Robert Vicaris
Mayor of Oxford 1725/6 and 1735/6
Robert Vicaris (or Vikeris, Vickaris, or Viccaris) (c.1684–1741) was the son of a Heythrop mercer of the same name. He appears to have first come to Oxford as a boy in March 1699, when he was apprenticed to the mercer Matthew Pinnell.
In September 1710 Vicaris was appointed the Mayor’s Child by John Knibb; in 1711 Keykeeper and Chamberlain; in 1723 Senior Bailiff; and in 1724 one of the eight Mayor’s Assistants.
Vicaris was elected Mayor for the first time in September 1725, awarding a Chamberlain’s place to Thomas Munday as his Child and selecting John Taylor as his Chamberlain.
In September 1729 Vicaris took on Francis Burrows as his apprentice, but the apprenticeship was later cancelled by mutual consent, whereupon in June 1732 he took on John Turner.
In September 1735 Vicaris was elected Mayor for a second time, appointing Stephen Bishop as his Child and Oliver Witherington as his Chamberlain. Vicaris became ill during his mayorality, and the City Records state that in May 1736 he appointed Richard Wise as temporary Deputy-Mayor. (There is a mystery here, as Richard Wise, a former Mayor, himself died before 4 February 1736.)
After his term of office, Vicaris remained one of the Mayor’s Assistants until his death in 1741.
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 111, 1444, and 1535
- PCC Will PROB 11/710 (Will of Robert Vicaris, Mercer of Oxford, proved 15 July 1741)