John Bird
Mayor of Oxford 1615/16
John Bird or Byrd (born c. 1580, died after 1627) was an Oxford mercer. He was admitted free on 9 March 1601, and came on to the Common Council and was appointed a Keykeeper in October 1602.
On 20 June 1603 it was agreed that he should have "the room of a chamberlayne", paying £5; and on 2 October 1605 that he should have a bailiff’s room for 40s (a reduced fee in view of the fact that he had very lately paid £3 for a chamberlain’s place).
In January 1607 Bird’s apprentice, John Colman, was admitted free "in respect he hath served seaven yeares as an apprentice with Mr John Bird, mercer, he being bound unto his said master before his said master was free of this cytie". Two more of Bird’s apprentices (Thomas Pare and John Tew) were admitted free in August 1613 and July 1615 respectively.
On 5 September 1609 Bird was granted the lease of a shop by the council.
In October 1610 Bird and Isaac Bartholomew were employed by the city concerning a dispute over a mill between the city and Merton College.
In 1611 there was a controversy between Bird and William Boswell about the latter’s election as one of the Mayor’s Assistants. William Lord Knollys, High Steward of the City, was asked to adjudicate and came out in favour of Bird, who was duly elected an Assistant on 7 June.
In September 1615 Bird was elected Mayor.
On 28 June 1616 John Bird, mercer, and Amy his wife were granted a lease by the Council of 30–33 Castle Street, described as a messuage in Bullock’s Lane and another messuage to the west of the Castle drawbridge.
In August 1620 and August 1626 two more of Bird’s apprentices, John Pead and Richard Colton, were respectively admitted free. In 1620, Bird is described as "gent.".
Bird was still on the Mayor’s Council in 1626, but on 14 June 1627 a letter from the Recorder and Deputy Recorder of Oxford was read out to the council. This letter, dated 7 June 1627, was addressed to Bird and stated that, in view of the fact that he had left the city of Oxford and gone to London, he should resign his post as a member of the Mayor’s Council rather than that he should "suffer any record to remaine against him that he was expelled". He accordingly resigned from the council.
Michael Bird, a mercer in Cornmarket who took up his freedom in 1654, was described as the eldest son of John Bird.
See also:
- PCC Will PROB 11/239 (Will of John Byrd or Bird of Saint Olave Hart Street, City of London, proved 31 January 1654). This could be the will of Bird, who went to London in 1627