William Tubb
Mayor of Oxford 1814/15
William Tubb (1764–1824) was the son of Michael Tubb, a grocer & tallow-chandler at 37 Cornmarket in St Michael’s parish
(His father Michael Tubb also served on the city council, while the man who shared his name, William Tubb senior, who was prominent on the council from 1762 until his death at the age of 81 in 1803, was probably his uncle.)
On 1 November 1780 Michael Tubb took on his son William (aged about 15) as an apprentice, and in 1783 the directory listing for the shop is “Tubb, Michael, Grocer, Tea-dealer, and Tallow-chandler”. But William soon ran the shop himself, taking on his first apprentice, Thomas Bartlett, in September 1785 when he was only 21.
Tubb got married to an Eliza or Elizabeth around this time, and he may be the William Tubb of St Giles who married Elizabeth Westcar at Bicester on 20 July 1786.
William and Elizabeth had two daughters:
- Elizabeth Tubb (born 2 december 1787, baptised at St Michael’s Church on 15 December 1787)
- Ann Tubb (born 21 November 1793, baptised at St Michael’s Church on 24 November 1793).
Sir Richard Tawney selected William Tubb as Mayor’s Child on 30 September 1790, and he took up a Chamberlain’s place on the Council.
In March 1792, Tubb took on another apprentice, John Hayes.
Michael Tubb was buried at St Martin’s Church in 1793, and in 1794 the Universal British Directory lists the shop under his son’s name: “Tubb William, Grocer, and Agent to the Bristol Fire-office”.
Tubb was elected Senior Bailiff in September 1800.
On 21 June 1800 the following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal:
Wanted immediately,—A Young Man as Shopman in the Grocery Business — A respectable Reference will be required as to his Honesty, Sobriety, and obliging deportment. Apply to Mr. William Tubb, Grocer and Tallow Chandler, Oxford.
On 2 January 1808 Jackson’s Oxford Journal reports the death of William’s mother at the age of 84: she is described as the widow of Mr Tubb, grocer of Oxford.
In 1914 Tubb was elected Mayor (for 1814/15).
Tubb died at the age of 60 on 9 June 1824, and was buried at St Michael’s Church six days later. His memorial in that church reads:
Sacred to the Memory of
William Tubb, Esqr
who died June the 9th, 1824
Aged 60 Years
Through life he Faithfully
discharged all his public and
private duties. He was a tender
Husband, most affectionate
Father, and valuable Friend.
His mild unassuming character was
marked, by the sincerest piety,
charity, and benevolence
The text then refers to his widow Eliza, who died “at an advanced age” on 4 February 1832, but it cannot be read because of the position of a pew. The burial register states that she was in fact 76 when she died, and was buried at St Michael’s on 13 February 1832.
Tubb’s family
- Thomas William Tubb. Directories from 1830 to 1852 list Thomas William Tubb as grocer and tallow chandler at 37 Cornmarket Street. He is likely to be a relation, and was baptised at Biceter in 1799. He died at Bicester at the age of 67 on 29 April 1866.
- Eliza Tubb. On 10 June 1815 Jackson’s Oxford Journal reported the marriage of Miss Eliza Tubb (the eldest daughter of William Tubb, Esq., Mayor of Oxford) and J. Pead, Esq. The marriage took place at St Michael’s Church on 5 June 1815, and the bridegroom is named in the transcript as “Jonathan Peel of Bensington”.
It seems likely that William Tubb was also engaged in banking. The listing of Tubb’s bank in directories is as follows:
- Pigot’s Directory of 1823: Tubb, Wootten, & Tubb in St Aldate’s
- Robson’s Commercial Directory of 1839: Wootten, Tubb & Co at 2 St Aldate’s
Wootten the banker was Richard Wootten, Mayor in 1815 and 1834.
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 2667, 2774, and 2969
- PCC Will PROB 11/1690 (Will of William Tubb of Oxford, proved 9 September 1824)