John Payne
Mayor of Oxford 1687/8
John Payne (or Paine) (c.1630–1689) was an Oxford brazier. On 9 September 1656, when he was a young man, he was one of the first five recipients to have a share in the £50 given to the city by Mrs Mary Brett to be let out on good security to five freemen. On 20 May 1658 Anthony Wood recorded in his diary, "For 1 brass peices of coine of yong Paine the tinker, 2d."
He is probably the John Payne of All Saints parish who married Alice Emerson of Cornhill, London at St Michael’s Church in Oxford on 13 August 1655. Payne had three sons:
- Thomas (recorded in the All Saints baptismal register as having been born on 11 July 1656)
- John (baptised at All Saints Church on 11 September 1657)
- Tobias (recorded in the All Saints baptismal register as having been born on 14 July 1665).
As Payne was a brazier, he may well be the "Mr Payne" who during the Commonwealth (1649–1660) bought for £2 1s. the monumental brasses (weighing 112lbs) that were torn from the old All Saints Church.
In 1665 Payne paid tax on three hearths in All Saints parish, and was assessed as follows for poll tax there in March 1667:
- For himself, his wife, and his two children [Thomas and John]: poll tax of one shilling each
- For his apprentices Thomas Collis and Anne Mathews: poll tax of one shilling each
- For his servant Sarah Cupper: three shillings (i.e. one shilling in the pound on her yearly wages of £2, plus poll tax of a shilling)
Payne was elected on to the Common Council on 1 October 1666, and came in and took the oaths on 15 October, paying a fine of 3s. 4d. for not having served as head constable. On 30 September 1670 he was chosen by the new Mayor, Francis Greneway, as his Chamberlain. On 16 September 1672 he was elected Senior Bailiff. On 14 September 1674 Payne was fined five shillings for going out of the house before the Mayor’s election was over.
Payne was chosen as one of the Mayor’s Assistants on 2 October 1684, and on 19 September 1687 was elected Mayor. He chose Robert Aldworth as his Child and Edward Reade as his Chamberlain. Two-thirds of the way through his term of office, on 6 June 1688, Payne was ejected from the council by King James II, whose new Charter for the city was produced and publicly read in the Guildhall on 25 September. Under this charter Richard Carter took over immediately as the next Mayor, a few days earlier than usual.
On 29 October 1688, however, Payne was reinstated as a Bailiff, and it was agreed he could have the fishing days traditionally awarded to the Mayor within the following month.
Payne died the following spring, and was buried at All Saints Church on 2 April 1689 ("on Easter day at night", according to Wood). His youngest son, Tobias (or Toby) Toby, took over his business, and eventually himself was elected Mayor.
See also:
- PCC Will PROB 11/395 (Will of John Payne or Paine, Gentleman of Oxford, proved 13 April 1689)
- Tobias Payne, Mayor of Oxford in 1705 and 1715 (his son)