Walter Cave
Mayor of Oxford 1650/1
Walter Cave (c.1602–1662/3) was baptised at St Mary’s Church, Witney on 28 January 1602. He was the second son of Thomas Cave of St Helen's, Worcester and his wife Katharine, daughter of Walter Jones of Witney.
Cave's parents had married in 1592 and he had three older siblings: Anne (baptised at Witney on 29 December 1593); Richard (baptised 18 August 1596); and Margaret (baptised 26 August 1599).
On 7 July 1619 Cave was apprenticed to the mercer Thomas Cooper of Oxford. On 17 February 1630/1 he married Alice Williams, daughter of Thomas Williams of the Star Inn in Cornmarket, at Wolvercote. They had two sons:
- Thomas, born in about 1633 (described as the "eldest son of Walter Cave, gent." when he was admitted free on 11 April 1661)
- Walter (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 23 April 1635).
Alice was buried at St Michael’s Church on 23 August 1635, exactly four months after the baptism of her son Walter junior.
On 20 December 1638 Cave was admitted to brew by the University, moving to the brewing area in Grandpont. His house was on the west side of St Aldate’s Street, to the south of the present Speedwell Street.
Cave was admitted free by the City on 13 September 1639, paying the officers' fees of five shillings, and on the very same day the Mayor (fellow brewer Thomas Smith) asked that he might request a Bailiff’s place for Cave in lieu of bringing in a son. On 17 September 1639, just four days after gaining his freedom, Cave was duly elected senior bailiff.
According to Anthony Wood, Cave married a second wife, Elizabeth Clemson of Abingdon, who appears also to have been known as Jane. This marriage must have taken place in about 1640, around the time he came on to the council. They had the following children (who were probably baptised at St Aldate’s in the 1640s, but all the registers for that church prior to 1678 are missing):
- Henry (buried 9 September 1657 at St Aldate’s, described as "son of Walter Cave Esq")
- Sarah (married Thomas Fifield before 1663)
- Joan (married Matthew Treadwell)
- Elizabeth
- Jane (remained single, buried at St Aldate’s on 9 November 1672, described as "daughter of Mr Walter ye Elder")
- Clemson
- John
- Abraham
In September 1642 Cave was appointed one of the Keykeepers. In October that year he contributed £5 of his personal money towards a collection of money to be presented to King Charles I after the Battle of Edgehill.
On 14 June 1645 Cave’s brother, Sir Richard Cave, was killed at the Battle of Naseby.
On 19 February 1647 Cave’s "late servant", Thomas Wilkinson, was admitted free.
Cave then moved to the higher council posts (helped by a purge by Parliament of the council members who favoured the King), and on 8 August 1648 he was elected one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants in place of Leonard Bowman. Two years later, on 16 September 1650, he was elected Mayor, and chose William Bayly junior, son of William Bayly senior, as his Child. After his term of office he held the post of Assistant and Keykeeper again.
In March 1658 Cave paid the council a shilling for a licence to continue the standing of a post to support his house at Carfax. This is probably the corner house at the junction of Cornmarket and the High Street.
On 26 October 1659 Cave was one of the group selected to present letters of congratulation to the Lord Protector.
On 17 September 1660 Leonard Bowman was restored to his position as Assistant, but Cave, because of the respect due to him from the city, was allowed to continue to wear his scarlet gown and take his place in the Council Chamber and at church and at all other public functions according to the seniority that he would have enjoyed had he still been an Assistant.
In August 1661 Cave went out with the Mayor and senior councillors in his scarlet gown with footclothes and footmen to meet the King on his visit to the city.
Cave died on 21 February 1662/3, and was buried at St Aldate’s Church two days later. Anthony Wood used the occasion to provide a potted family history in his diary:
Walter Cave of Grandpoole in the south suburbs of Oxon, brewer, brother to Sir Richard Cave, knight, died at his house in Grandpoole, S., 21 Febr. 1662, and was buried in S. Aldate’s church. He married his first wife, Alice, daughter of Thomas Williams of the Star Inn in Oxon; and to his second, Elizabeth, the daughter of [Thomas] Clemson of Abendon; by both which he had issue.
Cave's second wife (who appears to have been known as Jane/Joan as well as Elizabeth) was paying tax on nine hearths in 1665. In 1667 she is described as "relict of a gent." when she pays 7s. 8d. in poll tax for herself and a shilling for each of her five children, namely Elizabeth, Jane, Clemson, John, and Abraham. She was still alive in 1680.
Walter Cave junior, Cave's son
Walter Cave junior was baptised at St Michael’s Church on 23 April 1635. Described as the "second son of Walter Cave, gent.", he was granted his freedom on 6 August 1666 (paying the fee of 9s. 6d.), with the proviso that it was to be remembered that this kindness was done for his father’s sake (he had been born before his father was made free in 1639, which made him ineligible for his freedom by descent).
In 1667 Walter Cave junior, with a wife and three children, was paying five shillings poll tax in St Aldate’s, but it looks as though his wife died the next year, as Elizabeth Cave, "wife of Mr Walter" was buried at St Aldate’s on 21 November 1668. He then married a widow, Mrs Ann Turton, at St Aldate’s Church on 8 November 1670, and they had at least four children:
- Anne (baptised at All Saints on 26 August 1671)
- Katherine (baptised at All Saints on 1 November 1672)
- Jane (baptised at All Saints on 24 February 1673/4)
- Richard (baptised at All Saints on 11 June 1675)
Another Walter Cave
There was another Walter Cave, described as "chief butler of Exeter College", whose son Thomas and daughter Mary (probably twins) were both baptised at St Ebbe’s Church on 1 June 1634 and buried on 2 and 5 June 1634 respectively. Another daughter, Elizabeth, was buried at St Ebbe’s the same month, on the 20th.
See also:
- PCC Will PROB 11/311 (Will of Walter Cave, Gentleman of Oxford, proved 2 June 1663)
- Strangers in Oxford, pp. 150–152