Nicholas Halse
Mayor of Oxford 1785/6
Nicholas Halse (c.1726–1800) was born in Redruth in Cornwall. On 18 November 1751 he married Mary Billing of Over Worton in Oxfordshire.
Halse was a saddler in Holywell (St Cross) parish. In May 1752 he took on an apprentice, George Durbridge, and on 30 September that year was chosen to fill up one of the 24 places on the Common Council.
Halse and his wife Mary had the following children:
- James (baptised at St Cross Church on 30 August 1752)
- William (baptised at St Cross Church on 26 January 1755)
- Elizabeth (baptised at St Cross Church on 28 August 1757)
- John (baptised at St Cross Church on 12 February 1759)
- Thomas (baptised at St Cross Church on 8 September 1760).
Parson Woodforde was a regular visitor to Halse’s saddlery when an undergraduate (1758–1763) and mentions it a number of times in his diaries. In February 1756 Halse had another apprentice, Benjamin C[r]osier, who was the son of an Oxford labourer and had two-thirds of his apprenticeship fees paid for by the Blue Coat Charity. On 7 January 1760 Woodforde wrote:
"Peckham, Loggin, & Webber went with me to Halse’s the Sadler, where I threshed his apprentice Crosier for making Verses on me.”
Then on 22 January 1763 Woodforde wrote,
"Had some new Strapps put to my Skates this morning by Mr Halse the Sadler, for which I owe him 0.2.6. N.B. They are the new invented Strapps for Skates, by Halse.”
Woodforde skated down to Sandford on them that afternoon, and two days later skated as far as Abingdon. He also bought at least two new whips from Halse and ran up other unspecified bills.
In April 1761 Halse took on another apprentice, John Slatter.
On 30 September 1761 Halse was elected City Chamberlain.
In 1767 Halse’s apprenticed his eldest son, James, to the upholsterer Richard Holloway. (James was to join his father on the council in 1781.) The next year Halse took on his second son, William, as his own apprentice.
In Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 16 June 1770, Halse advertised that he made jockey caps.
In 1771 Halse’s former naughty apprentice, Crosier, took up a shop of his own in Cornmarket near the Cross Inn; and in October 1774 John Slatter, who had worked with Halse for six years after completing his apprenticeship, went into partnership with John Cox in the High Street.
On 20 September 1773 Halse was appointed Senior Bailiff, but he had to wait another ten years until 29 September 1783 before he was chosen as one of the eight Assistants. He was elected Mayor for the year commencing 30 September 1785, selecting John Wise Thorp as his Child.
On 17 December 1774 Halse's son John (described as being the son of Nicholas Halse of Holywell, "pleb.") matriculated at the University of Oxford from Wadham College at the age of 15. He had previously been a chorister at Magdalen College, so must have attended Magdalen College School.
The lease on Halse’s property in Holywell was renewed by the council for a fine of £15 in 1796.
Halse remained on the council after his term as Mayor, but resigned his place in the house and the duties of an assistant on account of his age in April 1799. He died the next year and was buried at St Cross Church on 17 October 1800.
In his will he left his own house with its fixtures and fittings and his shop with all the items relating to his business to his second son William. His son John received £200; his daughter Mrs Elizabeth Grantham £500; and his youngest unmarried son Thomas the interest only on the sum of £400. His widow received the annual income and rent of his estate at Marston, and a house next door to his own for her lifetime. His eldest son James received nothing initially, but was with the other children given a fifth share in the proceeds of the sale of the property left to their mother after her death.
Halse’s widow Mary died at Oxford at the age of 74 in March 1802 and was buried at Holywell Church.
Halse's children
James was an upholder and cabinet maker who was made to take up his freedom on 6 November 1775. He came on to the common council in October 1781, and was named as Mayor's Chamberlain in 1789. He remained in Holywell parish until his death in 1819.
William continued his father's business as a saddler in Holywell parish, but just after his death is described as "late of Broad-street" in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 12 May 1832. His house, which was near the Clarendon Building, was put up for auction.
Elizabeth married the Revd Dr Valentine Grantham of St Mary Magdalen at Holywell Church on 16 June 1785. He became the Vicar of Scawby in Lincolnshire and Odell in Bedfordshire from 1798 until his death on 3 March 1829. They had two children: Mary and Henry.
John obtained his BA at the University of Oxford in 1779 when he was 19, and his MA in 1784. He became Curate of Ewelme in 1790, and married Lewanna Lewis there: they had two children: Christopher John who died relatively young, and Nicholas William, who became a solicitor. John died at Welford in Leicestershire in 1810.
Thomas died in Oxford in 1830: Jackson's Oxford Journal for 20 March 1830 reports, "Yesterday morning died, at his residence in George-lane, after a long illness, Mr. Thomas Halse, in the 69th year of his age".
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2032, 2111, 2219, 2341, and 2366
- PCC Will PROB 11/1355 (Will of Nicholas Halse of Holywell Oxford, proved 18 March 1801)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 13 March 1802: Announcement of death of Mrs Halse