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This long, mock-Tudor range at 49, 50, 51, & 52 High Street was built by Magdalen College in 1900/1, but now (together with Nos. 55 and 56) form St Edmund Hall's Besse Building.

These four shops are built of brick, covered with rough-cast, and have Brize Norton stone roof tiles, and they are jointly Grade II listed (List Entry No. 1047282).. The architect was E. P. Warren and the builder Messrs Benfield & Loxley.

There is an archway in the middle which now provides access to the St Edmund Hall accommodation above the shops.

As four large shops fronts replaced six smaller old ones, the numbers 53 and 54 High Street disappeared for ever in the process, so there is no exact correlation between the old and new numbers. The former and present shops were in St Peter-in-the East parish until that parish was united with St Cross parish in 1957.

The illustration below of the row of six shops that were about to be demolished was published in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 25 November 1899:

The text accompanying that image read:

We this week give a sketch of a block of shops, Nos. 49 to 54, High-street, which it is believed will shortly give place to edifices of a more imposing character. The property is held by Magdalen College on a 99 years' lease, and as this expires next year, the whole of this property may be said to be doomed. The houses are all of them very old, the two public houses, the “Coach and Horses” [No. 40A] and the “Light Horseman [No. 52],” especially so. The former is remarkable as being entirely isolated from the thoroughfare, entrance being gained by traversing a low passage. Attached to the “Coach and Horses” is a “Bumble-Puppy” alley, a game once extremely popular with former generations, but now practically extinct – at least, there is no other alley of its kind extant in Oxford, where formerly they abounded.

Jackson's Oxford Journal reported thus on the building work on 13 October 1900:

HIGH STREET.–The new shops and lodging-houses now being erected by Magdalen College on the site of several very old houses opposite King-street [now Merton Street] will be rather an imposing group. The fronts will be executed in white Milton stone with ornamental plaster work, somewhat similar to the new East Gate Hotel opposite. In the centre will be a large arched carriage gateway, which will give an academical appearance to the edifices as well as convenient access to the rear. This improvement will see the last of two old public houses. The “Light Horseman” has already disappeared, and the “Coach and Horses,” together with several other buildings near, will come down when the present block of buildings is complete.

Below: Photograph of the old shops taken by Henry Taunt in 1900 just prior to demolition (Historic England HT08135). The sign of Weeks & Co. and the number 49 can be seen on the shop to the left:

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The six former shops (including two pubs) on this site
Former Nos. 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, & 54

NB: The old numbers of the SIX shops spanning this site that were demolished
in 1901 will obviously not correlate with those of the present FOUR shops

The former No. 49

At the time of the 1841 census the original, narrower No. 49 at the far left of this group was occupied by the confectioner Thomas Shields and his wife Ann, plus a lodger and three servants. Ann died in 1859, and the 1851 census shows Shields (50) living here with two lodgers and two servants.

At the time of the 1861 and 1871 censuses the upholsterer Theophilus Carter (44) was living here with his wife Mary and his three children and their servant, plus a lodger, John Gordon (23), described as the Earl of Aberdeen, who was studying at University College, and the lodger's groom. In 1875 he expanded his business to include No. 48 to the west and lived at those premises, and No. 49 was unoccupied at the time of the 1881 census.

No. 49A or 49½ (Coach & Horses pub)

The Coach and Horses pub was situated at 49A behind No. 49, and the entrance to its court was between the former Nos. 49 and 50.

At the time of the 1851 census the landlady here was Jane Teall (58), a widow who had moved out of the Greyhound pub at Gravel Walk on the other side of Longwall Street when that pub was demolished by Magdalen College in 1846. She lived here with her three daughters and a niece, plus a lodger.

At the time of the 1871 census the victualler William Thornton (33) lived here at the pub with his wife Ellen and their four children, plus a general servant and a lodger. He committed suicide here on 5 March 1875, and his widow, who now had six children, took the over the pub.

The 1881 census shows the publican F. George Walker (24) living at the Coach & Horses with his wife Sarah Ann.

The 1891 census shows Thomas Leach (40), the licensed victualler, living at the Coach & Horses with his wife Rachel and his two nieces.

The last landlord of the Coach & Horses, from 1896, was James Bennett. The pub was demolished with the rest of this row near the beginning of 1900.

The former No. 50

The watch & clockmaker Hawtin Pearson had his shop here by 1839. In 1841 he was living in King Street (now Merton Street) with his wife and children, but by the time of the 1851 census he was living over his shop here with his wife Marianne and two daughters, plus a lodger and a servant. He died at the age of 64 on 22 November 1860 after a long illness.

At the time of the 1861 census the shoemaker Thomas Lambert (36) who employed four men and three boys lived here with his wife Elizabeth and their three children, plus two apprentices and a general servant.

The 1871 census shows the college servant Robert W. White (32) living here with his wife Jemima and their servant and lodger.

The 1881 census shows the hairdresser William G. J. Robinson (31) living here with his wife Alice.

At the time of the 1891 census the hairdresser Heber Peagam (33) lived here with his wife Edith, his daughter Maud, and his stepdaughter Esther Kennett, plus a young hairdresser who worked for him.

Former 51 High Street

In 1840 Joseph Thornton, who had opened his first bookshop in Magdalen Street in 1835, moved to the former 51 High Street. The 1841 census shows him living here with his wife Emma and their baby daughter, and Mary Thornton (likely to be his mother), plus three female servants. In 1851 Thornton, now 42, was still living here with his wife and six children, plus a servant and nursemaid. In 1853 he moved back to Magdalen Street, and in 1863 to 10 Broad Street, and finally to 11 Broad Street in 1870.

The 1861 census shows the hairdresser Thomas Hackshaw (40) living her with his wife Eliza and their two young children, plus two servants.

Hine & Son, tailors (by 1871 to 1899)

At the time of the 1871 census the tailor Henry Hine (64) lived here at his shop with his wife Harriet (56) and his son Edward (25), also described as a tailor, and his apprentice. Henry died at the age of 67 in 1875, and Harriet at the age of 61 in 1876.

The next tailor here was William Hine, a member of the Plymouth Brethren. His first wife, Hannah Maria Shrimpton, died in 1867 a year after their marriage. he then married Helena Howes in 1877 and they had seven children in nine years. The 1881 census shows Helena  (36), described as the tailor's wife, living here with her first three children Grace (2), Maude (1), and William (two months), plus two servants. Helena had another four children before her death at the age of 41 in 1886, and eight months later William married his third wife, housekeeper Emily Tomlyn Williams, and they had two children. Emily died in 1889 at the age of 41 and William Hine himself in 1890 at the age of 53.

The 1891 census shows four of William's children, William Pavier Hine (10), Percy Wicks Hine (9), Leonard Howes Hine (8), and Howes Septimus Hine (5), living at 51 High Street with their 55-year-old widowed housekeeper, Jane Hoare, as well as the manager of the tailoring business (Charles G. Richards) and two general servants. The tailor's shop was downstairs, and the seven surviving children lived on the second floor of the building and slept in the attic rooms on the fourth floor. Percy Wicks Hine wrote in his reminiscences that 6–8 men would sit cross-legged sewing men’s clothes by hand downstairs.

• Transcript of the reminiscences of Percy Wicks Hine (1882–1961),
  who lived at 51 High Street from his birth until the age of 14 in 1896.

William Hine's oldest son William Pavier Hine eventually took over the family business, and when this row of shops was rebuilt in 1901 he moved into the new No. 52 on the right, and Hine's tailors survived there until 1998.

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Former Nos. 52, 53, and 54

Photograph showing these three buildings in the 1890s

Former 52 High Street (the Lighthorseman pub) and Dee’s Passage

Dee's Passage used to run between the former Nos. 51 and 52 High Street and was named after James Dee, who was the landlord of the Lighthorseman pub from 1832 to 1871. A directory of 1861 states “Black Horse Court” intersects between the former No. 51 and 52, suggesting that the Black Horse could have been another name for the Lighthorseman. The 1841 census shows James Dee living at the pub with his wife and their servant girl. James Dee (54) was still shown as the publican here at the time of the 1851 census, and four families were listed as living in Dee's Passage. In the 1861 census Dee was described as a publican & mason employing one plasterer and one mason.

By the time of the 1871 census the licensed victualler George Talbot (42) lived at the pub with his wife Jane and their four children, plus a boarder.

At the time of the 1881 census the publican Albert R. Lenekan (27) lived here at the Lighthorseman pub with his wife Hannah and their daughter, plus a servant.

The 1891 census shows John Samuel Ward, described as a printer compositor as well as a licensed victualler, living at the pub with his wife Minnie and their son, plus a servant.

Four families were listed as living in Light Horseman Yard behind in 1871 and 1881, while in 1891 there were only three.

Former 53 High Street

The shoemaker Thomas Harris appears to be living at No. 53 at the time of the 1841 census with his wife Harriet and their seven children, plus three shoemaker's apprentices and a servant.

The 1851 census shows the college servant George Lovegrove (48) living here with his wife Eliza and his thirteen children ranging in age from 2 to 18, and another four families lived in the passage beside No. 53.

The 1861 census shows the whitesmith John Durran (28) living here with his wife Martha, and the butler Joseph Fleetwood occupied part of the house with his wife Sarah. He was still here with his wife and niece at the time of the 1871 census, when he described himself as a blacksmith. Later described as an ironmonger, he remained at this shop until 1880, when he moved up to the brand new Rosslyn Villa in Windmill Road, Headington.

Another ironmonger, Thomas Fenemore, then took over this shop, and the 1881 census shows him at the age of 34 living here with his wife Charlotte and their daughter, and his retired father John Fennemore (64), who was a retired farmer. In a separate household at No. 53 lived the gardener William Fleetwood (75) with his wife Ann, plus two boarders and a servant.

The 1891 census shows the ironmonger Thomas Fennemore still living at No. 53 with his wife Charlotte, their daughter, and his father.

Former 54 High Street

The hairdresser John Hewitt appears to be living at No. 54 at the time of the 1841 census with various family members and their servant girl.

The 1851 census shows Abram Davis (35), a wholesale dealer in jewellery &c., living here with his wife Maria and their servant.

This was a beer and then a wine shop. The 1861 census shows the ale & porter merchant Joseph Hodder (44) living here with his wife Eliza and their young niece

The 1871 census shows William Harris (39) here at the beer shop with his wife Georgiana and their baby son, and his sister-in-law and a servant.

The 1881 census shows the gardener & publican George Coster (46) living here with his wife Eliza and their three children, plus their servant.

In 1882 it became a lodging house, and the 1891 census shows Charles Fitzpatrick (32), described as a lodging-house keeper, living over both Nos. 54 & 55 with his wife Mary and their servant.

The current (1901) range of four shops (49, 50, 51 & 52)

The 1901 census records “Houses Building” at this point.

No. 49

This was a cigar merchants and tobacconists from 1902 to 1956. The 1911 census shows twelve rooms upstairs occupied by the lodging-house keeper Frederick Pickering (39) and his wife Emma and their two sons. The 1921 census lists seven boarders here, while Mrs Pickering was at No 48 next door.

The 1939 Register shows the lodging-house keeper Mrs Lucy May living over the cigar shop here with her husband Richard, who was a chargehand painter. Brigadier Charles Foss and his wife Vere appear to have been living here permanently in the lodgings.

It was then a bank from 1958 to 1971, and since then has been a newsagents.

No. 50

This was a confectioner's shop of George Weeks from 1902 to 1917, The 1911 census shows the eleven rooms upstairs occupied by the college servant Richard Dadman (37) and his wife Gertrude, who ran a lodging house here.

The 1921 census shows the boarding-house keeper Mrs Gertrude Cadman (48) occupying two rooms here.

From 1922 to 1941 the photographers Penrose & Palmer had the shop here, and upstairs was the lodging-house keeper Violet Gale and the shorthand-typist Ivy Gale (likely to be her daughter) and Louisa Gale (likely to be her mother, who undertook light domestic duties. A clerk in an insurance company called Doris Epps also lived here.

This was an antique shop from 1947 to the early 1980s. In 2020 it was converted into an office for St Edmund Hall.

No. 51

The 1911 census shows the seventeen rooms above this shop occupied by the university lodging-house keeper Miss Alice Jane Denis (41) was a university lodging-house keeper.

At the time of the 1921 census the university lodging-house keeper in the seventeen rooms here was Tom Cooper (41), with his wife Alice and six boarders.

The 1939 Register lists the lodging-house keeper George R. Reeve here with his wife Edith and their servant, plus a Mrs Cecilia M. Mogg, who presumably lodged there permanently.

This has been a tea shop since c.1984.

No. 52

When the old row of buildings was demolished in 1901, Hine & Son the tailors (who had been in the old shop approximately on this site since 1876) moved into this new shop.

• Photograph of Hine's new shop in c.1905

The 1911 census shows the thirteen rooms above this shop occupied by the college servant Nathaniel Stephen Herbert (50) and his wife Annie, who was a university lodging-house keeper here and her three children, with the eldest Olive (18) assisting her in the business. He was still here in 1921 with his family and their servant girl, plus two student boarders.

The 1939 Register shows the lodging-house keeper Harry Barber living here with his wife Louisa and a paid domestic worker Ellen Wall, and a railway engine cleaner called Percival wall and an engine fitter.

Hine's were in the old and then the new shop on this site for 122 years until they moved to Wantage in October 1998. Waterfield’s, the secondhand booksellers from Park End Street, then moved in.

Latterly a sweet shop, it is now a St Edmund Hall office.

No. 50A (in behind, reached through the central archway): former Masonic Buildings

The old Masonic Hall in Alfred Street had long been considered inadequate when in 1906 the Masonic Buildings were built behind this group of shops by M. O. Gardiner of Beaumont Street on land leased from Magdalen College. They were accessed by the present “splendid entrance” and included an apartment measuring 50 x 30 feet, a large banqueting or ball room measuring 70 x 35 feet with a gallery at one end, and other smaller rooms. A new restaurant was opened there in 1909 (with plans and photographs shown in the Oxford Journal Illustrated of 20 October that year). In the First World War the Masonic Buildings were part of the 3rd Southern General Hospital (photograph of entrance).

“Masonic Buildings, Oxford” in 1919. Watercolour by Walter Ernest Spradbery
showing an ambulance and nurse outside this branch of the hospital
Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0

The Masonic Buildings closed in 1945, and these premises were then the Forum Restaurant/Dance Hall from 1947 to 1954. In 1965 the Forum Dance Hall was demolished by St Edmund Hall to make way for extensions and a new quadrangle, but the frontage and entrance remains.

Photograph of entrance to the Forum Restaurant and James Rogers' shop at No. 51 in 1949

Upper floors of the four shops at Nos. 49–52 (Besse Building of St Edmund Hall):

These 1902 shops had university lodging houses on their upper floors from the start. At the time of the 1911 census Frederick Pickering (39), a lodging-house keeper, lived in the twelve rooms over the present No. 49 with his wife and two sons. The college servant Richard Cadman lived over the present No. 50 with his wife Gertrude, who kept the lodging house there. Mrs Ellen Davis had one over No. 51 from 1904, and at the time of the 1911 census Miss Alice Jane Davis (41), described as a university lodging-house keeper, lived over No. 52, but as she occupied seventeen rooms, her lodging house probably also spread over No. 51. In 1948 a share in the Besse Benefaction to the University enabled St Edmund Hall to purchase this row of shop, and three years later they converted the upstairs into a student hostel (51/01864/A_H) which is now their Besse Building.

The coat of arms of St Edmund Hall is over No. 50 with the date A.D. 1952 (the year they bought this range),
and that of Magdalen College over No. 51 with the date A.D. 1901 (the year they built it).
Over the central archway are the initials A.B. (for Antonin Besse) with the date A.D. 1950 (the year of his benefaction).