37 Holywell Street, Oxford

Grade II Listed Building: IoE Number 245579. The house dates from the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century. Owned by Wadham College.

35, 36, 37, and 38 Holywell Street now comprise Staircases XIII and XIV of Wadham College to the north.

Moses Brooks, who lived in this house in the 1850s, was a farmer of 500 acres, presumably the farmland which lay between Holywell Street and the present South Parks Road. He employed twelve men in 1851.

The following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 28 August 1847:

TO be LET, — A HOUSE and BAKE HOUSE, with Garden, &c., situate in Holywell-street, Oxford. — Apply personally at No. 37 Holywell Street.

37 Holywell Street in the censuses

1841

George Bennett (40), a builder, lived here with Esther (40), an apprentice, various lodgers, and one female servant.

1851

Moses Brooks (52), a farmer of 500 acres employing twelve men, lived here with his wife Ann (48), who was a gentlemen’s lodging house keeper, and their children Anne (25), Miriam (16), Louisa (14), Martha (9), Francis (11), William (7), and George (5). Lodging with them were a clergyman and his wife.

1861

Thomas Lucas (36), a lodging house keeper, lived here with his wife Mary Ann (34) and children Thomas (6), Ellen (2), and William (six months). There was just one lodger, probably as the census was taken out of term time. They had a cook and general servant.

1881

George Hitchings (59), a surgeon, lived here with his wife Louisa (55) and his children Katherine (31), Elizabeth (28), Ada (21), Louisa (20), and Robert (17). They had three servants (a cook, housemaid, and footman).

1901

Robert Hitchings (37), a medical practitioner, lived here with his wife Millie (30) and his daughter Evelyn (7). They had three servants (a governess, cook, and housemaid).

1911

Louis Henry Dickson (31), a General Medical Practitioner, lived here with his wife Margaret (33) and his daughter Margaret Jean (2). They had two servants (a cook and a nurse).

Occupants of 37 Holywell Street listed in directories etc.
1772 Survey of Oxford	Frontage: 8 yds 0 ft 2 in Mrs Hayward
1839–1846	George Bennett Builder
1851–1852	Moses Brooks Farmer (later at No. 65)
1861	Thomas Lucas Lodging house keeper
1866–1914	George Charles Henry Hitchings, Surgeon to his death in 1897 Robert Hitchings, Surgeon & medical officer & public vaccinator from 1897 (In 1908 Hitchings moved up to Headington but kept his practice here, and it is still listed under his name, but it was his partner, Francis Henry Dickson, Physician & surgeon, who lived here.)
1916	Eric Graham Saunders, M.B., B.S. Physician & Surgeon
1921–1926	No listing
1935–1976	Wadham College Bursary (with Percival’s Coaches in 1976: but see 39A)
At 37 Holywell today