Samuel Culley (1723–1781)
Mayor of Oxford 1774/5
Samuel Culley (or Cully) was born in Oxford in 1723 and baptised at St Aldate's Church on 1 April that year. He was the son of the Oxford brewer William Culley who married Mary Snow (both of St Aldate’s parish) at St John’s Church, Oxford on 28 April 1718. They had six other children baptised at that church: Lydia (2 February 1718/19), Mary (10 January 1719/20), Charles (27 April 1722), Nicholas (23 August 1725), John (1725), and Mary (17 September 1726).
Samuel’s eldest brother Charles (1722–1765) took over the family house and brewhouse in St Aldate’s, while Samuel himself was apprenticed to the Oxford grocer John Turner for seven years from 29 May 1736.
After his apprenticeship, Samuel Culley started his own business as a grocer and chandler in “Old Butcher Row ”(Queen Street) in the parish of St Peter-le-Bailey.
On 14 June 1750 at Christ Church Cathedral, Samuel Culley married the widow Elizabeth Phipps. They do not appear to have had any children.
Culley was admitted free on 3 May 1751, and two weeks later on 17 May was chosen as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, Thomas Munday, and he immediately took up his Chamberlain’s place
In September 1755 he was elected senior bailiff for the forthcoming council year.
On 5 October 1765 he took care of the sale of the house in St Aldate's of his deceased brother Charles Culley and the adjoining brew house, horse mill, coal yard, and stable.
In 1771 Culley bought four dwellings and 21½ acres of land in Horspath from his father. In the same year his wife Elizabeth inherited a farmhouse and about 30 acres in Charlton from her uncle, John Ledwell.
The Survey of Oxford of 1772 shows Culley occupying a frontage measuring 9 yards 1 feet and 7 in on the north side of Queen Street, which H. E. Salter identifies as Nos. 28 and 29.
In November 1772 Culley was selected as one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants. Two years later in September 1774 he was elected Mayor of Oxford (for 1774/5), and chose Christopher Yeats as his Child.
By 1778 Culley was the Governor of the General Workhouse in Oxford.
Culley’s wife Elizabeth died in 1779 and was buried inside the former St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 9 October.
† Samuel Culley died in 1781 and was buried with her on 25 March 1781 inside the former St Peter-le-Bailey Church. Among other bequests, he left his property at Horspath to the widow Elizabeth Smith of Elsborough in Buckinghamshie. .
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entry numbered 1671
- PCC Will PROB 11/1076/313 (Will of Samuel Culley, Gentleman of Saint Peter le Bailey in Oxford, proved 12 April 1781)
