William Fletcher
Mayor of Oxford 1782/3, 1796/7 and 1809/10
William Fletcher (1739–1826) was the son of James Fletcher, a bookseller of the University of Oxford, whose shop was in Turl Street.
Fletcher was a sickly child, and sent to Yarnton to be nursed by the wife of the parish clerk.
Even though Fletcher lived in Oxford from the age of 15 to 87, he never forgot Yarnton, and not only made benefactions there but also chose to be buried inside its church.
On 25 March 1755 at the age of 15 William Fletcher was apprenticed for seven years to William Wickham, an Oxford mercer who was himself shortly to become Mayor, in his shop opposite University College. Fletcher was granted his freedom on 14 June 1765, and went into partnership with Wickham, opening his own shop on the other side of the High.
Fletcher was elected as one of the 24 councillors in 1766, as well as cloth-searcher, and in 1767 he became one of the five keykeepers in 1767. Isaac Lawrence selected him as Mayor's Chamberlain in July 1769, and four years later in 1773 he was chosen as Junior Bailiff.
The 1772 Survey of Oxford shows Mr Miller, Routledge and Fletcher all on the site now occupied by 93 High Street, with Fletcher in the shop on the right with a frontage of 3 yds 2 ft 0 in.
In early 1775, Jackson's Oxford Journal stated that the partnership of Wickham & Fletcher Mercers had been dissolved in July 1773, and that henceforth the business would be carried on by Fletcher alone.
In 1775 the four bays on the west side of the Old Bank (left) were built for William Fletcher and John Parsons.
Jackson's Oxford Journal announced on 24 March 1781 that William Fletcher of 93 High Street had entered into partnership with another mercer, John Parsons, but that business would initially continue in both shops.
This Fletcher & Parsons business was soon to expand into 92 High Street. By 1790 it had changed from mercery to banking.
For over two hundred years 91–92 High Street remained a bank. In its latter days, until 1998, it was called Barclays Old Bank, and has been the Old Bank Hotel since 1999.
In June 1781 Fletcher was chosen to be one of the Mayor's eight Assistants, and in September 1782 he was elected Mayor (for 1782/3), choosing James Shipton as his Chamberlain and James Adams as his Child.
From 1787 to 1826 Fletcher lived at 46 Broad Street. He also owned the house next door, 47 Broad Street, which he let out to tenants. He was an antiquarian, and had a private museum in his home that included many Oxford objects. He adorned its corridors with 40 paintings illustrating the Dance of Death.
In 1796 Fletcher was elected a second time Mayor (for 1796/7). He chose John Sheard as his Chamberlain and Thomas Henry Taunton as his Child.
In April 1798 Fletcher was chosen as an Alderman "by scrutiny".
In 1809 Fletcher was elected Mayor a third time (for 1809/10), but served much against his will: he wished to stand down on grounds of ill health and pay a fine, but was not allowed to do this.
In 1817 Fletcher had the parish clerk's house and adjoining schoolroom built at the north-west end of Church Lane in Yarnton. His arms appear on the south gable.
Fletcher served on the council for 60 years, from 1788 to 1826, and for some time was senior Alderman and Father of the Corporation. He died at the age of 87 at his Broad Street home on 27 December 1826, having kept "the noiseless tenor of his way" through his life. He was remembered as one of the last men in Oxford to wear his hair in a pigtail.
Fletcher was buried at Yarnton Church on 4 January 1827.
Fletcher, who never married, left the bulk of his fortune to the children of his sister Rebecca, who had married the Revd Thomas Robinson, Master of Magdalen College School, in 1776. (His nephew Thomas Robinson was already a partner in the bank, and was also in turn to become Mayor.)
Fletcher's tomb and memorial at Yarnton
Fletcher was buried in a large raised tomb (below) at the west end of Yarnton Church.
The top of the tomb has a brass showing an Alderman in his official robes (right).
There are also two brass plates on the tomb. The first is inscribed:
YARNTON, MY CHILDHOOD'S HOME!
DO THOU RECEIVE
THIS PARTING GIFT –
MY DUST TO THEE I LEAVE.
The second plaque reads:
WILLIAM FLETCHER
OF OXFORD
1826
AGED 87 YEARS
Robinson's grateful nephew and nieces, who received all his wealth, erected a memorial to him in Yarnton Church (left).
Fletcher's bequests in Oxford and Yarnton
St Peter-in-the-East Church, Oxford
"1827 Alderman Fletcher left £5 annually
to a poor widow of a Freeman of the age
of fifty years or upwards who has resided at
least 12 Months in this Parish previously"
St Bartholomew's Church, Yarnton
| William Fletcher Esqr. Alderman
of the City of Oxford by deed Dated Feb. 5 1823, Left a Sum of Money to the Mayor & Corporation of Oxford for various Purposes, Amongst others to pay 30 yearly in every Year on St Thomas's Day to the Vicar & Church-wardens of Yarnton to be by them distributed every Year as follows. |
|
| £10 | Amongst the Poor Inhabitants in Bread & Meat on Christmas Day. |
| £4 | In Bread of the same ] on the 4th of January the day of his Burial. |
| £1 | In Cakes for their Children ] ditto |
| £8 | To the Parish Clerk for tolling the great Bell on the 4th of January 87 times the number of Years he lived. |
| £2 | To the Parish Clerk as Rent for the School Room |
| £5 | For the Repair of the Clerk's House if wanted, if not, for the support of the School. |
See also:
- Jackson's Oxford Journal, 30 December 1826, p. 3b (obituary)
- Gentleman's Magazine, February 1827: obituary of Fletcher by his friend, the Revd Vaughan Thomas of Yarnton
- Annual Biography & Obituary for the Year 1828, Vol. 12, pp. 434–5 (reproducing the article from the Gentleman's Magazine)
- John Parsons, Mayor in 1788 and 1898 (Fletcher's banking partner)
- Thomas Robinson, Mayor in 1817 (Fletcher's nephew and heir)
- L.F. Bradburn, The Old Bank (92 and 93 High Street) Oxford (Oxford, 1977)
- Portrait of William Fletcher, 1798, in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall
- Three portraits of William Fletcher in the National Portrait Gallery entitled "The father of the Corporation of Oxford. Omnibus Carus". Hand-coloured etchings, published in March 1808 by Robert Dighton (NPG D9446; D13284; and D13448: in archive collection and not on display)
- Brass rubbing (made in 1919) at the Ashmolean Museum of the 1826 monumental brass to William Fletcher at Yarnton Church (ref. Oxfordshire 8/1, not on display)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entry numbered 2093
- Jackson's Oxford Journal, 30 December 1826, p. 3b: Announcement of Fletcher's death
- Jackson's Oxford Journal, 6 January 1827, p. 4b: Obituary of Fletcher
- PCC Will PROB 11/1723 (Will of William Fletcher, Alderman of Oxford, proved 16 March 1827)
- Museum of Oxford, St Aldate's: Bust of Fletcher, and three of his "Dance of Death" paintings, showing a skeleton dancing with a lawyer, a physician, and a canon
- Bodleian Library and Yarnton Church for Fletcher's collection of stained glass