Matthew Houghton & his son Thomas, Apothecaries
Matthew Houghton (1788–1856)
Matthew Houghton was born in Birmingham in 1788 and is probably the child of that name, son of Matthew & Rebecca Houghton, who was baptised at St Martin's Church in Birmingham on 17 August 1789. .
Matthew and his wife Elizabeth (or Eliza), who was born in Hoxton, Middlesex and was six years his senior, appear to have started off their married life in Oxford in about 1810, where their first child was born:
- Thomas Houghton (born on 22 August 1812 in Holywell parish and baptised at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 13 September 1812).
From at least the end of 1815 to the end of 1820 the Houghtons were living in George Street, Oxford, where their next three children were born:
- Elizabeth Houghton (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 17 December 1815)
- Rebecca Houghton (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 22 August 1818, buried there on 7 June 1819)
- Henry Houghton (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 3 September 1820).
Matthew’s occupation was given as printer during the period the family lived in George Street.
By 1823, Matthew and his wife had moved to St Clement’s, where they had three more children baptised.
- Mary Houghton (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 9 February 1823)
- Sarah Houghton (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 28 February 1826)
- Sarah Houghton (privately baptised by the Revd John Newman on 26 January 1834 and brought to St Clement’s Church on 9 February).
Houghton was described in the St Clement’s baptismal registers as a grocer in 1823 and 1826, but as a druggist in 1834, and was shown as a “Chemist & Druggist” in St Clement’s in Pigot’s Directory for 1830.
By 1839 Matthew Houghton was in partnership with his son Thomas in St Clement’s Street, and in Robson’s Commercial Directory for 1839 the business was described as Houghton & Son, “Chemists, Druggists, Grocers & Tea Dealers”, with a separate listing for M. Houghton, “Sheffield & Birmingham Warehouse” (both in St Clement's Street).
In 1841 Matthew Houghton was one of the two Guardians for St Clement's parish. The census that year shows him with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Mary living in one house in St Clement’s High Street, and his sons Thomas (then 28) and Henry (a clerk) living in another with Thomas Hester (14) an apprentice chemist, and one servant. Matthew was described as a grocer, and Thomas as a chemist, and it appears that father and son continued to split the work in this way.
At the time of the 1851 census Matthew (61), still described as a grocer, and was living in St Clement's High Street with Elizabeth (67) and their son Henry (29), who was a Lay Clerk at Magdalen College, plus their sixteen-year-old servant girl.
On 23 September 1854 the two freehold Houghton houses in St Clement's Street were advertised for sale, described as “All those Two Brick and Slated DWELLING HOUSES, situate in the High-street, St. Clement's, in the occupation of Mr. Matthew Houghton, comprising 2 front shops, 2 sitting rooms, 7 bed rooms, 2 cellars, 2 kitchens, and small yard, with back entrance thereto.”
Matthew Houghton died at the age of 68 and was buried in St Clement’s churchyard on 31 October 1856. His wife Eliza died in Caroline Street at the age of 83 and was buried with him on 28 February 1864.
Thomas Houghton (1812–1887)
Matthew Houghton’s eldest son Thomas, who was born in Holywell, Oxford in 1812, also married a girl called Elizabeth (born in Christ Church, Spitalfields in c.1816), and they had the following children, all born in St Clement's Street (then known as High Street, St Clement's):
- Henry Thomas Houghton (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 11 October 1846)
- Elizabeth Susanna Houghton (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 17 May 1849)
- Louisa Houghton (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 4 May 1851)
- William Matthew Houghton, baptised privately on 13 July 1853, died after two hours and buried at St Clement’s on 15 July 1853
- Alice Mary Houghton (baptised at St Clement's Church on 24 December 1854)
- Ellen Jane Houghton (baptised at St Clement's Church on 20 December 1857).
The following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 20 March 1847:
At the time of the 1851 census, Thomas (38) and Elizabeth (34) were living with their son Henry (4) at their shop in St Clement’s. Thomas was described as a “chemist and druggist”, while his father Matthew, in a separate household in St Clement’s, was now described as a Grocer. Thomas’s brother Henry (29), a lay clerk at Magdalen College, was now living with his parents.
Thomas Houghton was listed as Chymist & Druggist at 48 High Street, St Clement’s in Pigot’s Directory for 1842, at 54 High Street, St Clement’s in Slatter’s Directory for 1850; and at No. 53 in the 1861 census and in Mathieson’s 1867 directory. The Houghtons did not necessarily move shop; the street may have been renumbered. In later directories, it was obvious that the shop was next to the one on the east corner of Caroline Street. By 1867 Thomas Houghton’s chemist’s shop was also the St Clement’s Street post office.
The 1861 and 1871 censuses shows the Houghton family living at 53 St Clement’s Street. In 1861 Thomas (48), described as a Chemist & Druggist, was living with his wife Elizabeth (44) and their five surviving children. Also in the household were Thomas’s widowed mother Eliza (78), who was described as a house proprietor), plus an apprentice chemist (William Ham) and one servant. Ten years later only three children, Louisa (19), Alice (16), and Ellen (13) were at home, and the new apprentice was William J. Wilson.
In 1881 Thomas Houghton’s address was given as “The Cottage”, 85 St Clement’s. Now 68, he was described as a chemist employing two assistants (one man and one boy). Two daughters, Louisa (29) and Ellen (23) were at home, and his niece Psyche Houghton (2) was at the house.
Thomas Houghton died at The Cottage at the age of 74, and was buried at St Clement’s Church on 15 June 1887. In the burial register he was described as “late Rector’s Warden”. His widow Elizabeth remained at The Cottage with various members of her family until her death there at the age of 95. She was buried at St Clement’s on 2 April 1912.
Until 1918, No. 53 Caroline Street was listed as “Houghton & Son, chemists, post & telegraph office”; but in 1919 it was taken over by another chemist, Herbert Oddy.
Thomas Houghton’s children
- Henry Thomas Houghton became a pianoforte dealer in Holywell and then a chemist in the Cowley Road. He died at 95 St Clement’s Street on 17 July 1878 at the age of 31
- Elizabeth Susannah Houghton married the wine-merchant Henry Foster in 1871
- Alice Mary Houghton married John Millward Banks, a manufacturing jeweller of Birmingham, in 1876
- Louisa Houghton married the ironmonger Richard Gee of St Martin’s parish in 1881