John Hickman (1765–1831)
Mayor of Oxford 1827/8
John Hickman was born in 1765.
On 2 March 1794 at St Peter-in-the-East Church John Hickman married Elizabeth Ann Taylor. On 23 June 1794, shortly after his marriage, he bought his freedom for 20 guineas and the usual fees, and worked as a glazier in Oxford.
John & Elizabeth Hickman had twelve children, but only six survived infancy:
- Elizabeth Hickman (baptised on 26 January 1795 at St Peter-in-the-East Church);
buried there on 16 August 1799 - Mary Hickman I (baptised in February 1796 (wrongly recorded as 30 February) at St Peter-in-the-East Church);
buried there on 25 June 1796 - John Hickman I (baptised on 21 May 1797 at St Peter-in-the-East Church);
buried there on 1 May 1799 - Jane Hickman (baptised on 15 August 1798 at St Peter-in-the-East Church)
- Frances Hickman I (no obvious baptism)';
buried on 18 July 1799 at St Peter-in-the-East Church - Mary Hickman II (baptised on 17 September 1800 at St Peter-in-the-East Church)
- Elizabeth Anne Hickman (baptised on 11 June 1802 at St Peter-in-the-East Church)
- Charles Randall Hickman (baptised on 4 September 1804 at St Peter-in-the-East Church)
- Frances Hickman II (baptised on 13 February 1806 at St Peter-in-the-East Church);
died aged ten months and buried there on 10 April 1807 - Harriet Hickman (baptised on 30 December 1807 at St Peter-in-the-East Church)
- Henry Hickman (baptised on 28 December 1808 at St Peter-in-the-East Church);
buried there on 23 January 1809 - John Hickman II (baptised on 9 July 1810 at St Peter-in-the-East Church).
John Hickman was elected on to to the Common Council on 30 September 1796, and was appointed a Viewer of Nuisances in 1799. In 1800 he was named Mayor’s Chamberlain, and was elected Senior Bailiff for 1804/5. He then continued to serve with the status of a Bailiff until 1827.
John Hickman lived with his wife at the east end of the High Street, probably at No. 85 High Street (right), next door to the Angel Inn, as he was certainly living there at the time of his death.
He was the Governor of Oxford Workhouse in August 1817, but on 15 August 1825 when his eldest surviving son Charles Randall Hickman was admitted free he was described as a plumber.
After thirty years on the Council, on 9 January 1827 John Hickman was elected one of the eight Assistants, and on 17 September 1827 he was elected Mayor of Oxford (for 1827/8). Near the end of his term of office on 7 August 1828 he perambulated the city boundaries. The event was covered briefly in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 9 August:
Thursday last John Hickman, Esq. Mayor, accompanied by several of the Member of the Council Chamber, and attended by a band of music, banners, &c. perambulated the boundaries of the City. The party, which was not so numerous as on former occasions, partook of refreshment at Godstow, and afterwards proceeded on their survey. In the evening between 80 and 90 of the Mayor's friends sat down to a very elegant cold collation, consisting of every delicacy the season afforded, and wines, &c. in the Town Hall, where the song and the glass were briskly circulated until a late hour. The utmost satisfaction was expressed by the company at the profusion of viands provided, and the regularity with which the whole was conducted.
He continued to serve as a Magistrate and one of the eight Assistants after his term of office as Mayor.
† John Hickman died at 85 High Street on 6 July 1831 at the age of 66 and was buried at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 11 July.
He left his plumbing business with all its stock and implements to his eldest surviving son Charles, who carried on the family business, and also received his copyhold estate at Marston John Hickman left everything else to his widow Elizabeth, and after her death (or remarriage) his other children Jane, Elizabeth, Harriet, and John junior were to receive various sums, including £3,000 of stock and his shares in the Oxford Gas Light and Coke Company for Jane.
John's widow Elizabeth Ann Hickman died here three years later on 17 February 1834 at the age of 63 and was buried with her husband on 22 February.
John Hickman’s six children who survived infancy
- Jane Hickman (born 1798) was alive and unmarried in 1831 at the time of her father's will, but is hard to trace after that.
- Mary Hickman (born 1800) is hard to trace, and was probably dead by 1831 as she is not mentioned in her father's will.
- Elizabeth Anne Hickman (born 1802) married the surgeon John Sessions Barrett of Appleton at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 17 June 1824 and they settled in Kingston Bagpuize. She was dead by 1861, and her husband was living in Kingston Bagpuize with their daughter Charlotte (34) and their son Herbert (32), who was also a surgeon, and Herbert's wife Jane and their four children, plus seven servants. He died on 16 June 1874 at the age of 76.
- Charles Randall Hickman (born 1804) announced on 16 July 1831 that he would continue his father's plumbing, glazing and painting business at 85 High Street, and he was living alone at that address at the time of the 1841 census. On 17 October 1842 at St James's Church in Westminster Charles married Lucy Mason of Francis Street, Golden Square, the daughter of Matthew Mason, who was described as a gentleman. Charles was elected Sheriff of Oxford in November 1847. He died after a lingering illness at his High Street home at the age of 45 in 1849 and was buried at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 28 June. His widow Mrs Lucy Hickman took over the business, but announced that she because of her ill health she would decline the business from 8 May 1852 and that John Taylor, who had worked for both her husband and his father John for over twenty years, would continue to attend to the business for a short time.
- Harriet Hickman (born 1807) married Francis Arthur of Birmingham in 1832. At the time of the 1841 census she was living at Bristol Street, Birmingham with her husband, who was a coachmaker, and their children Frances (18), James (16), Henry (7), and Raby (1). By 1861 Francis had retired and they were living at Northfield in Worcestershire with their sons Henry and Raby. Harriet died in Edgbaston at the age of 54 in November 1861.
- John Hickman junior (born 1810) married Sarah Elizabeth Seary at St Mary Magdalen Church in 1830 and was admitted free on 12 August the following year, just after his father's death. At the time of the 1841 census he was described as a farmer and was living at Cowlays in Piddington with his wife and their daughter Hellin (6), plus John Seary (probably Sarah's brother) who was also a farmer and his wife Ann. He died aged 40 on 4 February 1849 and was buried in PIddington churchyard.
See also:
- PCC Will PROB 11/1789/147 (Will of John Hickman of Oxford, proved 25 August 1831)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 9 July 1831: Announcement of Hickman’s death
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 22 February 1834: Announcement of Hickman’s widow’s death
