Thomas Ensworth
Mayor of Oxford 1825–6
Thomas Ensworth or Endsworth (1774–1857) was an Oxford wine merchant. His father, also called Thomas Ensworth, was a wine and brandy merchant at the south end of Cornmarket and was described as being "of St Michael’s parish" when he married Mary Hyde at St Thomas’s Church on 16 June 1767
Ensworth’s father was granted his freedom on 28 January 1788 and just five months later on 30 June took on the 14-year-old Ensworth as his apprentice.
Ensworth's mother died in 1799 aged 62, and his father in 1806 aged 70, and he placed a tablet to them in St Martin's Church that was moved to the north wall of All Saints Church when the former was demolished.
Ensworth’s sister Maria married Thomas Wyatt at St Martin’s Church in Carfax in 1802; another sister, Mary Anne, did not marry and died at the age of 32, and was buried at that church in August 1806.
In November 1805 Ensworth (described in Jackson’s Oxford Journal as "Mr Thomas Ensworth junior, wine merchant of Oxford" married Miss Mary Bowles of West Hanney in Berkshire at St Saviour’s Church, Southwark. Their son Thomas junior was baptised at St Martin’s Church in Oxford on 16 June 1807 but he was buried there the next year. They do not appear to have had any more children.
Ensworth came on to the council in 1809. He was elected Senior Chamberlain in 1816, Junior Bailiff in 1818, and Mayor of Oxford in September 1825 (after the election of William Slatter for a second consecutive term of office was held to be invalid). In July 1826, towards the end of his mayoral year, Ensworth laid on lavish entertainments when the Lord Mayor of London (William Venables) paid a visit to Oxford.
Ensworth appears to have taken early retirement and moved out to Botley when he was about 50. On 4 August 1827, the Windsor & Eton Express reported:
On Thursday a fire broke out at Haslington Farm, near Botley, in the occupation of T. Ensworth, Esq., of Oxford, caused by a boy shooting at some birds in the barn. By this calamity, two cottages, one barn, a stable, cart hovel, part of a hay rick, with several farming implements in the barn, were entirely consumed. When the Earl of Abingdon heard of the fire, his lordship immediately sent all his workmen, and his fire-engine, to assist in extinguishing the flames.
The Ensworth wine business does not appear in directories after 1830. Around this time he moved back into the city, building Walton House between Woodstock Road and Walton Street (a building which was later to become the original hall of residence of Somerville College).
In 1831 Ensworth was made an Alderman.
After the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, Ensworth was elected councillor for the North Ward on 26 December 1835 and six days later was elected an Alderman for three years.
At the time of the 1841 census Ensworth and his wife Mary are listed at Walton House (which is simply described as being in "St Giles Road"). They are also listed there in 1851, when he was 71 and Mary was 70, looked after by four servants. He is described as a retired wine merchant
Ensworth died around the beginning of 1857.
See also:
- Chaplain to the Mayoralty [Robert Crawford Dillon], The Lord Mayor’s Visit to Oxford, in the Month of July, 1826 (Longman, Rees, Orme, Browne & Green, 1826)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entry numbered 2833
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 16 November 1805: Marriage announcement of Ensworth
- PCC Will PROB 11/2253 (Will of Thomas Ensworth of Oxford, proved 8 June 1857)
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Giles), 891/06/5
- 1851 Census: Oxford (Summertown), 1727/487