William Folker
Mayor of Oxford 1802/3 and 1816/17
William Folker (1761–1831) was an upholsterer and cabinet-maker. He had been apprenticed to William Coxeter of New Inn Hall Street, but his master suffered a devastating fire on 21 October 1776, and Coxeter went bankrupt.
Folker continued to run an upholstery and cabinet business in Coxeter’s premises, then moved to Old Butcher Row (Queen Street) in 1781, taking on the shop opposite the Post Office formerly occupied by a Thomas Jones.
Folker was admitted free for a fine of 20 guineas and the usual fees on 11 August 1783, and on 11 November 1784 was selected as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, John Treacher, taking up his Chamberlain’s place immediately.
When he married Mary Burrows at St Giles Church, Oxford on 25 May 1785, Folker was described as being of St Peter-le-Bailey parish as his premises were still in Queen Street. The following April Folker took over a shop in Cornmarket formerly belonging to the mercer Peter Rowbotham, and. the couple moved to live over that shop, which was in St Martin’s parish. He and his wife baptised four children at St Martin’s Church at Carfax:
- Mary Burrows Folker (bapt. 11 October 1786)
- Sarah Folker (bapt. 18 November 1787, later to become the wife of Richard Ferdinand Cox)
- Betsey Folker (bapt. 5 December 1788)
- William Cowley Folker (bapt. 7 November 1794).
Folker took on Richard Gee as an apprentice in 1787 and Thomas Buswell in 1789.
In September 1796 Folker was elected Senior Bailiff, and in October 1800 one of the eight Assistants. He served his first term as Mayor in 1802/3, and his second in 1816/17.
Folker may have moved to a third shop further north in Cornmarket, as when his wife died at the age of 69 in 1827 she was described as being of St Michael’s parish. She was buried at St Giles' Church on 3 May 1827.
Folker himself died four years later on 27 May 1831, also at the age of 69, and he was buried with his wife four days later. He was described as then living in St Mary Magdalen parish, opposite St John’s College.
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2804 and 2886
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 28 May 1831: Announcement of Folker’s death
- MS Wills Oxon BD. Ren. 111.302; 283/2/22