John Nicholes I
Mayor of Oxford 1719/20 and 1731/2
John Nicholes (Nicholls/Nickols/ Nickoles/ Nichols/Nickolls) (1671–1750) was an Oxford gunsmith. He took on Thomas Pavier as an apprentice in June 1698, John Nicholls of Ferry Hinksey (possibly a relation) in February 1698/9, and John Smith in February 1705/6.
On 22 November 1697 John Nicholes of Oxford married Ruth Castwell of Witney and they had the following five children:
- John (born on 4 December 1703 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 9 December 1703)
- William (born on 14 May 1703 and baptised at St Michael’s Church on 20 May 1706)
- Aaron I (born 26 July, baptised at St Michael’s Church on 29 July 1708, and buried in St Mary’s on 2 February 1713).
- William Castell (baptised at St Mary the Virgin on 5 April 1711)
- Aaron II (baptised at St Mary the Virgin on 22 November 1713.
Nicholes served as Constable for the South West Ward in 1698, and was elected on to the Common Council on 30 September 1704.
It appears from the baptism of his children that some time between 1708 and 1711 Nicholes moved from the parish of St Michael to that of St Mary the Virgin.
Nicholes was chosen Mayor’s Chamberlain by Daniel Webb in September 1712, and Senior Bailiff in September 1714.
On 30 March 1714 Nicholes’s first wife, Ruth, was buried at the Church of St Mary the Virgin.
It looks as though Nicholes remarried shortly afterwards, as a John and Elizabeth Nicholes baptised their son Martin at St Mary’s on 28 June 1716, and buried him there five months later.
Nicholes was selected one of the eight Assistants in January 1718. In November of that year he took on his own son John, aged 14, as his apprentice.
Nicholes was elected Mayor for the first time in September 1719, choosing John Williams as his Child.
On 14 December 1725 Nicholes was made an Alderman, taking the usual oaths and giving the macebearer a Jacobus piece of gold and one of the keykeepers £10. Thomas Hearne mentions that the house of the new alderman’s father had been "an Alehouse [the Half Moon] lately pull'd down on the West side of Logick Lane, just where the Master of Univers. College’s Lodgings (as they are now) are built, and 'twas pull'd down on purpose for those lodgings".
Nicholes' son William matriculated at Magdalen Hall on 28 March 1726 at the age of 15. He was awarded his BA from Corpus Christi College in 1729, his MA in 1732, and his BD on 26 February 1741/2.
In September 1731 Nicholes was elected Mayor a second time, choosing James Croney as his Child. Thomas Hearne says that on this occasion Nicholes was opposed by Robert Vicaris.
On 13 April 1745 Nicholes’s son William, a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, died at the age of 33 and was buried at St Mary’s five days later.
Nicholes himself died on 5 November 1750 at the age of 79, and was buried in St Mary the Virgin Church four days later in the same grave as his son William and his baby daughter Hannah.
Nicholes’s wife Hannah died at the age of 51 and was buried with them on 19 May 1767, and his son John was buried there too in 1785.
The above stone in the aisle of the church marks the Nicholes grave. It reads:
In Memory of WILLIAM NICHOLES
[Fellow] of C.C.C.
Son of JOHN & RUTH NICHOLES
Who died April 13 1745
Aged 33 Years
Also of HANNAH the Daughter of
JOHN & HANNAH NICHOLES
Who Died in Her Infancy
Also of JOHN NICHOLES
Senr.. Alderman of this City
who died ye 5th of Nov 1750
aged 79
Also of HANNAH the Wife of JOHN NICHOLES
Who died May ye 19th 1767,
Aged 51
ALSO
JOHN NICHOLES Senr. Alderman of
this City who died July ye 18th 1785
Aged 82
See also:
- John Nicholes II, Mayor 1752 (Nicholes' son)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 160, 412, 1025, and A41
- MS Wills Oxon W. Cod. 96.493; 48/3/28