(Sir) Joseph Lock (1760–1844)
Mayor of Oxford 1813/14 and 1829/30
Joseph Lock was born in Oxford on 13 April 1760 and was baptised at All Saints’ Church four days later. He was the only son of the goldsmith and banker Edward Lock (who was himself Mayor in 1776, 1791, and 1806) and his wife Hannah Bridge. In 1759, the year before Joseph's birth, his father had opened his new shop at 7 High Street, and the family must originally have lived over this shop, and Joseph would have been born there.
Parson Woodforde records in his diary many visits to Edward Lock's shop, and mentioned that on 17 October 1771 he gave a shilling to his son Joseph, then aged 11.
On 13 April 1774 Joseph, now 14, was apprenticed to his father for seven years, and followed him into the goldsmith and banking business.
On 1 May 1781 at St Peter-in-the-East Church, Joseph Lock, having just attained the age of 21, married Elizabeth Watson, the daughter of the grocer Benjamin Watson: both were then living in that parish. The next year Lock was admitted free, and went into partnership with his father, and Bailey’s Western & Midland Directory for 1783 duly lists “Lock, Edward, and Son” as goldsmiths and jewellers.
It may have been around this time that the Locks took over the smaller house next door as their living quarters. The drawing below (copied by John Buckler from a drawing in the possession of Joseph Lock) shows No. 7 High Street when it was a bank, with a sign over the door reading LOCK, as well as the house at No. 6 to the left.
Lock was selected as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, Richard Weston, in 1786, and took up his Chamberlain’s place immediately. He was elected Senior Bailiff for 1793/4, and afterwards remained on the council as a bailiff until 1813.
Joseph Lock and his wife lost at least five children in infancy at 6/7 High Street, and it may be this that caused them to build a country house where the children could enjoy fresher air. Their first country house was built at Iffley between 1794 and 1800 (below). Now named Denton House, it stands on the high ground above Iffley Turn. Their three remaining children who were moved there (Edward, born on 24 April 1785; Elizabeth, born in 1793; and Maria, born in 1797) all survived to adulthood.
On 10 May 1798 Joseph Lock was appointed a Lieutenant in the Oxford Armed Association of Loyal Volunteers.
In April 1799 Joseph Lock took on his own son, Edward, as an apprentice.
Under the Headington Enclosure Award of 1804, Joseph was awarded about 17 acres of land in central Headington, including the site of the present Bury Knowle Park, and he immediately built Bury Knowle House (below) as his new country home.
Joseph Lock and his wife were both loathed by the people of Headington from the moment they arrived. In 1805, because he erected a wall across the footpath that was the coffin route from Headington Quarry (which then had no church) to St Andrew’s Church. (This is the footpath that runs behind the present Somerfield car-park.) Three times the doughty Quarry men smashed down the wall, and three times Lock rebuilt it, taking three of the men involved to court.
The then vicar of St Andrew’s Church, Thomas Whorwood, was financially dependent on his older brother, Henry Mayne Whorwood, Lord of the Manor of Headington and lay rector; and the latter, though despising Lock, had to tread carefully because he owed him money. But James Palmer, the curate of St Andrew’s, did not see why the people of Quarry should have to carry their coffins even further to get to their church. In 1805 he wrote to the Bishop of Oxford, not mincing his words on the subject of Mrs Ballachey’s parents:
Mr Lock, whose improper conduct has made no inconsiderable disturbance in this parish, is a person in whose estimation the possession of money is a compensation for the absence of almost everything else…. Mr Lock would not be so much disliked as he is, if he did not permit his wife, who is a busy meddling woman, to interfere as much as she does in everything in which he is concerned. He suffers her to make a fool of him, therefore he is a fool.
In the end, St Andrew’s Church lost out; the people of Quarry turned their backs on Old Headington and arranged to have a Methodist preacher come to them; they never came back to St Andrew’s, and their own church was built for them in 1849.
In 1813 Joseph’s father Edward Lock died, and he took over his shop and the University Bank.
Joseph Lock was elected an Assistant in 1813 and promptly elected Mayor (for 1813/14).
Joseph Lock played an important ceremonial role when the Prince Regent together with the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia visited Oxford on 14/15 June 1814, and he was knighted on the occasion. Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on 18 June on what it called “the most glorious epoch ever known in the annals of Oxford”,
On Tuesday, the Chancellor and all the Members of the University, habited in their proper gowns and hoods, assembled, and proceeded in a body to Magdalen College Hall. In like manner the Mayor, Joseph Lock, Esq.; the High Steward, represented by the Right Honourable Lord Charles Spencer; the Recorder, William Elias Taunton, jun. Esq.; the Aldermen and Assistants, Town Clerk, and other Members of the Common Council, in their respective roles, among whom was J. I. Lockhart, Esq. one of the City Representatives, met together, and marched in procession to the Common Room at Magdalen; and each body waited there until the arrival of his Royal Highness he Prince Regent was announced. His Royal Highness was punctual to a minute, and arrived at twelve o'clock at Magdalen Bridge, and most graciously condescended to alight from his carriage to receive the Corporate Bodies of the University and City. The University first met his Royal Highness, and Lord Grenville, the Chancellor, laid at the feet of his Royal Highness the staffs of the Bedels, which were re-delivered by the Prince. The Mayor next presented the city mace, which his Royal Highness again gave to the Mayor with these words, “I have great pleasure, Mr. Mayor, in returning this mace into your hands.... He then proceeded on foot up the High-street, accompanied by the Chancellor of the University and the Mayor of the City at the head of their respective bodies, all uncovered, each forming a distinct procession, and walking in parallel lines. Troops of horse soldiers, stationed at regular distances, close to the flag pavement, kept the middle of the street free for the processions, while the foot pavement itself was filled with well-dressed spectators, and the windows, tops of houses, and the battlements of Magdalen, Queen's, University, and All Souls' colleges, with ladies and gentlemen, waving their handkerchiefs and hats, cheering the Prince and the processions as they passed. Nothing could surpass the beauty, the variety, and the enlivening animation of this scene. When they arrived at St. Mary's Church, the Mayor and City Gentlemen went onwards to the Council Chamber....
[full transcript of the University's Address, followed by the arrival of the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, and a description of the illuminations in Oxford]
Immediately after the great celebration at the Theatre [Encaenia, held the following day] the Prince Regent, accompanied by the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Duchess of Oldenburg, the Prince of Orange, the Prussian Princes, Marshal Blucher, the Chancellor of the University, his Royal Highness's Great Officers of State, and other distinguished personages, honoured the Corporation of our City with a visit in their Council Chamber. On this occasion his Royal Highness was received at his carriage by the Mayor, and conducted up the great staircase through the Town Hall to the Council Chamber, where the Members of the Corporation were assembled in their different robes and dresses. The City had, at a great expence, and with an attention that calls for public thanks, fitted up the whole interior of the Town Hall with flights of seats for the accommodation of 600 spectators, leaving an avenue railed off and carpetted for the passage of the procession. These seats were all filled, and afforded, to a great number of Ladies who had been unable to obtain admission at the Theatre, the gratification of a full view of the Royal and distinguished Visitors.
[Followed by full transcript of the address made by the Town Clerk]
His Royal Highness received this Address most graciously, and at the conclusion if it commanded the Town Clerk to kneel, and instantly conferred on him the honour of Knighthood. The same distinction was immediately afterwards conferred also on the Mayor, now Sir Joseph Lock.
The Honorary Freedom of the City was then announced as having been voted to the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, the Hereditary Prince of Orange, the Prince of Mecklenburgh, Prince Metternich, Price Blucher, and several other illustrious personages.
The procession then returned back through the Town Hall....
J. R. Green in Oxford Stories states that Lock had been knighted in error:
The knighting by mistake was a true story. William Elias Taunton was Town Clerk; his son of the same name, the Recorder, was absent when the Prince drove up, and the father read the address, but instead of handing it to the Mayor of Oxford for presentation, handed it in himself. The Regent took a sword from one of his attendants, asked his name, and knighted him. He was reminded that it was an error. Bid the Mayor stand forward and he rose Sir Joseph Locke.
Less than two weeks later on 27 June 1814 Sir Joseph Lock proclaimed the Peace between England and France, leading the procession to Carfax, the University Church, and the site of the four city gates.
Sir Joseph continued to serve as an Assistant on the council after his mayoralty.
The following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 13 May 1820, and marks the point at which Sir Joseph gave up the retail side of his business to concentrate on banking. It gives a good idea of some of the items that Lock would have sold in his High Street shop.
Sir Joseph was on the Committee of Management of the Radcliffe Infirmary, reporting bad smells in the Litchfield and Frewin Wards in 1825. He was also President & Treasurer of the Oxford Medical Dispensary and Lying-in charity.
Lady Lock died in 1822 at the age of 62, leaving Sir Joseph a widower for 22 years. Perhaps he mellowed in his old age, for in 1827 he gave some land in Nacklingcroft Meadow off Marston Road to be the site of the present St Clement’s Church.
In December 1821 Sir Joseph was chosen as President of the new Oxford Mechanics’ Institute, and in March 1830 Treasurer of the new Oxford, Oxfordshire, and Neighbouring Counties Horticultural Society.
On 14 September 1829 Sir Joseph Lock was elected to serve a second term as Mayor (for 1829/30) and two weeks later on 28 September was also elected an Alderman. On 3 July 1830 he proclaimed the accession of King William IV at the site of the four city gates, St Mary the Virgin Church, and Carfax: he rode on horseback in scarlet robes, with his horse led by a page carrying a white wand on each side. (He was not involved in the Coronation, however, as by that time the next Mayor was in position.)
He was then elected an Alderman, and served to the end of the Old Council in December 1835. He did not serve on the new Corporation, but was selected to be a magistrate.
On 23 August 1831 Sir Joseph's elder surviving daughter, Elizabeth Lock, was married to John Wilson, Esq., a Captain in the Royal Marines, at Headington, by the Revd Dr Symonds, Warden of Wadham College. (They had no children, and Elizabeth died at Southsea after a short illness on 27 July 1842, and her body was brought to St Andrew's Church in Headington for burial.)
At the time of the 1841 census Sir Joseph, now aged 80, was still described as a banker. Living with him at 6 & 7 High Street home were his daughter Maria, three independent guests or lodgers, a 25-year-old clerk called Benjamin Watson (likely to be a relation of his wife), and three servants. His son Edward Lock was at this time living with his family in Bury Knowle House.
The 1841 census shows Sir Joseph living at 6 High Street next door to his bank. Pigot’s Directory of 1842 has the following entry: “ Bankers: Lock Sir Jos. & Co. [University and City Bank) 6 & 7 High st— (draw on Willis, Percival & Co. London)”.
On 13 May 1843 Sir Joseph’s second daughter, Maria Lock, was married in St Giles’ Church (again by the Warden of Wadham College) to George Baker Ballachey of Edgefield Mount in Norfolk.
Sir Joseph Lock died on 16 January 1844 at the age of 83. He was buried at All Saints’ Church in Oxford with his wife, and a tablet was erected there.
His obituary read:
The late Sir Joseph Lock … was Treasurer and a liberal supporter of most of the charities in this city, in which he took an active and especial interest, more particularly in the Oxford Medical Dispensary, over which he he presided for many years. Of the literary and scientific societies he was also a liberal patron, and acted as President of the Mechanics’ Institution from the time of its formation to its decline, and as a member of the Oxford City Book Club from its commencement was always the foremost to promote its prosperity. In private life Sir J. Lock was distinguished for his amiable and social qualities, and the general knowledge he possessed was cheerfully dispensed for the benefit and entertainment of every circle he entered.
Of Sir Joseph Lock’s numerous children only Edward Lock and Mrs Maria Ballachey survived him. He left his property in Oxford to Edward, and Bury Knowle House and land in Headington to Maria, who immediately moved in there with her husband.
A sale of part of the contents of Lock’s town house/bank was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 4 and 11 May 1844:
His bank closed down shortly afterwards. On 10 August 1844 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported:
We are informed that the old and respectable firm of Sir Joseph Lock and Co., University and City Bank, Oxford, have given notice to their customers that they shall discontinue business on the 31st instant, and have recommended them to transfer their accounts to Messrs. Robinson and Co. of the Old Bank.
Lock's Court near Bury Knowle Park in Headington is named after this mayor.
See also:
- Anne Natalie Hansen, Oxford Goldsmiths before 1800 (Columbus, Ohio: At the Sign of the Cock, 1996), pp. 103–10
- Carl Boardman, Oxfordshire Sinners and Villains (Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd., 1994), pp. 53-4.
- Edward Lock, his father (Mayor in 1776, 1791, and 1806)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 20 December 1828, p. 3g (notice about Mechanics’ Institution)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 20 January 1844, p. 3b (obituary)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2497 and 3161
- PCC PROB 11/1995 (Will of Sir Joseph Lock of Oxford, proved 29 March 1844):
An extraordinarily long Will, including a table listing every item of plate down to the last teaspoon - 1841 Census: Oxford (All Saints), 891/02/03
