William Matthew
Mayor of Oxford 1564/5
William Matthew (or Mathew/Mathewe) (d.1565) was Mayor of Abingdon before he became Mayor of Oxford. He married the widow Mrs Mary Bridgeman (sister of Sir Thomas White): she was a leading Oxford figure with a properties in Reading that she had inherited from her first husband.
Mathew was a mercer by trade, with a shop in All Saints parish. The Oxford city records state that on 10 March 1557/8:
Willyam Mathew, Mayre of Abyngdon, was admytted into the freedome of this Citie, and hathe compounded for Chamberlayne and Baylie and his fredom, xli.
He made swift progress through the council ranks: on 16 September 1562, just four and a half years after being admitted on to the council, he is listed as one of the eight Mayor’s Assistants, and on 29 September 1564 he started his term as Mayor. He died, however, the following February, just five months into his year of office, and was buried at All Saints Church on 27 February 1565.
Matthew’s widow, Mary continued trading as a mercer after his death: the first of her apprentices admitted free in 1570 (John Dewe, father of the mayor of the same name) would have started his apprenticeship under her husband, but she herself must have taken on those gaining their freedom in 1574, 1576, and 1582. She died in about 1587 and charged her house in All Saints parish with 6s. 8d. a year, half for church repair, and half for repair.
See also:
- Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, Volume IV: City of Oxford, facing page 220: painting of Mathew’s widow Mary
- PCC Will PROB 11/48 (Will of William Mathew, proved 28 June 1565)