John Carter (1861–1944)
Mayor of Oxford 1925/6
John Carter in 1925/6 (Picture Oxon 0655092)
John Carter was born in Toronto on 7 November 1861, the son of John Carter senior. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Trinity University Toronto, and then won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne, where he obtained a B.A. with second-class honours in Classics in 1882.
He then came up to Oxford to take another degree, entering Exeter College, Oxford in 1883, winning a Richards Exhibition in 1884 and obtaining a second-class B.A. in Literae Humaniores in 1887.
Carter was ordained in London as a Deacon in 1887 and a Priest in 1888. He was Curate of St Anne’s Church, Limehouse from 1887 to 1895, as well as Librarian of Pusey House from 1889 to 1921, and Assistant Chaplain at Exeter College, Oxford from 1890 to 1895.
From 1891 to 1914 The Revd John Carter was the Editor of the Economic Review.
In 1895 Carter was appointed Bursar of Pusey House, Oxford, and lived on the premises.
Carter was elected on to the City Council as University member in 1902, when the University held twelve of the sixty seats in Oxford. In 1913 he was elected an Alderman.
The 1921 census shows John Carter (59), described as a Clerk in Holy Orders and the Bursar of the Pusey Memorial Library, living with the Principal and Librarian and their housekeeper at Pusey House in St Giles' Street, Oxford.
John Carter was elected Mayor of Oxford for 1925/6. The Conservative and Liberal parties had combined to ask the the University to make a nomination, and, although a University member of the Council had been elected Mayor before, Carter was the first who represented the University per se rather than a political party. A visit of the British Association took place during his mayoralty.
In 1926 he became a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration.
Carter edited the first two volumes (published in 1928 and 1933) of the set of five Oxford Council Acts books written by H. E. Salter and published for the Oxford Historical Society by Oxford University Press.
The 1939 Register shows John Carter living at the Vicarage, 33 Maldon Road, Maldon, Essex with William Carter (born 30 March 1877): each is described as a Clerk in Holy Orders.
Carter was appointed Vicar of Tollesbury, Essex in 1941.
† The Revd John Carter died at the Vicarage at Tollesbury on 18 September 1944. His effects came to £5,669 18s. 6d., and his executor was the Revd Dr John Lowe.
See also:
- The Times, 9 November 1925, p. 16a (“The new Mayor of Oxford”)
- Oxford Monthly, November 1933, p. 27
- Oxford Times, 22 September 1944, p. 8f (obituary)
