William Thorp II (1785–1869)
Mayor of Oxford 1833/4, 1844/5, and 1848/9
William Thorp (Picture Oxon 0655034)
William Thorp was born in Oxford on 6 June 1785 and baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 30 June. He was the eldest son of John Wise Thorp, the mercer of 44 Broad Street who had served as Mayor in 1805 and 1822, and Dorothy Lawrence.
His paternal grandfather William Thorp I had also been Mayor (1775 and 1789), as had his maternal grandfather Isaac Lawrence (1759, 1768, and 1784) and his paternal great-grandfather Thomas Lawrence (1737 and 1745). His younger brother John Thorp was also to serve as Mayor (1845).
William's mother Dorothy Thorp died in June 1796 when he was eleven years old.
On 6 March 1806 William Thorp was made Ensign in the Corps of the Oxford Loyal Volunteers, and on 31 October that year he was admitted free.
On 12 April 1810 at Burford Church, William Thorp married Lydia Phillips, daughter of John Phillips Esq. of Burford, and their marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 14 April 1810. They had no children.
William Thorp was a hosier (and afterwards a mercer) in partnership with his younger brother John, and their business was listed as Thorp & Sons in Pigot’s Directory for 1823. In August 1828 William entirely relinquished the business to his brother, and it was henceforth listed in directories as John Thorp & Son (in the singular).
Thorp was a Conservative, and came on to the city council in 1817. He was elected for the forthcoming council year as Senior Chamberlain on 1 October 1827 and as Senior Bailiff on 14 September 1829.
His wife Lydia Thorp died on 3 December 1829 at the age of 42 and was described as being of Holywell when she was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church on 10 December 1829.
On 27 September 1831 William Thorp was elected one of the eight Assistants and immediately afterwards an Alderman.
In 1832 Alderman Thorp joined forces with Vaughan Thomas to combat cholera, and also produced with him on 1 September a poster headed: St Giles’ Fair. Caution and Remonstrance. To all drunkards and revellers and to the thoughtless and imprudent of both sexes.
On 16 September 1833 Alderman William Thorp was elected Mayor of Oxford for the first time (for 1833/4). On 7 August 1834 he perambulated the boundaries of the city.
In 1834, when he was aged 49, he went to live at 10 Holywell Street with his orphaned nieces Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, and Susan Joy and his nephew Francis William Joy.
He remained on the Old Council to its end in December 1835.
The 1841 census, where he is described as being of independent means, shows him living at 10 Holywell Street. Later that year he was made an Alderman.
He joined the new Council as the representative of the East Ward and was elected Mayor (for 1844/5).
In 1848 Alderman Thorp agreed reluctantly to undertake a third term as Mayor (for 1848/9). (The custom at this time was for the mayoralty to be offered in the first instance to aldermen, but the other seven aldermen had all refused.)
The 1851 census shows William Thorp, a widower of 65 and described as a Magistrate and Alderman, living with his widowed sister Mrs Susannah Folker and his niece Mary Joy, plus two servants.
On 9 May 1857 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported at length on a handsome testimonial consisting of a silver salver and £550 in a purse that was presented to Alderman William Thorp as “a recognition of his many services in the cause of benevolence and in the various charities of this City, and of his general usefulness as a citizen”. Seven heads of colleges attended the presentation in the Council Chamber.
At the time of the 1861 census Thorp was still living with his sister, and they were joined by his 28-year-old niece, Miss Emma Folker. They were now living across the road at 92 Holywell Street, a small house demolished to make way for the new buildings of New College.
William Thorp became “The Father of the Corporation”. He died at 92 Holywell Street on 17 August 1869 at the age of 84.
The Mayor and Corporation and friends assembled at the Music Room in Holywell Street and followed Thorp's coffin on foot from his home on the other side of the road to Holywell Cemetery, where he was buried. His grave marker (right) reads:
IN MEMORY OF
WILLIAM THORP
ALDERMAN AND THREE TIMES MAYOR
OF THIS CITY
WHO DIED AUG 17 1869
ALSO OF
[SARAH] THORP JOY
[NIECE] OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED [ON 3RD JULY 1841]
[AGED 19]
There is also a memorial to Thorp and his wife (below) on the wall of St Mary Magdalen Church.
See also:
- William Thorp I, Mayor 1775, 1789 (his grandfather)
- John Wise Thorp, Mayor 1805, 1822 (his father)
- John Thorp, Mayor 1845 (his younger brother)
- Thomas Lawrence, Mayor 1737, 1735 (his maternal great-grandfather)
- Isaac Lawrence, Mayor 1737, 1745 (his maternal grandfather)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 9 May 1857: “Testimonial to Mr. Alderman Thorp”
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 21 August 1865, p. 5f
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 28 August 1869, p. 5f (obituary)
- Jackson's Oxford Journal, 9 June 1894, p. 5g:“Retrospect of a good old Oxford family”
- 1841 Census: Oxford (Holywell), 891/07/4
- 1851 Census: Oxford (Holywell), 1728/45
- 1861 Census: Oxford (Holywell), 893/116
