John Parsons
Mayor of Oxford 1788/9 and 1808/9
John Parsons (1752–1814) was born on 12 April 1752, the son of Thomas Parsons and Grace Godfrey of Oxford. His father was a china, glass, and tea merchant at 92 High Street. This had stables at the rear in Magpie Lane, and his father was also a waggon-master organizing the carriage of goods between Oxford and London.
John’s cousins (sons of his father’s brother Isaac) were Herbert Parsons (also to become Mayor) and Dr John Parsons (to become Master of Balliol and Vice-Chancellor of the University, and also the husband of John’s sister). His mother’s sister Deborah was married to James Thomson.
John’s father died on 21 November 1762 at the age of 54, and on 8 October 1766 his mother paid £105 to apprentice John to the mercers James Clarke & Thomas Castle for seven years.
On 4 February 1774 John became a Freemason, and at the beginning of 1775 he took over the business at 90 High Street (on the right in the photograph below) of the hatter and hosier Fortnum, who was retiring. As an undergraduate Parson Woodforde had visited Fortnum’s hatter’s shop many times, and when he came back to Oxford in his thirties, he wrote (8 July 1775): “Had a New Hat of one Parsons who succeeded Fortnom in his Business—I owe him for it—1:1:0.”
In October 1775 the council agreed to commence an action against Parsons to oblige him to take up his freedom, and in September 1776 the new Mayor, Edward Lock, nominated him as his Child. Parsons immediately took up his Chamberlain’s place. In 1778 he was appointed a Cloth Searcher.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal announced on 24 March 1781 that John Parsons had entered into partnership with another mercer, William Fletcher of 93 High Street, but that business would initially continue in both shops.
This Fletcher & Parsons business was soon to expand into 92 High Street and changed from mercery to banking by 1790, and for over two hundred years 91–92 High Street (left) remained a bank.
In September 1780 Parsons was elected Bailiff. On 3 February 1785 he married his cousin Elizabeth Thomson (1796–1829), the daughter of the late gunsmith James Thomson, at St Mary Magdalen Church.
In 1782 he brought his cousin, Herbert Parsons, into his business.
In 1786 Parsons was elected one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants, and in 1788 Mayor, proposing Thomas Adams as his Child. During his year of office, together with the Recorder and Town Clerk he presented a Loyal Address to King George III and Queen Charlotte.
He resumed his position as one of the Mayor’s Assistants, and in about 1790 the banking side of his business started to develop seriously, and it was about this time that their premises at 92–93 High Street became known as the Old Bank. In December 1792 his mother died at the age of 85, and he inherited the freeholds of the Old Bank properties.
In April 1798 Parsons was elected Commissioner of Sewers and Barges, and in October 1800 he came on to the Market Committee.
In 1801 Parsons won the struggle with Edward Lock (a rival banker who had himself then been twice Mayor of Oxford) for the position of Alderman, a struggle reputed to have cost each of them £400. In 1806, however, when Parsons fought Lock for the mayoralty, he lost, and Lock started a third term.
Two years later, however, in 1808 (a full twenty years after his first term of office) Parsons was elected to serve as Mayor again. His wife Elizabeth died during his mayoralty, and was buried at St Mary’s Church on 20 June 1809.
By the time Parsons drew up his will in 1813, he described himself as 'late mercer now banker'. He died on 12 February 1814 at the age of 62 in his High Street home, and was buried at the church of St Mary the Virgin opposite.
A diamond-shaped stone in the floor of the base of the tower (now the church shop) reads:
Elizabeth
[wife of]
John PARSONS
Died [ ... June1809]
— · —
John PARSONS
Died 1[2] Feb
1814
Parsons left a bequest of £500 Consols to support the Bluecoat School for Boys, and in 1816 eight almshouses (left) in Grove Place (now renamed Kybald Street) were built in accordance with his wishes.
The inscription high over the centre of the almshouses reads:
In fulfillment of the charitable intention of
JOHN PARSONS Esq
Alderman of this City who died Feb. 12 1814
This Alms House for Four Poor Men and Four
Poor Women was erected and endowed in the Year 1816
In 1959 the row of eight alms houses was taken over by University College, and new Parsons' Almshouses (designed by Thomas Rayson) were built on the east side of Stone’s Almhouses in St Clement’s.
See also:
- Herbert Parsons, Mayor 1810 and 1820 (his cousin)
- William Fletcher, Mayor in 1782, 1796, and 1809 (his banking partner)
- L.F. Bradburn, The Old Bank (92 and 93 High Street) Oxford (Oxford, 1977)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 19 February 1814, p. 3b: Announcement of Parsons' death
- PCC Will PROB 11/1554 (Will of John Parsons, late Mercer, now Banker and Alderman of Oxford, proved 8 March 1814)