William Tubb (1764–1824)
Mayor of Oxford 1814/15
William Tubb was born in Oxford on 17 April 1764 and baptised at St Michael's Church the following day. He was the son of the grocer & tallow-chandler Michael Tubb of St Michael's parish and Ann Tubb of St Peter-in-the-East parish (probably a relation) who were married at St Michael's Church on 23 June 1763. They had two other sons baptised there, also on the day after they were born: Thomas (born 12 April 1766, died aged six months and buried there on 15 October) and a second Thomas (born 18 February 1769).
The family shop was at the former building at 37 Cornmarket in St Michael’s parish, and they had a separate a candle house and warehouse nearby.
William's father Michael Tubb, who was a Churchwarden at St Michael's Church, also served on the city council, and the man who shared his name, William Tubb senior, who was prominent on the council from 1762 until his death at the age of 81 in 1803 is likely to have been his uncle.
On 1 November 1780 William Tubb (15) was taken on by his father Michael Tubb as his apprentice, and on 24 July 1782 his only surviving sibling Thomas Tubb (13) was apprenticed to Thomas Prickett of Oxford as a solicitor's clerk.
In 1783 the directory listing for the shop on the site of 37 Cornmarket was “Tubb, Michael, Grocer, Tea-dealer, and Tallow-chandler”, but soon after William reached the age of 21 in April 1785 the business was renamed Michael Tubb & Son. William Tubb was admitted free on 29 July 1785, and the following September when he was aged only 21 he took on his first apprentice, Thomas Bartlett.
On 20 July 1786 in Bicester, William Tubb married Elizabeth Westcar, and they had two daughters:
- Elizabeth Tubb (born on 2 December 1787 and baptised at St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church on 15 December)
- Ann Tubb (born on 21 November 1793 and baptised at St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church on 24 November).
Sir Richard Tawney selected William Tubb as his Mayor’s Child on 30 September 1790, and he took up a Chamberlain’s place on the Council.
In March 1792, William Tubb took on another apprentice, John Hayes.
In 1794 the Universal British Directory lists the shop under William’s name: “Tubb William, Grocer, and Agent to the Bristol Fire-office”.
William's father Michael Tubb died on 18 January 1795 at the age of 60 and was buried in the chancel of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church on 22 January. His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal described him as “'Grocer and Tea Dealer, in the Corn Market”. William inserted a notice in that newspaper on 31 January 1795 stating that he intended to carry on the business as before.
On 21 June 1800 the following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal:
Wanted immediately,—A Young Man as Shopman in the Grocery Business — A respectable Reference will be required as to his Honesty, Sobriety, and obliging deportment. Apply to Mr. William Tubb, Grocer and Tallow Chandler, Oxford.
William Tubb was elected Senior Bailiff for 1800/1.
William's mother Ann Tubb died in 1807 at the age of 84 and was buried on 31 December with her husband in the chancel of St Michael's Church. Her death was reported in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 2 January 1808, which described her as the widow of Mr Tubb, grocer of Oxford.
On 24 March 1814 William Tubb was elected one of the eight Assistants, and six months later Mayor (for 1814/15).
His elder daughter was married during his mayoralty:
- On 5 June 1815 at St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church, Elizabeth Tubb married Jonathan Peel, Esq. of the parish of Bensington [Benson], Oxfordshire (with Peel wrongly printed as Pead in the marriage announcement in Jackson’s Oxford Journal)
On 15 August 1815 near the end of his mayoralty Tubb perambulated the city bounds and gave a supper at his house afterwards to the company of city officers and the many gentlemen of the council chamber. He continued to serve as an Assistant after his mayoralty.
William Tubb died at the age of 60 on 9 June 1824, probably at 37 Cornmarket Street, and was buried inside St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church six days later.
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His memorial (left) on the wall of St Michael-
Sacred to the Memory of Through life he Faithfully In remembrance also of ELIZABETH, This small token of respect & gratitude In coelo resurgant! |
As William Tubb had no sons, he left his freehold premises at 37 Cornmarket Street and his leasehold coach house in Ship Street to his wife Elizabeth,, with the intention that she should receive the clear rents of £120 p.a. “for which the said freehold Messuage and certain parts of the said Leasehold Premises have been agreed to be let to Thomas William Tubb during her life clear of all deductions whatsoever“.
William's widow Elizabeth Tubb died on 4 February 1832 “at an advanced age” (76, according to the burial register) and was . buried with her husband on 13 February.
Thomas William Tubb of Bicester was the son of William Tubb's brother Thomas. He was described in various directories between 1830 and 1852 as a grocer at 37 Cornmarket Street (and as a tallow chandler as well in 1830). He never married, and on 1 April 1854 he announced that he had relinquished his business here at 37 Cornmarket Street to Charles Underhill. At the time of the 1861 census Thomas William Tubb was living as a gentleman & fundholder in the home of his younger brother George, who was a banker & grocer, at Market Street, Bicester. He died there at the age of 77 in May 1866.
William Tubb's two daughters
Elizabeth Tubb (Mrs Peel) (born 2 December 1787)
Elizabeth and her husband Jonathan Peel had the following nine children baptised at St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church in Oxford on the dates shown:
- William Accrington Peel (11 March 1816)
- Edmund Yates Peel (23 April 1817)
- Robert Bolton Wild Peel (12 November 1818)
- Eliza Catherine Westcar Peel (20 February 1821); died aged 8 at Culham, buried St Michael's 20 April 1829)
- John Henry Westcar Peel (29 August 1822)
- Emily Esther Anne Peel (14 March 1824)
- Magdalene Susanna Peel (24 July 1825)
- Matilda Catherine Peel (7 May 1827)
- Elen Elizabeth Westcar Peel (2 July 1829)
Jonathan Peel was a farmer throughout their marriage, and the 1841 census shows him living with Elizabeth at Zouch Farm in Culham, Oxfordshire. He died within a few months of that census, and at the time of the 1851 census Elizabeth was living with her son William, who was now an East India merchant, and his family at the Manor House in Chigwell, Essex.
Ann Tubb (born 21 November 1793)
Ann Tubb never married. At the time of the 1851 and 1861 censuses she was a proprietor of houses/fundholder living at 90 High Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. She died at Cheltenham at the age of 74 on 7 December 1867 and was buried there on 13 December 1867. Her effects came to almost £50,000, and her executor was her nephew John Henry Westcar Peel of Watlington.
William Tubb's nephew Thomas William Tubb (1799–1866)
William Tubb had no sons, and his will he left his freehold and leasehold business premises to his wife Ann, with the intention that “she shall receive the clear rents of one hundred and twenty pounds per annum for which the said freehold Messuage and certain parts of the said Leasehold Premises have been agreed to be let to the said Thomas William Tubb during her life clear of all deductions whatsoever“. His nephew Thomas William Tubb is duly described in directories from 1830 to 1852 as a grocer and tallow chandler at 37 Cornmarket Street.
Thomas William Tubb was the son of William's brother Thomas Tubb (born 1769) and his wife Mary, and was baptised at Bicester in 1799. His parents had settled in Bicester and he presumably grew up there, but by 1824 he was living in a house in New Inn Hall Lane (probably the present St Michael's Street) leased by William Tubb. His uncle, who had no sons, died in 1824, and in his will he left his freehold and leasehold business premises to his wife Ann, with the intention that she shall receive the clear rents of £120 p.a. “for which the said freehold Messuage and certain parts of the said Leasehold Premises have been agreed to be let to [his nephew] Thomas William Tubb during her life clear of all deductions whatsoever“. Thomas William Tubb is duly described in various directories between 1830 and 1852 as a grocer at 37 Cornmarket Street (and a tallow chandler as well in 1830).
On 1 April 1854 Thomas William Tubb announced that he had relinquished his business at 37 Cornmarket Street to Charles Underhill. He died at Bicester at the age of 67 on 29 April 1866 and his death notice described him as being “formerly of this city”.
The Tubb banking firm
William Tubb's brother Thomas Tubb of Bicester was a partner in a banking partnership in Oxford. The listing of Tubb’s bank in directories is as follows:
- Pigot’s Directory of 1823: Tubb, Wootten, & Tubb in St Aldate’s, Oxford
- Robson’s Commercial Directory of 1839: Wootten, Tubb & Co at 2 St Aldate’s, Oxford
Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on 24 April 1847: “On Friday last, at Bicester, after an illness of a few days only ... Thomas Tubb, Esq., banker, aged 78.... On 1 July 1847 the London Gazette announced that the banking business under the name of the Bicester & Oxfordshire Bank, until then carried on at Bicester by Richard Wootten the elder, Henry Michael Tubb, and Richard Wootten the younger, in partnership with Thomas Tubb (deceased), would henceforth be carried on at Oxford by Richard Wootten the elder and Richard Wootten the younger.
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2667, 2774, and 2969
- PCC Will PROB 11/1690/105 (Will of William Tubb of Oxford, proved 9 September 1824)
