John Townsend I
Mayor of Oxford 1669/70 and 1682/3
John Townsend (or Townesend or Tounesend) (1623–1701) was the son of Stephen Townsend, who had been matriculated by the University to work as a privileged person but became a mercer after marrying Susanna, who was a mercer’s widow. Townsend and his siblings were baptised as follows:
- Robert (baptised at All Saints Church on 3 August 1620)
- Edith (baptised at All Saints Church on 3 August 1620)
- John (baptised at All Saints Church on 19 November 1623)
- Christian (baptised at All Saints Church on 4 December 1626)
In 1625 Townsend’s father leased a piece of waste ground in All Saints parish (the site of the present 9 High Street) where he built his house/shop, and in 1626 he purchased a bailiff’s place on the council; but he advanced no further as he died young, and on 4 July 1631, he was buried at All Saints Church.
John was only eight years old at the time of his father’s death, and his mother Susanna appears to have run the business for a while. John eventually took it over, and was admitted free on 19 May 1648 "in respect that his Mother was an Ancient freeman’s wife of this Citie".
Townsend was elected to the Common Council in October 1650, and was appointed a Cloth Searcher the next year. Around this time he appears to have married his first wife, Joanna, and they had just one child, probably named after his mother:
- Susannah (described as the daughter of John and Joanna when baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 24 September 1652); she was buried there the next day.
In August 1653 Richard Miller chose Townsend as his Child and he was granted a bailiff’s place. In September 1654 he was elected Junior Bailiff.
In the late 1650s Townsend must have married his second wife, Mary, and they had the following daughter:
- Mary I (described as the daughter of John and Mary when baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 22 November 1660).
By 1667 Townsend had evidently had a third child, but there is no baptism recorded at All Saints.
In 1662 Townsend was elected one of the Mayor’s "Gentlemen Assistants".
In 1665 Townsend paid tax on seven hearths at 9 High Street, and in March 1667 was assessed as follows for poll tax there:
- For himself: £2 1s. 0d. (£1 for his title, poll tax of one shilling, and £1 tax on his money) This indicates that his personal wealth was £100, as the tax on personal estate was £1 per £100.
- For his mother Mrs Susanna Townsend: poll tax of one shilling
- For his wife Mrs Mary Townsend: poll tax of one shilling
- For his two children: poll tax of one shilling each
- For his lodger Alexander Townsend: poll tax of one shilling
- For Susanna Whitfeild: poll tax of one shillling
- For his apprentice William Allyn: poll tax of one shilling
- For his maid Elizabeth: three shillings (i.e. one shilling in the pound on her yearly wages of £2, plus poll tax of a shilling)
Anthony Wood records in his diary that he bought a "frese coat" from Townsend for a pound on 4 December 1668.
In September 1669 Townsend was chosen as Mayor, nominating Thomas Hands, a cordwainer, as his Child.
On 5 November 1659 Townsend’s mother Susannah was buried at St Mary the Virgin Church after 38 years of widowhood.
Townsend resumed his former position as a Gentleman Assistant until on 25 August 1674 he became an Alderman.
As an Alderman, he makes a number of expense claims from the Keykeepers: in the year ending Michaelmas 1678, he claimed £15 19s 6d for new liveries for the City wait and a staggering £123 for entertaining "our Lord High Steward" (George, Duke of Buckingham); in the year ending Michaelmas 1679, £3 11s 6d for treating the commissioners who disbanded the soldiers"; and the following year, £23 14s 0d for gloves "for the King and the Duke of Bucks and others" and £17 1s 4d for the livery coats for the City waits.
On 11 February 1679 Townsend stood for election as one of the two Members of Parliament for Oxford, but only secured one vote (compared with the 937 and 723 votes of the winners). He fared just as badly at the next two elections.
It looks as though Townsend may have married a third wife in about 1680 (possibly called Diana) when he was about 57; alternatively the third child born in the 1660s could have been a son called John. In any event, a John Townsend had the following children in St Mary’s parish::
- Diana (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 29 January 1681/2)
- Anne (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 14 June 1685)
- John (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 20 December 1686)
- Charles (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 19 November 1688)
- Mary II (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 4 September 1690)
In September 1682 Townsend was elected Mayor a second time, selecting the portrait painter John Taylor as his Child. Anthony Wood tells the story of how a Town & Gown fight on 11 April 1683 ended up at the Mayor’s door near Carfax; and how on 18 May that year Townsend went on foot with all the Common Council from the Guildhall along the High to the East Gate to meet the Duke of York. Townsend as Mayor and his brethren
presented to him in the name of the city a rich pair of gloves with golden fring (as the fashion then was), and to the duchess 12 pair of fine kid-leather, and lastly to the lady Anne (for they all sate in one coach) 12 pair also of the same, all valued (as they say) at 45li and odd shillings.
In October 1684 Townsend was elected Commissioner for Barges. He was one of the six persons chosen to attend the Mayor at the Coronation of James II on 23 April 1685.
Despite all this grandeur, he continued to trade as a mercer, and on 23 March 1689, Anthony Wood bought "worsted at Alderman Townsend’s".
In 1696 Alderman Townsend paid tax on twenty windows on a property in All Saints parish (about the position of the present 9 High Street).
Townsend was buried at All Saints Church on 13 November 1701. A Diana Townsend (possibly his widow) was buried there in 1710.
See also:
- PCC Will PROB 11/463 (Will of John Townesend, Alderman of Oxford, proved 11 February 1702)
- John Townsend II, Mayor of Oxford 1720 (possibly his nephew)