116–117: Oxford University Press Bookshop
The pair of houses that form the shop at Nos. 116–117 date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. They are a Grade II listed building (ref. 1485/338).
In 1696 Alderman Hawkins paid tax on ten windows at 116 High Street.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. No. 116 was then in the occupation of a Mrs Young and had a frontage of 6 yards 1 foot 10 inches; and No. 117 was occupied by a Mr Turner and had a frontage of 4 yards 0 feet 6 inches.
At the time of the 1851 census, Henry Stuart, the tailor at No. 116, lived over the shop with his wife and daughter and two servants. (One of the servants, an 18-year-old errand boy called Eli Buckingham, can be found as an umbrella manufacturer at 114 High Street from 1882.) In 1861, the tailor George Seager lived here with his family.
Henry Horneman, a cigar dealer, lived upstairs at No. 117. Soon after the census, the cigar business relocated to 3 Turl Street, and Henry Le Grand, a restaurateur, moved here from St Aldate’s Street.
By the time of the 1881 census, the upstairs of both these shops was let out. Above No. 116 was George Wastie Leach, a cook, with his wife and sister and three servants (a waiter, kitchenmaid, and scullerymaid). Above 117 was Harry Richard Lucas, a clerk in the Oxford Diocesan Registry, with his wife and four children, plus a domestic servant.
| Occupiers of 116 & 117 High Street | ||
| Date | 116 High Street | 117 High Street |
| 1839–1846 | John
Goolding then Mary Goolding Confectioner | A.
Quartermain Breeches maker |
| 1851 | Henry
Stuart Tailor & robe maker | Melchior
Lopez Cigar dealer |
| 1852 | Henry
Le Grand Restaurateur |
|
| 1866–1867 | Houghton
& Tuke Music sellers | Electronic
and International Telegraph Offices [to 1869] |
| 1868–1872 | Thomas
Bickerton Tobacconist | George
Gare Boot & shoemaker [from 1871] |
| 1875–1932 | Clarendon
Press Depository (Oxford University Press Showroom from 1925) | H.
Richardson Lucas Tobacconist (1875–1885) Thomas Leach Tobacconist (1887) Misses E. & M. Liddell Berlin wool depot & shirt manufacturer (1889–1899) Norman Edward Minty Japanese Art Depot (1900 only) Richard Dossett Stationer (1901–1904) Frank Smith, Stationer (1905–1911) Frederick George Mullins Hosier(1912–1925+) (and at No. 118 & 119) (Chantry Café upstairs 1928–1932) |
| 1934–1967 | Oxford University Press Showroom | Carr,
Son & Woor Ltd Tailors, outfitters & hosiers with café upstairs (1934–1940) John Bell & Croyden Surgical appliance makers (1941–1967) |
| 1970–1996 | Oxford
University Press Showroom Oxford University Gazette | A-Plan
Protection Ltd Insurance brokers (jointly with No. 118) 117A: Manpower Employment Agency |
| 1997–present | Oxford University Press Bookshop | |