Herbert Parsons (1762–1839)
Mayor of Oxford 1810/11 and 1820/1
Herbert Parsons was born in Oxford and baptised at St John the Baptist Church in Oxford on 6 July 1762. He was the son of Isaac Parsons, the butler of Corpus Christi College, who was matriculated at the University of Oxford as a privileged person on 19 May 1759, and Alice Janes, who were married at St John the Baptist Church on 23 October 1760.
Herbert's elder brother John Parsons was born on 6 July 1761. He was matriculated at the University of Oxford by Wadham College in 1777 at the age of 15, and was to become Master of Balliol (1798–1819), Vice-Chancellor of the University (1807 to 1810), and Bishop of Peterborough (1813–1819).
In 1782 at the age of 19 Herbert started to work at the Old Bank at 93 High Street, Oxford for his cousin John Parsons (Mayor in 1788 and 1808). He bought his freedom of the city for 20 guineas on 14 May 1790, and was chosen as one of the 24 members of the Common Council on 1 October 1792. In 1793 he was appointed a Cloth Searcher.
On 1 September 1795 at St Mary-the-Virgin Church, Herbert Parsons of St Peter-in-the-East Parish married Ann Weston, the daughter of Richard Weston, who had the lease of 91 High Street.
Parsons was named as the Mayor’s Chamberlain for 1787/8 by the new Mayor, Edward Tawney.
In 1798 his cousin John Parsons extended the bank, building another five bays on the site of 93 High Street. Herbert and Ann were given the upstairs residence which was in the parish of St Mary the Virgin, just opposite the church. They had the following children there:
- John Parsons (born on 1 June 1799 and baptised the same day at St Mary-the-Virgin Church)
- Herbert Parsons junior (born on 26 June 1800 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church the next day; buried there two months later)
- Ann Parsons (died in infancy in 1804).
In September 1800 Herbert Parsons was chosen as a Cloth Searcher. On 19 September 1803 he was elected Senior Bailiff for the forthcoming council year.
In 1810 Parsons elected one of the Assistants and shortly afterwards was elected Mayor of Oxford for the first time (for 1810/11).
In 1816 his father-in-law Richard Weston died and left the lease of 91 High Street to his daughter Ann, Parsons’s wife.
In 1820 Herbert Parsons was elected Mayor a second time (for 1820/1). During his year of office, on 23 October 1820, he laid the foundation stone of the new St Martin’s Church at Carfax; and on 19 July 1821, together with the Lord Mayor of London, he performed the traditional right of serving as butler at the Coronation Banquet of George IV. He accepted the gift of “a gilt cup or potole, weighing about 110 oz.”, but declined the offer of a baronetcy that was pressed upon him at the time of the coronation. He presented this cup to the City Council.
On 9 January 1827 he was elected an Alderman.
Alderman Herbert Parson’s wife Ann Parsons died on 24 December 1833 at the age of 69 and was buried inside St Mary-the-Virgin Church.
Herbert Parsons continued to serve as an Alderman until the Old Council came to an end in 1835. On 28 September 1835 Council records state:
The Members of this House are desirous of testifying their sense of the disinterested and valuable Service rendered to the City of Oxford by Mr Alderman Parsons during a long series of Years in the management of its charitable funds and in the discharge of the important duties attached to the several Civic Offices which he has filled — always by his conduct and example maintaining the dignity and welfare of the City — It is therefore unanimously resolved and agreed that the Gold Cup he received at the Coronation of King George the Fourth and given by him for the use of the Corporation be presented to him and that he be requested to accept it as a token of gratitude for his Services, and as a mark of esteem and regard entertained towards him by his fellow Citizens.
On 9 March 1836 Herbert Parsons drew up a new Will as he was unable to find the old one,but could not sign it because he had gout in both hands. After some small legacies,including £50 each to two clerks in the bank, and £60 to another clerk, he left everything to his only surviving child John Parsons.
Herbert Parsons died at 93 High Street on 18 January 1839 at the age of 75 or 76 and was buried in the same vault inside that church as his wife. This tablet remembering them is on the south wall of that church:
In a Vault Beneath lies buried /
Ann the Wife of Herbert Parsons Esqr. /
of this City
She died Decr. 24th 1833 /
Aged 69 Years.
Also the Remains of /
Herbert Parsons Esqr. /
who died Janry 18th 1839 /
Aged 75 Years
Herbert Parsons’ surviving son
Herbert’s son John Parsons (born 1799), who was admitted free on 15 June 1821, continued in the family business. His five children by his two wives Eliza and Elizabeth were baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church.
Herbert's grandson Herbert Parsons (1822–1911) went up to Balliol in 1838. He later leased Elsfield Manor House from Lord North, and bought out the co-proprietors of Forest Farm, buying the whole estate from the Norths in 1886. It remained in the possession of his family until 1919, when Christ Church bought it.
See also:
- John Parsons, Mayor in 1788 and 1809 (his cousin)
- Richard Weston, Mayor in 1786/7 and 1801/2, (his father-in-law)
- L.F. Bradburn, The Old Bank (92 and 93 High Street) Oxford (Oxford, 1977)
- In the Plate Room of the Town Hall: Coronation cup and cover of George IV presented to Parsons
- “Bill of costs of … London agent to the Mayor of Oxford for the coronation of George IV, 1821”, in Collecteana (4th series) (Oxford Historical Society, 1905)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 19January 1839: Announcement of Parsons’ death
- PCC Will PROB 11/1907/143 (Will of Herbert Parsons, Alderman of Oxford, proved 25 February 1839)
