No. 36: Former shop
No. 36 Broad Street was second from the right of the row of thirteen houses dating from the first half of the seventeenth century that were demolished in 1937 to make way for the New Bodleian Library (now the Weston Library). It was in St Mary Magdalen parish.
The photograph below (Historic England CC50/00378) shows this house next to the pub on the corrner in 1907:
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. No. 36 was then in the occupation of a Mr Curtis, and its frontage measured 4 yards 2 feet 1 inch.
George Rowell, a watch and clock maker, was listed under Broad Street in Pigot’s 1823 and 1830 directories. He died at the age of 67 on 15 February 1834, and his widow Mary announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 1 March 1834 that she would be carrying on the old-established firm at the old establishment in Broad Street under the firm of Mary Rowell and Son. The son was Richard Rouse Rowell, who was admitted to the freedom of the City of Oxford in June 1834.
The 1841 census shows Mary Rowell, a jeweller, living here in 1841 with her children Richard, Sarah, and Elizabeth Rowell, plus two young people likely to be servants. Mary Rowell died on 25 April 1846 and in Hunt's Directory for 1846 Richard [Rouse] Rowell, watch & clock maker, is duly listed as the proprietor. His wife Emma died in 1848, and the 1851 census shows him as a widower of 42 described as the employer of two men living over the premises (wrongly numbered 37 rather than 36) with his two-year-old son Richard Sydenham Rowell, plus a housekeeper, and a general servant. He married his second wife Elizabeth in 1855 and on 4 October 1856 Richard Rouse Rowell announced that he was moving from 36 Broad Street to 20 High Street.
At the time of the 1861 census the shop was occupied by Benjamin Wells, a cabinet maker, who lived here with his wife Harriett, his sons Benjamin Thomas Wells (17). who was also a cabinet maker and James Philip Wells (15), plus their servant. Harriett hanged herself at this house on 8 June 1870 and the 1871 census shows Benjamin Wells here as a widower of 50, described as a cabinet maker employing two man and three apprentices, and his son Benjamin Thomas Wells (27) was still working as a cabinet maker with him. They had a 16-year-old general servant girl.
By the time of the 1881 census the cabinet-making business had been taken over by Benjamin Well's elder son Benjamin Thomas Wells (37), who was living her with his wife Mary Jane (29). The 1891 census shows him still here with his wife and two sons, plus a boarder and a servant. He died at the age of 54 near the end of 1897, and his wife Mary Jane took over the business. The 1901 census shows her living here at the age of 49, described as a house furnisher, with her son Benjamin Thomas Wells (17), who was a telephone fitter, and her daughter Mabel Harriet Wells (14), who was a pupil teacher.
By the time of the 1911 census No. 35 was the bookshop of Frederick Jones, and he can be seen living in six rooms here with his wife Alice and his five daughters, plus a 14-year-old servant girl
From 1912 this was Chaundy’s bookshop, mentioned in these lines of John Betjeman’s verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells:
One lucky afternoon in Chaundy’s shop
I bought a book with tipped-in colour plates –
“City of Dreaming Spires” or some such name –
Soft late-Victorian water-colours framed
Against brown paper pages….
At the time of the 1921 census the out-of-work lecturer in history Evelyn Joyce Bailey (26) was here on her own
Chaundy's bookshop remained here at No. 36 until it was demolished in 1937.
|
Occupants of 36 Broad Street listed in directories |
|
1839–1852 |
Richard R. Rowell,
Watch & clock maker |
1861–1904 |
Wells family, Cabinet makers 1861–1876: Benjamin Wells, Cabinet maker & Upholsterer and Appraiser |
1905–1910 |
James Beveridge, Antique & fine art dealer |
1911–1912 |
Frederick L. Jones, Bookseller |
1912–1936 |
Chaundy family, Booksellers 1912–1916: Frederick William Chaundy, Bookseller |
Demolished with twelve neighbouring
houses in 1937 |
|
See the bound typescript in the Bodleian Library entitled “The
Demolished Houses
of Broad Street and the Freeborn Family”
(1943), attributed to Emily Sarah Freeborn,
and the webpage by Alan Simpson which reproduces some of the material in it.