Thomas Fox Bricknell
Mayor of Oxford 1803/4, 1818/19, and 1828/9
Thomas Fox Bricknell (1762–1835) was a tanner, who had a business near Littlegate in Oxford.
Bricknell was selected as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, Christopher Yeats, on 1 October 1792 and took up his Chamberlain’s place on 30 September 1794. In September 1797 he was appointed Junior Bailiff, and served on various committees.
In July 1800 he took on as an apprentice tanner James Bricknell, son of Thomas Bricknell, surgeon of Amersham, and presumably a relation.
Bricknell was first elected Mayor in 1803 (for 1803/4). During his term of office, on 30 August 1804, he married Sarah Simcox, the daughter of the late T. S. Simcox, Esq. of Harborne in Birmingham at his parish church of St Ebbe’s, and the marriage was announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 1 September1804. Sarah appears to have been illiterate, as she signed the register with her mark. They had two sons baptised at St Ebbe’s Church:
- William Simcox Bricknell (19 March 1806)
- George Simcox Yeates Bricknell (19 June 1807).
In 1818 Bricknell was a elected a second time as Mayor (for 1818/19).
On 19 July 1821 Bricknell was one of the party from Oxford in attendance at the Coronation of George III.
In October 1822 Bricknell’s elder son, William Simcox Bricknell, matriculated at the University of Oxford from Worcester College at the age of 16.
In 1828 Bricknell was elected a third time as Mayor for 1828/9.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 24 September 1831 reported that Alderman Bricknell, who had resided at a distance for several years, had tendered his resignation. He died at Evenlode, Worcestershire in October 1835 at the age of 73: he is then described as “Esquire”.
Bricknell’s sons
William Simcox Bricknell married the daughter of Richard Skillicorne Nash, who held the advowson of the vicarage of Eynsham. William was appointed Vicar of Grove in 1836, City Lecturer at St Martin’s, Carfax in 1840, and eventually Vicar of Eynsham in 1845. He died in 1888, and another family member, William Nash Bricknell, acquired the living in 1893.
George Simcox Yeates Bricknell, Gentleman, and his wife Sarah had their daughter Anna Maria baptised at St Andrew’s Church, Headington on 19 December 1834.
See also
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 1 September 1904: Announcement of Bricknell’s marriage
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 24 October 1835: Report of Bricknell’s death
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entry numbered 3198