History of G.H. Williams' two shops
G. H. Williams & Son founded his cycle business in Headington in 1912, and it was still run by his grandchildren when it closed 84 years later on 17 June 2006. It has had two locations on the London Road:
- A large double shop on the south side by the corner of Holyoake (then Western) Road, which was originally numbered 60, but renumbered 138 & 140 in the early 1930s
- A smaller shop on the opposite side of the London Road, originally numbered 37 but renumbered 115 in the early 1930s.
138–140 London Road (1908–1955)
The original G.H. Williams shop is shown above, when it was celebrating a royal event (probably the coronation of George VI in 1937). The section on the left, which sold sweets and tobacco, has an advertisement on the door for Eldorado ice-cream and another over the door for Fry’s cocoa, while the windows advertise Cadbury’s Chocolate. Cycles (made in the area behind the shop) were sold in the right-hand section. Cycles were also repaired there, and petrol could also be purchased from the pump on the pavement to the right.
The picture below shows the same shop in 2004, prior to demolition in early 2006.
The story of G.H. Williams starts when John and Sarah Ward of Horspath moved to Headington in the 1850s. They lived in the house which now forms the right-hand side of the Mount Pleasant Hotel on the London Road, and John Ward, who was a brickmaker, probably came to help build New Headington just round the corner. They brought with them their youngest children, including their daughter Letitia (Lettice).
George Williams of Chadlington met and married Letitia, and they settled in Old Headington in the 1860s. Their son, George Henry Williams, who was to found the firm, was born on 3 July 1882 and baptised in St Andrew’s Church.
In December 1885 George Williams senior purchased land in Lime Walk from the Revd John Taylor and built 117 Walk for his family, including a laundry for his wife. He later built 128 Lime Walk and a pair of semis around the corner in Old Road. The postcard (right) shows Lime Walk from Old Road in about 1900: the Williams' house is the fourth house back on the right.
Also in the mid-1880s, the Oxford furnisher Harry Neville Prior built himself a grand country mansion which he named Highfield Park (now the Park Hospital), whose main gates were opposite the south end of Lime Walk. Harry's son Sydney H. Prior obtained a BA in Chemistry from Exeter College, Oxford in 1893 and shortly afterwards followed the example of William Morris and started up the Highfield Motor and Cycle Works in the grounds of Highfield House, where George Williams, came to work for him as a cycle-maker
By 1907, Prior opened a proper retail shop in a brand-new building on the corner of Holyoake Road, where he made and sold the "Highfield Cycle". The advertisement on the right is from Bennett’s Business Directory of 1913.
Left Prior’s shop can be seen in the middle of this group of houses, just the other side of Holyoake (then called Western) Road. This detail is taken from a postcard of about 1907.
George Henry Williams, now aged 26, was put in charge of the retail side of the business, and in 1912 bought the shop. He renamed it G.H. Williams Cycle Maker & Repairer, and began to sell toys, confectionery and tobacco, as well as petrol. The advertisement on the right is from Kelly’s Directory of 1936.
G.H. Williams & Son remained in this shop until the mid-1950s, when it moved to smaller premises across the road.
| 138–140 London Road (formerly No. 60) | |
| Dates | Occupant of shop |
| 1907–1912 | S.H. Prior & Co., Highfield Motor and Cycle Works |
| 1912–1954 | George H. Williams, shopkeeper/cycle agent |
| 1956 | No listing in Kelly’s Directory |
| 1958–1980 | Part of the Oxford & District Co-operative Society, which stretched all the way from Windmill Road to Holyoake Road, and then across the road to include this shop |
| Early 1980s–1995 | Shergold’s Ironmongers (who moved from 87 London Road). In about 1993 they became Carpenter Shergold’s |
| c.1996–1999 | Hacienda Homeware, Cookware, & Retail |
| c.1999–2006 | Cotswold Collection |
| 2007 | Demolished. New development nearing completion |
115 London Road (1955–2006)
George Henry Williams junior (who had been born in the old shop in 1911) moved the business across the road to Westbourne Terrace in the mid-1950s. He sold and repaired cycles here, and also had a fishing-tackle and sweets section.
G.H. Williams junior continued to work in the new shop until he was in his nineties, together with his son, daughter, and son-in-law.
The shop closed in June 2006, and sadly G.H. Williams junior died on 28 December 2006 at the age of 95.
The sixteen houses of Westbourne Terrace were built in the 1890s: they are not listed in the 1891 census, but appear on the 1898 Ordnance Survey map of Headington. Their occupants are only listed in directories before 1925 if their occupants ran a business or were of a higher position in society.
| 115 London Road (formerly No. 37 London Road and 4 Westbourne Terrace) |
Private and commercial occupants |
| 1901–1904 | William Coppock (William Coppock (37), a rate collector and his wife Annabella (30) listed in 1901 census) |
| 1906–1923 | The house is not listed in directories |
| 1925–1949 | Sydney Howard Cox |
| 1952 | Layton’s of Oxford (Motors) Ltd (showrooms) (Their main premises were behind, where Somerfield is now) |
| 1954 | No listing in Kelly’s Directory |
| 1956–2006 | G.H. Williams & Son, cycles |
| 2008 | Café Online internet café |