No. 35: Former pub
Above: The Coach & Horses pub viewed from the east in 1895 (Historic England CC72/01918)
and below: The pub viewed from the south in 1907 (Historic England CC50/00378):
No. 35 Broad Street was on the corner of Parks Road, at the east end of the row of thirteen houses dating from the first half of the seventeenth century that were demolished to make way for the New Bodleian Library (now the Weston Library) in 1937. The public house in this building had three different names:
- Prince's Arms (1587)
- Dog & Partridge (1724–1771)
- Coach & Horses (1881–1936).
This pub was in St Mary Magdalen parish.
On 28 September 1587 John Carter, described as a “joyner in Canditch” took out a licence to hang up a sign here with the name of the Prince’s Arms (twenty years before the King’s Arms opened on the opposite corner).
On 14 February 1723/4 Thomas Cale, a victualler of St Mary Magdalen, took out a licence for the new name of the Dog & Partridge.
When the sale of the Dog & Partridge, “a well-accustomed House”, was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 31 October 1761, it was described as being in the suburbs of the city of Oxford.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. The Dog & Partridge was then owned and occupied by Richard Davis, and its frontage measured 5 yards 2 feet 9 inches. He may be related to the cook called Thomas Davis who died in 1808 and whose furniture was advertised for sale at his house opposite the Clarendon Building in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 10 December that year.
In 1823 the publican was Widow Collins, in 1830 William Wells, and in 1833 John Cooper.
From 1839 the publican was John Ryman, and the 1841 census shows him living here with Richard (8) and John (6) plus two female servants.
The 1851 census shows Richard Cozens living at the pub (wrongly numbered 36 instead of 35) with his wife, three small children, a lodger, and one servant.
By the time of the 1861 census the innkeeper was John Horne, a bachelor of 26 who lived here with his father who was a gardener, his sister Harriet who acted as their housekeeper, and a lodger.
By 1869 James Hearn was the innkeeper here at the Dog & Partridge, and at the time of the 1871 census he can be seen living here with his wife Sarah and his twelve-year-old son James. There were also two other households in the building, headed by the widowed needlewoman Annie Scott and the painter Samuel Bowdler. From 1873 to 1876 Mrs Hearn was the innkeeper, and her son William Hearn was granted a hackney-carriage licence here in 1874.
By 1880 Charles Meredith was the innkeeper of the Dog & Partridge. The 1881 census describes him as a stonemason, and shows him living here with his wife Elizabeth and their four daughters.
Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on 15 October 1881 that the Dog & Partridge public house had been almost entirely reconstructed that year. Elizabeth Gilbert took the pub over following its reconstruction, changing its name to the Coach & Horses. She had been landlady of the Coach & Horses at 44 Holywell Street, and when she had to move out because that pub was about to be demolished to make way for the Indian Institute, she brought the sign with her and gave the name to this pub instead. Elizabeth Gilbert died at the pub at the age of 63 on 14 August 1885. Her daughter Miss Sarah Hannah Gilbert took on the licence, but on 4 December 1885 she died suddenly there at the age of 29.
The licence then passed to Elizabeth Gilbert's son James Creed Gilbert, and the 1891 census shows him living here at the age of 32 with his wife Fannie and children Carrie, Sidney, and Myrenda. He was described as a compositor as well as a publican.
By 1898 the licensed victualler of the Coach & Horses was Frank Adams, and the 1901 census shows him living here with his wife Annie and their four sons, plus two domestic servants.
Frank Adams was still the licensed victualler here at the time of the 1911 census, and was living here in seven rooms with his wife Annie (described as assisting in the business) and their four surviving children, his father-in-law James Farby, his married niece, and a servant. He died at the age of 51 in 1913, and his widow Annie Adams took over the licence. In 1914 she married William Barnes, who became the next landlord. The 1921 census shows him aged 55 and described as a bricklayer working for J. E. Billings & Co. in the Iffley Road, living here at the Coach & Horses with his wife Annie and one of his children and two of hers.
The pub was demolished in 1937.
|
Landlords of 35 Broad Street listed in directories and newspapers |
|
Dog & Partridge |
Coach & Horses |
Demolished with twelve neighbouring
houses in 1937 |
See the bound typescript in the Bodleian Library entitled “The
Demolished Houses
of Broad Street and the Freeborn Family”
(1943), attributed to Emily Sarah Freeborn,
and the webpage by Alan Simpson which reproduces some of the material in it.