Isaac Lawrence
Mayor of Oxford 1759/60, 1768/9, and 1784/5
Isaac Lawrence (or Lawrance/Laurence/Larance/Learance) (1716–1784) was the eldest son of the chandler Thomas Lawrence (Mayor of Oxford in 1737 and 1745) and his first wife Mary. Isaac was baptised at St Michael’s Church on 3 September 1716.
Lawrence was apprenticed to his father, but not admitted free until 4 March 1745, when he joined his father in the family business, with an emphasis on wine and groceries rather than candles.
Lawrence and his first wife Dorothy had three children:
- Thomas Lawrence (born c.1742)
- Isaac Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 29 December 1743)
- Richard Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 8 December 1745, died at 5 weeks, buried inside the church on 25 January 1745/6).
Lawrence’s first wife Dorothy died at the age of 32 and was buried inside St Michael’s Church on 18 October 1748.
Lawrence’s second wife was Elizabeth Rock (or Roque), the daughter of Samuel Rock Esq of Nuneham and his wife Zenobia Newton. They married at Enstone on 16 October 1753 and had the following five children:
- Samuel Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 24 November 1754)
- Rock Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 20 May 1756, died just before his third birthday and buried inside the church on 9 May 1759)
- Charles Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 25 October 1757)
- Dorothy Lawrence (born 22 March, baptised at St Michael’s Church on 23 March 1760)
- Deborah Lawrence (baptised at St Michael’s Church on 7 September 1762).
In September 1746 Lawrence was appointed a cloth searcher. He was selected as Mayor’s Child by Richard Tawney on 30 September 1748, taking up a place as one of the Mayor’s Assistants. By 1751 he was a Chamberlain.
In September 1752 Lawrence took on his two sons Thomas and Isaac as apprentices. He advertised his wares regularly in Jackson’s Oxford Journal at this time: below is an advertisement from the edition of 2 April 1757:
RAISIN WINES
Which are Made and Sold by
Isaac Lawrence, Grocer, in Oxford,
Are warranted made of the Best Fruit only;
Are bright, strong, clean, and dry, and of a Flavour very
near that of Madeira. Price by the Gallon 3s. 6d. by the Hogshead cheaper
On 2 July 1762 Lawrence was granted a lease by the council of a house, bake-house, stable, and garden in St Mary Magdalen parish: this appears to have been in George Street (then George Lane).
Lawrence was a Chamberlain by 1752, and on 1 October 1753 he became Junior Bailiff. On 31 December 1758 he was elected one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants, and on 1 October 1759 he embarked on his first term as Mayor (for 1759/60), naming John Brown as his Chamberlain and John Allen as his Child.
Lawrence’s son Thomas died of a fever on 26 February 1765, five days after hurting his leg, and was buried inside St Michael’s Church on 1 March 1765.
In 1766 the City got into such debt that they tried to sell its two parliamentary seats. As a result, the Mayor and ten councillors (including Lawrence) were committed to Newgate Prison in London for four days: they were discharged with a reprimand from the Speaker of the House of Commons on 10 February 1768.
On 30 September 1768 Lawrence started his second term as Mayor (for 1768/9) , naming Townsend Pitman as his Chamberlain. Pitman died in July 169, and Lawrence then selected William Fletcher in his place.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. Lawrence had a house in St Michael’s parish with a frontage of 5 yards, 2 ft. and 2 in. (which according to Salter was on the site of the present 51 Cornmarket) and a warehouse with a frontage of 10 yards, 2 ft. and 7 in. (just across Frewin Court, at the north end of the Star/Clarendon Hotel, where the entrance to the Clarendon Centre is now).
On 21 January 1773, Jackson’s Oxford Journal reports that Lawrence was attacked by footpads when coming down the hill towards Botley from Witney, but managed to escape before they could rob him.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal in 1783 carries advertisements for English Wines made by Isaac Lawrence, grocer: Orange Wine at 5s. per gallon, Red at 5s. per gallon, and Old Sim Raisin at 4s. per gallon. He also advertises Jamaican Rum, French Brandy, and Marlborough cheese. In Bailey’s Western & Midland Directory for 1783, the family business is listed as “Lawrence J. and Son, Grocers, and Sweet-makers”.
In 1784 Lawrence’s home was burgled by John Hawkins, William (alias Bumper) Smith, and Edward Ladds, all Oxford labourers: they stole about £37, two pairs of earrings in a snuffbox, and a few bottles of port. Richard Hawkins, the younger brother of John, was also implicated, as he had been Lawrence’s servant, and all four were sentenced to death at the Quarter Sessions of 22 April 1785. Bumper Smith later received the King’s Pardon and was transported to America for 14 years, while the Secretary of State sent an urgent respite for ten days for John Hawkins.
The person who had been elected Mayor for 1783/4 (John Watson) died on 29 March 1784, and as a result Isaac Lawrence was appointed as a stand-in Mayor (from April 1784).
Unfortunately Lawrence himself died less than four months later in Finchampstead in Berkshire at the age of 70 on 19 July 1784, so a third Mayor had to be appointed for that year.
Lawrence’s children who survived to adulthood
- Isaac Lawrence (born 1743)married Mary Townsend at Horspath on 28 June 1767. He was probably originally destined to take over the family business, but he died ten years before his father on 18 August 1774, and was buried inside St Michael’s Church six days later.
- Samuel Lawrence (b.1754) went into business with his father. He married Mary Andrews of Burford (a lady of “genteel fortune”) at Swalcliffe on 6 January 1780, and they had two children baptised at St Aldate’s Church: Isaac Newton Lawrence in 1783 and Samuel Rock Lawrence in 1784. On 31 July 1784, following his father’s death, Samuel put an advertisement into Jackson’s Oxford Journal to say that he would carry on his father’s grocery business as before. He was elected on to the council in September 1785. It appears that he ceased trading in his father’s shop in c.1800, as on 19 December 1801 J. Andrews (possibly a nephew by marriage?) announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal that he had “re-commenced selling [wines and groceries] in Lawrance’s original House, in the Corn Market”. After this date, there are numerous advertisements for Rheumatic Powder “prepared and sold by Mr Lawrence at his Residence opposite All Souls’ College, Oxford”, and also sold by Isaac Newton Lawrence in Witney. Samuel Lawrence died on 28 June 1833.
- Charles Lawrence (b.1757) lived to be 82 and died on 11 April 1840 at Bushey Heath, Herts. He does not appear to have married.
- Dorothy Lawrence (born 1760) married John Wise Thorp (Mayor in 1805 and 1822) at St Michael’s Church on 27 January 1784, and their two sons were both to become Mayors of Oxford. Dorothy died on 27 June 1796.
- Deborah Lawrence (b.1762) married Samuel Trash of Wokingham at St Michael’s Church on 16 August 1787. Their daughter Ann Trash was baptised at St Mary the Virgin Church in 1794, and their son Frederick at St Michael’s in 1800. Deborah died on 31 January 1836 at the age of 73.
See also:
- Thomas Lawrence, Mayor 1737 and 1745 (his father)
- William Thorp II, Mayor 1833, 1844, 1848 (his grandson)
- John Thorp, Mayor 1845 (his grandson)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2055, 2056, and 2798
- PCC Will PROB 11/1121 (Will of Isaac Lawrance, Grocer of Oxford, proved 27 September 1784)