No. 40: University of Oxford house
The main part of No. 40 dates from about 1600, while the flat-roofed single-storey wing shown on the right of the above photograph dates from the eighteenth century. It is a Grade II* listed building (List Entry No. 1068575) and lies in St Giles' parish. It is the only house in St Giles’ Street that is set back from the road with a proper front garden.
The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England Inventory of the historical monuments in the City of Oxford (1939) states:
(181) House, No.40 ... is of two storeys with attics; the walls are of stone, brick and timber-framing and the roofs are slate-covered. The SE part of the house together with the stone built hall at the back date probably from the early part of the 17th century; the extension to the W. forming a barn was added probably late in the 17th century and the N wing is an 18th-century addition; there are various modern additions. The upper storeys project on part of the original E. front and the gable has a moulded fascia. Inside the building, the hall as a stone fireplace with original moulded jambs and a moulded ceiling beam. On the first floor of this part of the house is an original plastered ceiling-beam with modelled vine ornament and flowers on the sides and soffit. In the attic-floor of the wing are the jambs of an original stone fireplace, with a reconstructed head. The Royal Commission survey notes dated October 1937 add some further detail with a sketch plan, a drawing of the moulded beam and a photograph of the plaster decoration.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. No. 40 was then occupied by Vincent Shortland, and its frontage measured 17 yards 1 feet 6 inches. Shortland had probably inherited this house from the Riggins family, along with their timber-yard on the site of Nos. 37 and 37A, and he seems to have lived here until 1789, as a house in St Giles “late in occupation of Vincent Shortland” is advertised to let in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 10 October that year. He thus probably lived in this house during his first term as Mayor in 1780/1, when he advertised in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 27 August 1781 a reward for the return of a horse stolen from his St Giles home. In 5 May 1790 Shortland was again advertising a house to rent, late in occupation of Mrs Stuart.
The 1841 census shows the Revd Richard Tiddeman living in the house with his wife and their five children: Emma, Spencer, Augusta, Maria, and Lydia, plus four servants.
On 31 March 1849 a forthcoming sale by public competition of eight houses that had belonged to Samuel Collingwood was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. No. 41 was in this group and was described thus:
All that convenient FREEHOLD FAMILY RESIDENCE, … in the occupation of the Rev. Mr. Tiddeman, approached through a flower garden 43 feet in length; containing entrance hall, breakfast room, dining room, library, and drawing room, five principal bed rooms and two attics, water closet, excellent kitchen, and all suitable domestic offices; together with garden attached.
At the time of the 1851 census Lydia Mallam (56), the widow of Thomas Mallam and described as a house proprietor, was living here with her four daughters and two sons, plus a cook and a housemaid; she was still here in 1861 with her two eldest daughters. She died here aged 76 on 14 October 1869, and two of her daughters continued to live in the house.
On 26 March 1870 an auction of the freehold of 40 St Giles' Street was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal, and the property was described thus:
The premises lay back from the street, with garden in front, and contain an entrance hall 24 feet by 7 feet, inner hall 17 feet by 17 feet, drawing room 20 feet by 12 feet, study 14 feet by 14 feet, and dining room 17 feet by 15 feet. There are six good bed rooms above, with two large attics, water closet, and linen closet. Two good cellars in the basement, capital kitchen, good pantry, back kitchen, and coal cellars, with large garden at the back.
The frontage to St. Giles's-street is 52 feet by a depth of 100 feet, and the width at the back is about 75 feet.
The 1871 census shows Miss Ann Mallam (47) and her sister Sarah Mallam (46) living here with their cook and housemaid.
At the time of the 1881 census the house was occupied by Edmund S. Ffoulkes (62), the Vicar of St Mary the Virgin, and his wife Ann and daughter Sophia, plus two servants.
No. 40 was unoccupied at the time of the 1891 census.
In 1896 Father Richard Clarke (who had been a Fellow and Tutor of St John's College, Oxford until he joined the Roman Catholic Church in 1865) founded Clarke's Hall for Jesuit undergraduates here at 40 St Giles' Street. (The following year he moved it to 11 St Giles' Street, where in 1903 it became Pope's Hall. Then in 1919 Pope's Hall became a permanent private hall of the University and was renamed Campion Hall, which moved to its present site in Brewer Street in 1936.)
The surgeon Dr J. Bywater-Ward practised here from 1897, and his widow Frances continued to live here after his death. The 1901 census shows her living here with her two daughters and their two servants. In 1911 she was here with one daughter and a lady boarder, plus three servants (a footman, cook, and maid), and in 1921 with her married daughter Edith and her two sons, plus three boarders and a private nurse.
The 1939 Register shows Paul Norman Blake Odgers, the University Reader in Human Anatomy, living here with Richard Michael Odgers, presumably his son, who was a student at the University of Oxford, and a woman who performed unpaid domestic duties for them. The solicitor Arthur William Odgers also lived with them, and they had a cook and a house/parlour maid.
40 St Giles' Street became a Linacre College house in about 1963.
Occupants of 40 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories |
|
1841–1846 |
Rev. Richard Philip Goldworthy Tiddeman |
1851–1871 |
Mrs Lydia Mallam (widow of Thomas Mallam) |
1871 |
Mrs Wotton |
1872 |
|
1875–1889 |
Rev. Edmund Salusbury Ffoulkes |
1890–1894 |
Vacant |
1894–1896 |
Henry Martin Dowson |
1896–1897 |
Clarke's Hall (for Jesuit undergraduates) |
1897–1926 |
J. Bywater-Ward, B.A., M.D. |
1928–1933 |
Edmund Cecil Bevers |
1934–1945 |
Paul Norman Blake Odgers |
1947–1962 |
Trevor Braby Heaton |
1964–1988 |
John B. Bamborough |