Vincent Shortland
Mayor of Oxford 1780/1 and 1794/5
Vincent Shortland (c.1724–1801) was the son of a yeoman, Thomas Shortland of Helmdon in Northants. On 10 March 1738/9 he was apprenticed for seven years to the Oxford carpenter Edward Riggins, who lived in St Mary Magdalen parish and had a timber yard on the site of the present 37 and 37A St Giles.
Soon after completing his apprenticeship, on 25 September 1746, Shortland married his master’s daughter Elizabeth and went into partnership with his father-in-law. On 28 January 1756 Shortland took on his first apprentice, William Bennett. By 13 December that same year Riggins had died: Shortland took over his apprentice William Holder and Edward Riggins' share in the partnership was transferred to his nephew, Richard Riggins.
Shortland was nominated Mayor’s child by the new Mayor, Thomas Treadwell, on 30 September 1758. He was sworn in on 20 October that year, paying 3s. 4d. for not being constable. He took up his chamberlain’s place In 1760, becoming one of the five keykeepers.
Shortland’s wife Elizabeth died in 1762 and was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church, and on 27 August 1765 he married Mary Saunders at the same church: an Edward Riggins was one of the witnesses.
When Richard Riggins died in April 1766, Shortland took over the whole business. In that same year his first son to be given the name Vincent was buried at St Mary Magdalen.
On 14 September 1767 Shortland was elected Junior Bailiff. (On 21 February 1772 a prosecution was to be commenced against him by the City Solicitor for his fine for that office.)
In about 1768 Shortland and Mary had a son, Vincent John, and soon after his birth moved into 40 St Giles. In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. The timber-yard on the site of Nos. 37 and 37A is recorded as being in the occupation of Shortland, with its frontage measuring 31 yards 1 feet 6 inches, as well as his house at 40 St Giles, which had a frontage of 17 yards 1 foot 6 inches.
Shortland took on George Bradford as his apprentice in 1763, William Badcock in 1769, and John Pursell in 1773.
Shortland and his wife Mary baptised their daughter Mary at St Giles' Church in 1777.
On 3 April 1780 Shortland was elected one of the eight Mayor’s Assistants, and on 30 September that year was elected Mayor, selecting John Jonston as his Child. During his mayoralty, Shortland’s horse was stolen from his home at 40 St Giles, and on 27 August 1781 he advertised a reward in Jackson’s Oxford Journal . He was abused in execution of his mayoral office by Humphrey Palmer, a cordwainer. Shortland withdrew his prosecution and Palmer published an apology in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 3 September 1781.
In March 1783 Shortland, still described as a carpenter, took on his own son Vincent John Shortland as his apprentice.
On 3 April 1786 Shortland was elected on to the Market Committee. He appears to have retired from carpentry at the end of 1789, when his son was coming to the end of his apprenticeship. It was probably about this time that he built 37 St Giles on the northern part of his old yard.
Left 37 St Giles, the house that Vincent Shortland built in the1780s. It was inherited by his son, Vincent John Shortland, in 1801, and it was probably the latter who built No. 37A to the south on what remained of the timber yard.
On 10 October 1789 Vincent’s old house at 40 St Giles (described as "late in occupation of Vincent Shortland") was advertised to let.
In 1790 Shortland appears for the first time in a list of people awarded game licences.
On 17 October 1791 Shortland was chosen Alderman, and was sworn and paid the macebearer a Jacobus piece of gold and promised to pay the Treasurer £10 and £10 in lieu of entertainment. At the same meeting he was elected by a great majority as one of the barge commissioners.
On 30 September 1794 Shortland started his second term as Mayor, choosing Gilbert Godfrey as his Chamberlain and Loder Prickett as his Child.
Shortland continued to serve as an Alderman until his death on 7 December 1801 at the age of 77. He was buried in St Giles churchyard on 12 December 1801. His wife Mary died four years later on 10 January 1805 at the age of 68.
The memorial on the left is on the wall of St Giles' Church. It reads:
In a vault beneath are deposited the remains of Vincent Shortland Esquire Alderman and twice Mayor of this city who died Dec: 7th 1801 aged 77 years.
Also Mary his wife, died Jan: 10th 1805, aged 68 years.
And of Stephen Vincent, infant son Vincent John and Mary Maria Shortland
Likewise the the memory of Vincent John Shortland Esq., son of the above Vincent and Mary Shortland, who died Feb 10 1831 aged 62 years and was buried at Chelsworth, Suffolk
Shortland’s children
- Vincent John (1768–1831) does not appear to have carried on the family business, but considered himself a gentleman. Three months after his father’s death, on 11 March 1802, he married Mary Maria Wentworth (daughter of the innkeeper at the Star in Cornmarket) at St George’s, Hanover Square. They had four children baptised at St Giles' Church: Stephen Vincent in 1805, Henry Vincent in 1806, Mary in 1810, and Harriet Catherine in 1812. He came on to the council in 1810 and was elected Junior Chamberlain in 1812, but did not progress any further, possibly because he moved away from the area. He died at the age of 62 and was buried at Chelsworth in Suffolk in 1831
- Mary (1777–1840) married William Turner Turner, a widowed farmer of Shipton-on-Cherwell, at St Giles' Church in 1805, and her brother Vincent was one of the witnesses. They baptised ten children at Shipton-on-Cherwell Church: Mary (1806), William Henry (1808), Vincent John (1809), Edgar (1810), Frances (1812), James (1813), Alfred (1814), Catharine (1815), William (1817), and Henry (1819). She died at the age of 63 and was buried at Shipton-on-Cherwell on 6 June 1840
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 12 December 1801 (death notice)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 1736, 2048, 2110, 2265, 2397, 2512, and 2695
- PCC Will PROB 11/1369 (Will of Vincent Shortland, One of the Alderman of the City of Oxford, proved 7 January 1802)