Nos. 24, 25, & 26 to the south

The buildings to the south (Nos. 24, 25, and 26) were demolished and rebuilt in the 1860s, before being demolished again a hundred years later in the 1960s.

(1) The early Nos 24, 25, & 26 before the 1860s

Windmill Yard with eight dwellings was between the Windmill at No. 24 and No. 25
Adams Yard (presumably named after Robert Adams the butcher at No. 25) with nine dwellings lay between Nos. 25 and 26. (It was probably the former Boot Alley.)

An advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 26 August 1837 for an auction of Nos. 25 & 26 described them thus:  “TWO DWELLING HOUSES, front St. Giles’s street, with yard, slaughter-house, and other convenient outbuildings, now in the occupation of Mrs. Kitchen [No. 26], and Mr. Adams, butcher [No. 25].  

No. 24

This was the Windmill Inn. The 1841 census shows the victualler Henry Hutt (26) living here with his two-year-old daughter Mary and his housekeeper, plus two lodgers. In 1851 his wife Hannah was at home with him and he was described as a victualler and faggot maker employing three men. In 1861 the inn was described as the “Wind Mill Public-House” and Hutt (still described as before) was here with his wife and daughter and his nephew the faggot-maker John Hill (19). The pub closed down permanently shortly afterwards prior to redevelopment of the site.

Nos. 25

The 1841 census shows the butcher Robert Adams (68) at No. 25 with his wife Ann and three of their children, plus a lodger and a servant. He was still at No. 25 in 1851, a widower of 77, described as a master butcher employing one man, with his deaf-and-dumb son, his daughter, and his granddaughter, plus their servant. An agricultural labourer called John Padbury (28) lived separately at 25a with his wife and two children, a lodger, and their eleven-year-old house servant. Adams died near the beginning of September 1852.

By 1861 the premises were occupied by the whitesmith James Walton (39) and his wife Ann and their five children. His brother-in-law James Adams (57) and his son the journeyman butcher Robert W. Adams (18) also lived here, and they shared one servant.

No. 26
The 1841 census shows Harriet Kitchen (72) living at No. 26 with a six-year-old boy called Thomas Harris and two labourers who were presumably lodgers. At the time of the 1851 census the house was uninhabited.

The 1861 census shows the carpenter Richard Carter (45) living here with his wife Elizabeth and their lodger.

Nos. 24, 25, and 26 were demolished for the first time in the early 1860s
and rebuilt as three much larger four-storey premises with extra accommodation in the roof.

(2) The later Nos 24, 25, & 26 from the 1860s to the 1960s

No. 24

This was the tallest house in the group and by November 1865 was already occupied by the Morison family. Although Kenneth Morison had died on 26 October 1861, Jackson's Oxford Journal of 4 November 1865 described it as in his occupation rather than hiw widow's when it was offered for sale:

The newly-built and well-arranged handsome DWELLING HOUSE, No. 24 St. Giles's-street, with two kitchens, scullery, larder, and cellar in the basement; entrance hall and two rooms on the ground floor, and seven rooms above, with good landings and closets, convenient garden at the back, with private entrance from Museum-street, the whole in the occupation of Mr. Morison, and is held under St. John's College, Oxford, for the unexpired term of 96 years.—Ground Rent, £9.

In 1871 it was occupied by the widowed annuitant Mary Morison (40) and her mother Kezia Hayward and their two servants.

The house was described thus in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 25 July 1874 when it was again put up for auction:

A very desirable and Long-Leasehold RESIDENCE, No. 24, St. Giles's-street, newly & substantially-built and conveniently arranged ...
    This Residence contains entrance hall, 3 reception rooms, 6 bed rooms, 2 w.c.'s, an excellent kitchen, and other servants' offices, approached by the front area without passing through the principal entrance. It has a well-enclosed Garden in the rear, with back entrance from Black Hall Road, and is Leasehold under St. John's College, for the residue of a term of 99 years from the 24th day of December, 1863, subject to the payment of an annual ground rent of £9.
    The whole is in the occupation of Mrs. Morison, as a yearly tenant, at the moderate rental of £70 per annum.

No. 21 was advertised for sale again on 16 October 1880 and 26 February 1881.

At the time of the 1881 census this house was occupied by the lodging-house keeper Mary Fruin (45) and her widowed mother and two unmarried sisters, and two of her nieces. The situation was much the same in 1891.

At the time of the 1901 census the coal merchant William Simmonds (71) lived here with his wife Grace and their servant. In 1911 they had been joined by his daughter Elizabeth and his nephew Frederick Gibbons. William was here on his own with two servants in 1921.

The 1939 Register shows Arthur Hickling and his wife Hilda living here with their son and running a boarding house (then occupied by a chartered accountant, a lady and her companion, a medical practitioner, and a schoolmistress).

The Marlborough Secretarial College began life in No. 24 in about 1940.

No. 25

The builder Mr Radbone advertised this new house to let on 13 May 1865:

No. 25, ST. GILES'S'; containing drawing room, dining room, and study; six good bed rooms, 2 water closets, excellent kitchens, larder, cellars, &c.; and a nice Garden, with back entrance.

No. 25 was a private house from the mid-1860s to the late 1870s.

On 10 December 1870 it was advertised to let, with possession at Christmas:

The HOUSE, No.25, St. Giles's-street, containing drawing, dining and breakfast rooms, six bed rooms, two good kitchens, larder, store room, wine and coal cellars, and garden, with back entrance to the Keble Road.

At the time of the 1871 census No. 25 was occupied by Joseph Skipper Treacher (51), the Vicar of St John the Baptist Church, and his wife Rosa and their daughter, plus their cook and housemaid.

The house was sold by private contract in August 1876, and from around that time to the 1940s this was a university lodging house.

At the time of the 1881 census No. 25 was named as Brentford House and was occupied by the lodging-house keeper Walter Green Faulks (64) and his wife Maria and their daughter, plus a servant and just one lodger. In 1891 Faulks was a widower, living here with his housekeeper. He died here at the age of 77 on 25 November 1893.

Mrs Phoebe Mobey ran the lodging house here from 1895 to 1913) The 1901 census shows Miss Mobey (44) living here with her 11-year-old niece, three lodgers, and a servant were living with her. She was still here in 1911.

Miss Emily Maria Faulks is listed in directories as running the lodging house here from 1913 to 1941. The 1921 census shows Miss Faulks (58) and Miss Emma Alger Coombs (55) both described as lodging-house keepers living here with their maid and three university students. They were still running the lodging house at the time of the 1939 Register, when only one lodger (a shorthand typist) was in residence.

No. 26

In 1868 Balliol College rented the newly rebuilt No. 26, renaming it Balliol Hall, to enable students of ability with limited means to study at the college. T. H. Green was the first occupant, from 1869 to 1876.

At the time of the 1871 census only the cook and the housemaid were on the premises (with a carpenter and his wife and widowed sister living at 26a).

In 1877 the Dragon School (then called the Oxford Preparatory School) started life in two rooms here, moving to 17 Crick Road in 1879 (and finally to Bardwell Road in 1895).

The 1881 census shows the college servant Frederick W. Jenkins (35) living here with his wife Mary and their four children plus two servants and three boarders. By the time of the 1891 census Mary was a widow and lived here at No. 26 with her four children and ran a lodging house inher home: she had two boarders on census night. In 1901 she was hear with two of her children and a servant, plus three lodgers. There was also now a No. 26a, recorded as in occupation but with no one living there.

In 1911 the retired ironmonger Albert Charles Rolls (47) lived at No. 26 with his wife Marion, who ran a university boarding house here, and their two children, plus his mother-in-law Agnes Baylis and their servant.

The 1921 census shows the widow Alice Massy (73) living here with her widowed daughter Alice Seaton Trike (43) and their servant.

The 1939 Register shows Katharine Mullett and Gertrude Denton running a university lodging house here, with three students in residence.