James Banting (1780–1859)
Mayor of Oxford 1832/3
James Banting (or Banten) was born in Oxford and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 16 February 1780. He was the son of the tailor James Banting senior and his wife Rachel Prior, who had been married at that church on 6 July 1777. His family was rooted in St Aldate’s: his father had been baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1755; his grandparents were James and Mary Banting of St Aldate’s; and his great-grandparents were James and Ann Banting (who were buried at St Aldate’s in 1798 and 1793 respectively).
James Banting's seven siblings were also baptised at St Aldate's Church: Mary (5 July 1778); Rachel (2 December 1781), who died of smallpox just before her fifth birthday); Prior (7 September 1783); Ann (2 February 1786); Sarah (18 November 1787); Susanna (30 July 1789); and Joseph (19 April 1791).
Banting’s grandfather (recorded in the register as “James Banting Senior”) was buried at St Aldate’s on 19 October 1798 and less than a month later, on 24 November, his father (recorded as “James Banting Tailor”) was also buried there.
On 20 February 1801 Banting was admitted free just after his 21st birthday as the eldest son of the late James Banting senior, and his brother Prior was admitted free as his late father's apprentice on 31 October 1806.
On 21 January 1803 James Banting, tailor was elected to have one of the three £25 benefactions of Sir Thomas White.
On 6 March 1808 at St Aldate's Church his sister Mary Banting married William Taylor of All Saints parish, Oxford.
Banting himself did not marry (the James Banting of St Aldate’s who married Ann Elliott at St Aldate’s Church on 16 December 1816 is a different man, though probably a relation). He appeared regularly in Jackson’s Oxford Journal throughout the years in the lists of people who had renewed their game licences.
James's brother Prior Banting was originally a builder & carpenter in Holywell, but decided to move away from Oxford in 1810 and a sale of all his stock in trade was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 16 June that year. He went into partnership as a pawnbroker with John Eaton and Walton Muncaster at 37 Theobald's Road, Holborn, continuing with Muncaster alone after March 1813. He was described as being of Skinner Street in London when he died at the age of 37 after a long illness on 11 February 1821.
On 20 May 1818 at St Aldate's Church James's sister Susannah Banting married Walton Muncaster of Banting & Muncaster, who was describe as a widower of Middlesex.
On 1 October 1821 James Banting was elected on to the Council, and was elected for the forthcoming council year as Junior Chamberlain on 30 September 1825 and Senior Bailiff on 15 September 1828.
Pigot’s Directory for 1823 lists James Banting & Co. as tailors in St Aldate’s. On 31 October 1829 instructions for payment appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal for “all persons indebted to the late Partnership or concern of JAMES BANTING & Co. of this city, tailors”. The firm is not listed in Pigot’s Directory for 1830, and Banting was henceforth styled Esquire.
James Banting was elected Senior Bailiff for the forthcoming Council year on 22 July 1828, and then served as a Bailiff until he was one of the Eight Mayor’s Assistants on 18 July 1831.
On 17 September 1832 he was elected Mayor of Oxford (for 1832/3). On 31 July 1833 he perambulated the boundaries of the city.
After the Municipal Corporation Act 1835 came into force on 1 January 1836, Banting did not return on to the new Council.
His only surviving brother Joseph Banting, who was an Oxford builder, died at the age of 46 on 5 May 1838.
It appears that Banting owned land at Enstone, including a farm occupied by a Mr Hooper where a fire was reported in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 11 May 1839.
At the time of the 1841 census, James Banting (described as independent) was living with his sister Sarah Banting at Worton (to the south-east of Yarnton).
By the time of the 1851 census James and his sister Sarah Banting, both unmarried, had moved into Oxford and were living in Beaumont Mansion in Beaumont Street with three servants: James was described as a 71-year-old landed proprietor born in Oxford, and Sarah as a 62-year-old annuitant. Hence when his game licence was renewed in September 1842, he was described as being of St Mary Magdalen parish.
† James Banting died at 30 Beaumont Street on 4 March 1859, and the following notice was published in Jackson’s Oxford Journal the next day:
DIED. March 4, at his residence in Beaumont-street, in this city, James Banting, Esq., aged 80.
His effects came to under £16,000, and his nephew Henry Taylor of New Ferry in Cheshire was his executor.
James Banting must have held on to his farm at Worton until his death, because Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 16 April 1859 advertised the following property of James Banting, Esq. for sale: 26 half-bred fat sheep, 25 head of short-horn cattle, 11 pigs, 7 cart-horses and mares, and a two-year-old and a yearling colt.
Banting’s house in Beaumont Street, with coach house and stables, was advertised to let on 9 April 1859, and his furniture was advertised for sale on 23 April 1859. This furniture included:
dining and drawing-room suites in mahogany and rosewood, handsome chimney glasses in gilt frames, turkey carpet in good condition, mahogany 4-post and other bedsteads, wardrobe … also neat 4-wheel phaeton, set of harness, 2 saddles and bridles.
One of Banting’s sisters, Miss Ann Banting (73) of Walton Street, died in Oxford on 28 May 1859.
See also:
- 1841 Census: Oxford (Worton), 889/11/2
- 1851 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1728/604
