No. 39: Former house/surgery
No. 39 Broad Street was the fifth houses from the right of the 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). There was a cluster of doctors’ surgeries in this area from the nineteenth century.
All the houses on the north side of Broad Street were in St Mary Magdalen parish.
At the time of the 1841 census No. 39 was occupied by an independent lady Susan Sayer (58) with Harriet Sayer, plus a young man called George Elkerton.
On 29 April 1843 Mrs Bailey informed the ladies of Oxford that she had moved from 136 High Street to 39 Broad Street.
By the time of the 1851 census Dr John James Sims Freeborn (58) had moved to No. 39 from No. 38 next door and can be seen here with his wife Charlotte, his grandson Richard, his father-in-law Richard Tredwell, and a house servant and a 12-year-old nursemaid. (The house is wrongly numbered 40 Broad Street in that census.)
The 1861 census shows his son Dr Richard Fernandez Freeborn living at both 38 & 39 Broad Street with his wife Clara and their six children, plus an assistant surgeon and five servants, including an upper and an under nurse and a footman.
By the time of the 1871 census Dr Henry Acland had extended his home at 40 & 41 Broad Street to include this house at No. 39, and Acland is listed in that census as occupying 39, 40, & 41 Broad Street with his wife and six of his children, plus one servant. No. 39 continued to be part of the Acland house next door at 40 & 41 at the time of the 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses.
In 1911 Nos. 39, 40, & 41 Broad Street were taken over by the University and named Acland House. For details, see under Nos. 40 & 41.
The house was demolished in 1937.
Date |
Occupants of 39 Broad Street listed in directories |
1841–1847 |
Edward Townsend |
1852–1861 |
1852: John Williams Sims Freeborn, Surgeon 1861: Dr Richard Fernandez Freeborn, Surgeon (also at No. 38) |
1871–1901 |
Part of Dr Acland's house at Nos. 40 & 41 Broad Street |
1902–1910 |
Part of William Bailie Skene's house at Nos. 40 & 41 Broad Street |
1911–1936 |
Part of a university building (Acland House): see under Nos. 40 & 41 |
This house was 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.