Lionel Ernest Harrison (1905–1988)
Mayor of Oxford 1961/2
Lionel Harrison in 1961/2 (Picture Oxon 0655071)
Lionel Ernest Harrison was born at 126 Great Lister Street, Duddeston, Birmingham on 19 June 1905 and was baptised at St Matthew's Church at Duddeston on 3 July.
His father Ernest Harrison was born in Leeds in 1874, and was the son of the horse dealer John Harrison. His mother Emily Louisa Amor was born in Frome in Somerset in late 1871, the daughter of the tailor William Thomas Amor.
Lionel's parents were married at Cowley St John Church on 6 February 1899 when both were aged 26. His mother then lived at 20 Henley Street in east Oxford and his father, described as a hairdresser, lived at Bordesley in Birmingham. They began their married life in Birmingham, and Lionel's older brother John William Harrison was born at 126 Great Lister Street and baptised at St Matthew's Church at Duddeston on 13 March 1901. The family can be seen at that address in the 1901 census, with Lionel's father working as a hairdresser at his house. They were still there in 1905 when Lionel was born.
By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved down to Oxford, and Lionel (5) was living at 85 Bullingdon Road with his father Ernest (37), who was a hairdresser, his mother Emily (38), who was a dressmaker, and his older brother John (10), plus his mother's sister Mrs Violet Sheppard (41), who was a tailoress.
The 1921 census shows Lionel (16) working as a library assistant and living at 85 Bullingdon Road in east Oxford with his parents and his older brother John (20), who was a railway clerk, and their boarder. His father was then working as a hairdresser for Hatt & Co at 19 Magdalen Street in central Oxford, but in 1922 he set up his own business at Barrett Chambers, 38 Queen Street (on the north side near Carfax) together with Lionel.
On 19 June 1930 at St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, Lionel Ernest Harrison (25), described as a hairdresser of 85 Bullingdon Road, married Violet Mabel Cross (22), a typist of 23 Paradise Square and the daughter of the taxi driver Walter Cross. They had three children:
- Peter Darrell Harrison (born in the Headington registration district in 1932, probably at 85 Bullingdon Road)
- Roger L. E. Harrison (born in Oxford in 1935, probably at 43 Divinity Road)
- Penelope E. Harrison (born in Oxford in 1939, probably at 43 Divinity Road).
By 1935 the family was living at 43 Divinity Road, and they can be seen there in the 1939 register.
Harrison served as the Conservative councillor for East Oxford from 1949.
In about 1953 Harrison moved from Divinity Road to 108 Hurst Street in east Oxford.
In 1961 he was elected as Mayor of Oxford (for 1961/2) .(He was the very last Mayor: all subsequent holders of the office were to be Lord Mayors.) During his mayoral year he went with the Oxford solicitor E. A. Ferguson on a 1,900 mile trip from Oxford to Moscow in a specially converted Mini to promote the success of Morris Motors. The car had a special 50 gallon tank, and the whole journey was completed without refuelling.
Lionel Harrison cutting the tape at the ceremonial opening of Windrush Tower in Blackbird Leys on 9 April 2962 (Historic England JLP01/08/062277)
Harrison served as an Alderman after his mayoral year.
In 1966 he retired from the family hairdressing business at 38 Queen Street after working there for forty years. He lived at Langley Close in Headington in his retirement.
He retired from the city council in 1974 after the reorganization of local government and the abolition of the office of Alderman. .
† Lionel Ernest Harrison died at Wern Manor Nursing Home, Porthmadog, Gwynedd on 22 April 1988.
His daughter Penny and her daughter Justine both continued the family hairdressing tradition.
See also:
- Oxford Times, 7 November 1975, p. 3 (article about his and his wife’s retirement from the Committee of the East Oxford Conservative Association, including photograph)
- Oxford Times, 29 April 1988, p. 3 (obituary)
- Memories of Violet Harrison, née Cross of her husband's political career, with details of her year as Mayoress, in M. Spackman, History of the Oxford Central Girls' School and Cheney Girls' Grammar School (1974), pp. 99–102
