18 Holywell Street has a nineteenth-century front. It is owned by Merton College.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1047269), with the following description:
No 18 SP 5106 NE 6/210 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House with a C19 front of three-storeyed stuccoed (?brick) with cellars and attic dormers behind a parapet. The back and East top gable is in modern red brick. There are rusticated quoins and a moulded eaves cornice. The ground floor has stepped keystones to two sash windows and those in the upper floors have plain reveals and stone cills. The front doorway on the East end of the South front has a pedimented stone hood on scroll brackets.
The Lockey family lived here from 1841 to 1861. Angel Lockey died in 1849, and his widow Ann remained here with her three adult children.
John Holliday, the butler of Corpus Christi College, lived here from c.1865 until his death at the beginning of 1875. The forthcoming auction of this house was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 3 June 1876:
18 HOLYWELL STREET, OPPOSITE NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD.
This desirable Residence for a Family, or for letting three sets of Lodgings, with large Garden and Greenhouse, all in good repair....
The House contains 3 sitting rooms, 7 bed rooms, bath room, kitchen, back kitchen, scullery, coal-house, & cellar....
Held under Merton College for a term, of which 23 years are unexpired, from April 5, 1876, at a Reserved Rent of £1 12s., and a Land Tax of £1 14s.
The following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 26 August 1882:
TO LET, with possession at Michaelmas. — No. 18, Holywell Street, Oxford, suitable for a Private Residence or University Lodgings: eleven rooms, kitchens, and usual offices; also large and productive Garden. — Apply No. 17, St. John-street.
18 Holywell Street in the censuses
1841
The 1841 census for Holywell does not give house numbers, but it is possible to deduce where people listed that year lived by examining directory entries between 1839 and 1842 and later censuses
Angel Lockey (65), described as independent, lived here with Ann (50) and Ann (30); Angel junior (30); Richard (30), who was an annuitant; Oliver (25), who was an engineer; John (25), who was a cook; and Elizabeth (25). They had one female servant.
1851
Ann[e] Lockey (60), now a widow, lived here with her children Ann (39), Angel (37), and John (36). John was now described as the College Cook and Manciple at The Queen's College, and the family had their house servant and an errand boy of 14 living with them.
1861
Anne Lockey (69) still lived here with her unmarried children Angel (48), Ann (4), John (44), described as a manciple, and Frederick (28). They had one servant girl.
1871
John Holliday (37), described as “Butler of Corpus Church College”, lived here with his wife Sarah (37) and their children Martha (9), John (8), Sarah (4), Mary (3) and his widowed mother Elizabeth Holliday (69) and widowed aunt Sarah Pratt (67). They had two general servants, and John's brother William Holliday (36), who was a banker's clerk, lodged with them. (John Holliday died here at the age of 41 on 1 January 1875.
1881
Mary Looker (38), a lodging-house keeper, lived here alone.
1891
The occupants (probably the Roberts family) are recorded as being absent on census night.
1901
John Varley Roberts (59), a college organist, lived here with his wife Elizabeth (58) and his daughter Gertrude (33). They had two servants (a cook and a housemaid).
1911
Not listed.
1921
The journalist Harold Wynn Cuthbert (34) lived here with his wife Gertrude (54) plus their boarder and servant.
1939 Register
The journalist and tutor Bertram Higgins was listed here with his wife Armagh and a child, plus a woman who undertook unpaid domestic duties.
Occupants of 18 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1758 |
Mr Stevens |
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1772 |
Mr Oliver |
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1841–1861 |
John Lockey (1841, 1846) |
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1866–1875 |
John Holliday or Holiday, cook |
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1881 |
Mary Looker |
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1884–1921 |
John Varley Roberts, Mus.Doc. Miss Varley Roberts in 1921 |
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1921–1933 |
Harold Wynn-Cuthbert |
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1935 |
No listing |
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1936–1947 |
Mrs R. G. Wright |
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1949 |
No listing |
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1952–1960 |
John H. Leadlay, M.A. |
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1962–1964 |
Mrs P. M. Carter |
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1966–1967 |
No listing |
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1970 |
Henry Roberts |
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1972 |
No listing |
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1973 |
Henry Roberts |
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1976 |
Timothy P. Foley |
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Today |
Merton College annexe |
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