86 & 87: Beneficial Finance
Nos. 86 and 87 are on the site of the former Boster Hall and the Saracen’s Head. The present building is an early seventeenth-century timber-framed house, with the upper storeys jutting out beyond the lower ones. A new front with seven Doric columns was added at ground-floor level in about the 1820s. It is a Grade II* listed building (ref. 1485/418).
Nos 86 and 87 are owned by University College, and there is now student accommodation upstairs. They have formed one dwelling for much of their history. In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771, and Nos. 86 & 87 were then in the occupation of a Mr Hacker, and their joint frontage measured 14 yards 1 foot 9 inches.
At the time of the 1851 census, these were still two private houses. No. 86 on the left was divided into two: downstairs lived Charles Daman, a clergyman and Tutor in Classics at Oriel College, together with his wife, two sons, and three servants; and upstairs was Thomas Bradshaw, a funded proprietor, with his wife Frances and their two sons, his mother-in-law (the Dowager Viscountess of Hereford), and five servants. In No. 87 lived William Castle, the Manciple of Magdalen College, together with his wife, three servants, and five student lodgers from Brasenose and University Colleges.
In 1861 Charles Buckeridge, an architect, lived with his family and two servants at No. 86, while his other servants (a footman, cook, and housemaid) lived in No. 87.
At the time of the 1881 census, George Spokes (then the manager of Walford & Son and later a partner) was living over the shop, as well as an errand boy of 14.
In 1975 there were no fewer than three branches of the National Westminster Bank in the High: here at Nos. 86–87, at No. 91, and at 120–122. Only the last branch has survived.
| Occupiers of 86 & 87 High Street | ||
| Date | 86 High Street | 87 High Street |
| 1846 | Rev.
Charles Daman (to 1852+) Mrs Ann White | Mrs Anne Bridges |
| 1861–1871 | Charles
Buckeridge (1861 only, then no listings) | Revd
H. L. Mansel (to 1867) Walter Faulks (1871 only) |
| 1876–1885 | Walford
& Son Dealers in antique china/silver/furniture | |
| 1886–1939 | Walford
& Spokes Jewellers/furnishers | |
| 1941–1956 | Cecil
A. Halliday Antique dealer | |
| 1960–1968 | District Bank Ltd | |
| 1970–1980+ | National Westminster Bank Ltd | |
| By 1995–present | Beneficial Finance (formerly Household Bank) HFC Ltd |
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