37 Cornmarket
.
In the 1850s the prominent grocer Charles Underhill moved his grocery shop here from 11 Beaumont Street. By 1861 he had moved to Diamond Villa in South Parade his five youngest children, leaving his 18-year-old grocer son of the same name and his 17-year-old daughter here with a housekeeper.
Subsequently the Royal Insurance Company was here for about fifty years.
In the Censuses
1841
Two grocer's shopmen and a female servant live upstairs in Thomas Tubb's shop.
1851
Samuel Dickinson (18) and Robert Forester (23), described as a grocer's shopmen and servants of the head of the household (i.e. the grocer Thomas Tubb), are sleeping over the shop on census night with a housekeeper.
1861
Charles Maitland Underhill (18), a Grocer's Assistant and head of the household, is living here with his 17-year-old sister Harriett Roffey Underhill and a female servant
1881
The shop was still Underhill's grocery shop, but the upstairs was evidently let out, as living there is David Martin (28), an auctioneer & valuer, with his wife Mary (24). They have a housemaid and kitchenmaid.
Occupants of 37 Cornmarket listed in directories etc |
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1839–1854 |
Thomas William Tubb, Grocer (& Tallow Chandler in 1839) |
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1854–1921 |
Charles Underhill, Grocer and general provision merchant |
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1928–1958 |
Dunn & Co., Hatters Royal Insurance Co. Ltd |
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1960–1976 |
Royal Insurance Co Ltd (later Royal Insurance Group) |
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1985–2007 |
Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich PLC) |
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2008–present |
Virgin Media |
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Old pictures on other websites and in books
For pictures of the inside of Underhill's shop in 1891, and a circular letter and catalogue for 1893 , see Michael L. Turner and David Vaisey, Oxford Shops and Shopping, pp. 24–5, photographs 44–48.
No. 37 in 1907 by Henry Taunt.
For a photograph of of Charles Underhill's grocer's shop in August 1907, see Malcolm Graham and Laurence Waters, Oxford Yesterday and Today, p. 15