |
Kenneth V. Parker |
||
1971 |
E. I. Roberts |
||
1972–3 |
Annexe of Queen Elizabeth
House |
||
1975–1980s |
Keith Vivian Thomas |
||
1990–today |
St John’s College accommodation and offices |
||