The Latimer family of Headington
The Latimers were Lords of the Manor of Heddington (to be distinguished from the better-known Manor of Headington) from 1815 to 1871, and were responsible for the original development of New Headington village on their land.
Edward Latimer (1775–1845) (left) was born in Kirklinton, Cumbria.
By 1798, at the age of 23, he was an Oxford wine merchant, and in that year was made a Freeman of the city.
On 24 June the next year, he married Miss Elizabeth Jones at St Andrew’s Church in Headington: she was the niece of Mary Jones, then Lady of the Manor of Heddington.
The Latimers spent the first part of their marriage living in All Saints parish in Oxford (probably over their wine shop at 11 High Street), where Mrs Latimer gave birth to fifteen children in seventeen years. In 1804 Latimer was elected on to the city council, but did not progress through the ranks.
In 1815 Miss Mary Jones died, leaving Headington House and the Manor of Heddington to her niece and her husband. At first they only used the house as their country retreat, but in August 1818 they moved up permanently from All Saints parish in Oxford with their twelve surviving children.
It was in 1818 that the Latimers first started to hold manorial courts, and many of the people who lived in the village of Old Headington were their copyhold tenants. As well as Headington House and its grounds (which then stretched up to the London Road) they owned 26 acres of land to the west of Windmill Road, most of Bayswater including the mill, the site of Headington cemetery, and fields to the north and south of the Bayswater Brook.
Elizabeth Latimer died in 1843, and Edward on 18 November 1845. Under his will he instructed that Headington House and other land and property be sold, and the sale duly took place in June 1848. William Mead Warner, a speculative builder from Banbury, bought the land to the south of London Road, and laid out New Headington village in 1851: it then consisted of the present New High Street and Bateman Street, and the warren of small streets down as far as Wilberforce Street. His son William bought back the field now occupied by Kennett Road, which explains why that area was not developed until much later.
The twelve children of Edward and Elizabeth Latimer who survived to adulthood were as follows:
- Elizabeth Mary Jones Latimer (1800–1891). Known as Mary, she remained a spinster, living in Headington until her death. She did many good works for St Andrew’s Church, and was one of Headington’s principal landowners in 1851. From 1821 to 1825 while living with her family at Headington House she wrote a diary in French and Italian, and this is currently being translated by the Oxfordshire Record Office. After her parents' death she continued to live with her brother Digby in Headington. Her obituary in the Oxford Times described her as "one of the old school of gentlewomen".
- John Edward Latimer (1801–c.1850). John obtained his BA at Merton College in 1824, but then appears to have moved away from Headington.
- Jane Sturman Margaret Latimer (1802–1872). Jane was apparently handicapped and spent most of her life with her younger sister Caroline.
- Edward William Forty Latimer (1803–1881). Edward obtained his BA at Lincoln College in 1827, and was Rector of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire until his death.
- Digby Latimer (1808–1884). Digby obtained his BA at Lincoln College in 1831 and was admitted as a barrister-at-law at Lincoln’s Inn in 1835. He and his wife always lived in Headington, first at 10 St Andrew’s Road and later at Unity House, and he was a Churchwarden at St Andrew’s Church from 1850 to 1864. He became Lord of the Manor of Heddington after his father’s death in 1845, but in 1871 he went bankrupt and had to sell the manor. He is buried in a railed grave just to the right of the main door of St Andrew’s Church, and his obituary in the parish magazine says, "He set a noble example of bearing crushing misfortune with cheerful courage." He had no children.
- George Burton Potts Latimer (1809-after 1871). George obtained his BA at Pembroke College in 1833 and became perpetual curate at St Paul’s in Birmingham. He went bankrupt at the same time as Digby in 1871.
- Charles Latimer (1810-after 1832). He did not go to university but was made a freeman of the City of Oxford in 1832, indicating that he was being groomed to take over the family wine business. This never happened, and he was murdered in Wisconsin in 1844.
- Sturman Latimer (1812–1892). Sturman was the only brother to go to Cambridge, obtaining his BA from Trinity College in 1834. He was a solicitor in Oxford, living in St Andrew’s Lane and later Old High Street. He was a Manager of the National School, Churchwarden of St Andrew’s from 1874 to 1878, and a member of the Headington Burial Board; he also helped to establish a reading room in Headington. His grave at St Andrew’s is near to his brother Digby’s.
- William Latimer (1813–1881). William obtained his BA from Lincoln College in 1833, and had a curacy at Broughton near Banbury and then at Lambeth, retiring to Headington (Old High Street) by 1860. He was Chaplain to the Headington Union Workhouse from 1877 until his death.
- Frederic Latimer (1814–1870). Frederic did not go to university, but took over the family wine business. He and his wife Marianne lived at 37 St Andrew’s Road and then at Church House, and they baptised thirteen children at St Andrew’s Church between 1847 and 1864. Like his brothers Digby and Sturman, he took a turn as Churchwarden of St Andrew’s, but in about 1867 he moved to the Iffley Road. He was buried at St Andrew’s on 9 September 1870.
- Caroline Stephens Latimer (1816–1880). Caroline married her cousin, John Latimer Nichol (brother of Miss Nichol of Jessamine Cottage) at St Andrew’s Church in 1838, and they lived at first in London and then Norwood in Surrey. They had no children. She came back as a widow to Headington in 1872, and lived in Church House. She was buried at St Andrew’s Church.
- Louisa Latimer (1818–1873). She never married, but lived with her sister Caroline, returning with her to Headington in 1872. She was buried in St Andrew’s Church the next year.
Above: plaque on the wall of St Andrew’s Church, Headington. It reads:
To the memory of / ELIZABETH LATIMER / who died / March 21st 1843 /
Also of / EDWARD LATIMER / husband of the above / who died / November 18th 1845 /
Their remains are interred / in the family vault in this / church yard
Left: Grave of Caroline Latimer (Mrs Nichol) in the churchyard
Full history of the family
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