Tobias Payne
Mayor of Oxford 1705/6 and 1715/16
Tobias Payne (or Pain or Paine) (1665–1739) was the youngest son of the brazier John Payne, who himself had been Mayor of Oxford in 1687; his mother was probably Alice Emerson of Conrhill, London. His older brothers Thomas and John were born on 11 July 1656 and 11 September 1657 respectively, and Toby himself was born on 14 July 1665.
Toby Payne followed the trade of his father and also an Oxford brazier and pewterer, remaining in All Saints parish.
Payne must have married in about 1688, and had the following children
- John (baptised at All Saints on 1 February 1690/1)
- Margaret (baptised at All Saints on 20 April 1694)
- Jane (baptised at All Saints on 21 June 1695)
- Elizabeth (baptised at All Saints on 9 January 1696/7)
- Lucy (baptised at All Saints on 2 May 1698)
- Thomas (baptised at All Saints on 7 January 1701/2)
- William (baptised at All Saints on 29 March 1703)
- James (baptised at All Saints on 24 March 1703/4)
- Catherine (baptised at All Saints on 13 September 1705)
- Ann (baptised at All Saints on 25 May 1707)
- George (baptised at All Saints on 26 June 1709)
- Richard (baptised at All Saints on 1 October 1710)
- Robert (baptised at All Saints on 31 January 1711/12).
There was also at least one more daughter, Frances. A number of Payne’s children appear to have died in babyhood, but there is some uncertainty as the registers do not state relationships or ages.
Payne’s father died in 1689 and Payne inherited his shop, which was on the north side between the Mitre and the present market. He paid tax on 16 windows there in 1696.
Payne was chosen as one of the 24 of the Common Council on 30 September 1692, paying 3s. 4d. for not being High Constable. In 1693 he was appointed a Keykeeper; in 1694 one of the two Chamberlains; and in 1696 Junior Bailiff.
In 1703 Payne was chosen as one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants and on 13 September 1705 was elected Mayor, selecting Henry Lea (or Lay) as his Child.
Payne returned to his position of Mayor’s Assistant, and took on an apprentice brazier, John Warwick, in December 1710. In September 1715 he was chosen Mayor a second time, selecting Henry Kirby as his Child. Thomas Hearne approved of the choice of Payne, "who is a Brazier, [&] hath ye Character of a pretty honest Man".
Payne returned to being Mayor’s Assistant again after his year of office, and in March 1718 he took on his own son James, who was now 14, as an apprentice brazier. In 1720 Payne was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
On 2 September 1726 it was reported that:
Mr Pain, one of the eight assistants, had in a public and scandalous manner been arrested by one Richard Johnson on a 'mesne press' contrary to the privilege and against the custom of the City. It is agreed that the said Johnson be prosecuted as the Recorder shall advise."
This arrest was probably in connection with a Chancery suit between the Council and a Mrs Sawyer, who demanded some money back which the council maintained belonged to her husband and not to her.
In September 1729 Payne took on a third apprentice, William Collison; but this apprenticeship was cancelled by mutual consent in May 1733.
Tobias Payne remained a Mayor’s Assistant until his death. He was buried in All Saints Church on 6 September 1739.
The widow Margaret Phipps of St Ebbe’s listed in the All Saints burial regiser on 4 November 1754 may be Payne’s wife.
A plaque in All Saints Church commemorates Payne’s daughter Frances, the wife of William Phipps.
See also:
- John Payne, Mayor in 1687 (his father)
- MS.Wills Oxon. W.Bd. 210.383; 110.15; 145/4/32
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 706, 1024, and 1418