Oxford History: The High

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The present Nos 55 and 56 High Street (above) were built by New College in c.1933 to replace old shops that it had bought in c. 1862, but now belong to St Edmund Hall and together with the long, mock-Tudor range at 49, 50, 51, & 52 High Street nextdoor to the west they form the latter college's Besse Building. These shops were in St Peter-in-the East parish until that parish was united with St Cross parish in 1957.

St Edmund Hall has converted No. 55 on the left (together with the shop next door at No. 52) into offices: 22/01312/LBC.

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Former No. 55 (left)

The chemist Richard Tunnard Jones moved into this shop in 1813/14. At the time of the 1841 census Jones lived here over his shop with his younger wife Mary and their five children, plus two chemist's apprentices and a servant girl. He inserted this plea in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 4 September 1841:

MR. JONES, Chemist and Druggist, of the High-street, Oxford, after struggling with most painful difficulties for many years, is now a bankrupt, and reduced to the greatest possible distress; and this appeal is made to all his neighbours in earnest hope that they may be disposed to assist a tradesman aged 51 years, who has devoted his whole time and care to his business for twenty-seven years in the same house, and who is now the father of five very young children, to regain the means of supporting his family. For this purpose the sum of about TWO HUNDRED POUNDS is required.

A fiat in bankruptcy was issued against him in August, but he was still listed at the shop in 1846.

The 1851 census shows Charles Laker, a widowed grocer of 29, lived over the shop at No. 55 with his one-year-old daughter, plus a grocer’s assistant, a housekeeper, and a servant. A second family headed by the college servant Daniel White also lived there. By the following year Laker had moved to No. 69 on the other side of the road.

At the time of the 1861 census the greengrocer Frederick Timms lived over the premises with his family. and a journeyman sawyer Charles Franklin (29) lived in the other part with his wife Lucy and their two children, plus two lodgers, and the watchmaker Henry Pearson (25) lived at No. 55½ with his wife. Timms had his shop here at the time of the 1871 census and he and his wife now had four children and two lodgers. By the time of the 1881 census Timms (52) was retired and lived in part of the premises with his wife Emma and two of his children, while the general shopkeeper here was now James Corbett (25), who lived separately on the premises with a lodger.

The 1891 census shows the lodging-house keeper Charles Fitzpatrick (32) living over both No. 55 and No. 54 next door with his wife Mary and their servant. He was still keeping a lodging house here at the time of the 1901 census, when his sister Eleanor Shillingford and his son Henry Fitzpatrick 26), a draper's assistant, were living with him.

On 19 October 1910 the Oxford Journal Illustrated reported that George Gardiner, the architect then based at No. 55, had applied for a licence for a cinematograph theatre for 400 people on this site and had submitted plans for the necessary alterations. Nothing, however, appears to have come of this.

No occupants are listed at this building in the 1911 census, when George Gardiner and his wife Patty were paying a visit to his wife's sister in Battersea.

The 1921 census shows two separate households living here:

• The motor engineer Francis Ellis Wootten (29) with his wife Dorothy and their son, plus their servant.
• The ship's purser Edward P. Moore (35) with his wife Octavia and their son, plus their servant.

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Former No. 56 (right): London House

For details of the leaseholders of the earlier property here from 1611 to 1772, see H. E. Salter, Oxford City Properties (Oxford Historical Society, 1926), pp. 309–10.

Barrell & Griffin announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 7 April 1827 that they would be opening here in a week's time and that they wanted to employ “six respectable active and steady young men” who understood the business.

George & John Sergeant announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 26 September 1835 that they had opened here with “a new, extensive, well-assorted and cheap stock of linen and woollen drapery, silk mercery, hosiery, and haberdashery, and gave the name of the premises as London House

At the time of the 1841 census the linen draper George Sergeant lived here over his shop with his wife Emma and their two small children, plus three young shop assistants, an apprentice, a lodger, and two female servants.

The 1851 census shows the draper Ebenezer Tarry (50) living above his shop here with his wife Isabella, plus two of his four draper’s assistants and a house servant.

The premises were unoccupied at the time of the 1861 census and were probably being rebuilt. On 10 June 1863 New College granted the Hungarian photographer Jules Nicholas Guggenheim a 99-year lease for 56 High Street at a rent of £6 a year. . On 17 October 1863 Jackson's Oxford Journal referred to “the two handsome houses and shops erected in the High-street, on the spot formerly occupied by Mr. Tarry, draper. Guggenheim announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 24 October 1863 that he had moved from the Cowley Road to more commodious premises at 56 High Street:

At the time of the 1871 census Guggenheim was living here over his studio with his wife and seven children, plus three servants and an undergraduate lodger. They were still here in 1881, with a total of eight children. A Deed of Covenant dated 1882 between Jules Nicholas Guggenheim of 56 High Street, Oxford, photographic artist and the Warden and Scholars of New College is held in New College Oxford (NCA 2892).

On 21 April 1883 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised a forthcoming auction of No. 56. Included with the business premises and dwelling house was the four-storey cottage, photographic gallery, and workshops at the rear (still occupied by Jules Guggenheim).

Frederick Flight, the confectioner at 1 High Street, opened a second branch here, but then went bankrupt with £900 in debts on 23 June 1887.

The 1891 census shows the college porter John Wheeler living here with his wife Maud and their five children, plus two servants.

On 13 February 1892 the following auction notice appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:

All those substantially-built Brick and Slated BUSINESS PREMISES, known as 56, High-street, Oxford, comprising large front Shop and sitting room on the ground floor; drawing room and two bed rooms on the first floor; sitting room and two bed rooms on the second floor; and three bed rooms on the third floor; kitchen, &c., in the basement; as now in the occupation of Mr. J. Wheeler, at an annual rent of £75. The large Four-storey COTTAGE in the rear, with small enclosed Yard, containing six rooms on the ground, first, and second floors, and on the third floor a large room now used as a Billiard Room, let to Mr. Bacon at a rental of 425 per annum.

The Property is held by lease under New College, Oxford, for 99 years from the 29th September, 1862, at an apportioned ground rent of £6 per annum, subject also to a quit rent of £2 16s. 8d. to the City of Oxford.

On 12 October 1895 No. 56 High Street was advertised as Wheeler's Eastgate Coal Exchange.

At the time of the 1901 census the tobacconist Henry Bacon (53) lived over No. 56 with his servant, while Jonathan Hine (60), an assistant at the Ashmolean Museum, lived at No. 56A with his wife Louisa and their son Percival. The 1911 census shows Henry Bacon still living over this shop, now with two servants.

The 1921 census shows two separate housholds living over No. 56:

• The Webber's drapery manager Ernest Elliott (40) with his wife Georgina
• The sub-section director and technical adviser to the Ministry of Health Captain William Thomas Gray (43) and his wife Charlotte

In the twentieth century the shop became a photographers’ shop again, occupied by Gillman & Soame, a business that still survives.