John Wilkins
Mayor of Oxford 1734/5 and 1744/5
John Wilkins (c. 1690–1758) came from a line of goldsmiths who lived in All Saints parish, Oxford.
Although John’s grandfather, Samuel Wilkins senior was baptised at Hook Norton (on 18 June 1619), his family originated in Oxford: Samuel’s father was Thomas Wilkins, his grandfather the Oxford weaver John Wilkins, and his grandfather Thomas Wilkins (d.1573). Samuel was apprenticed to Thomas Berry, goldsmith of Oxford, in 1632 and eventually had his own business in the city. He came on to the council in 1651 but was still only a Chamberlain in 1688, the year of his death. His seven children included John Wilkins (baptised 1651), who took over his father’s business, and Samuel Wilkins junior (baptised at All Saints on 28 August 1675), who became an engraver and settled in Warwick.
Samuel Wilkins junior married Katherine, and their only surviving child John Wilkins (the future Mayor) was born in Warwick in about 1690. On 28 August 1704 young John was apprenticed for seven years to his goldsmith uncle, John Wilkins the Elder, and when his apprenticeship was over continued to live and work with him at 135 High Street. His uncle served on the council from 1701, but when he was elected one of the Mayor’s Assistants in 1719 paid a fine rather than serve. He died at the age of 77 on 7 January 1727/8, and left the bulk of his estate to his young John: Thomas Hearne wrote: "The rest Mr Wilkins hath left (being said, three or four thousand libs.) to a nephew who lived with him." John continued to live at 135 High Street and took his uncle’s place as the university goldsmith.
In September 1728 (at the unusually mature age of 38) Wilkins was selected as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, Jeremy Franklin. He took up his Chamberlain’s place immediately, swearing the necessary oaths and paying 3s. 4d. for not being Constable. In September 1731 he was elected Senior Bailiff.
In February 1733/4 Wilkins took on his first apprentice, Stephen Hedges.
In August 1734 Wilkins was elected one of the Mayor’s eight Assistants. In September 1734 he was chosen as Mayor, nominating George Tomkins as his Child.
Wilkins and his wife Catherine baptised their only son, another John, at All Saints Church on 6 November 1736. In 1740 the family moved to 36 Castle Street in the parish of St Peter-le-Bailey, but Wilkins continued to run his business from his 135 High Street.
In September 1744 Wilkins was chosen as Mayor for a second time, nominating Edward Allen as his Child.
In May 1746 Wilkins took on George Tonge as his apprentice. In about 1750 Edward Lock, who had just finished his apprenticeship in London, came to work for him, and was eventually to take over his business.
Wilkins’s son John matriculated from Worcester College on 22 November 1753, receiving his B.A. in 1757 and M.A. in 1760.
Wilkins remained one of the Mayor’s Assistants until his death on 22 December 1757. His wife Katherine (who appears to have been a business partner of her husband) continued the business until 1759. She died in Bath on 15 January 1764.
See also:
- Ann Natalie Hansen, Oxford Goldsmiths before 1800 (At the Sign of the Cock, 1996), pp. 66–88, for (1) Walter Wilkins, (2) Walter’s nephew Samuel Wilkins, (3) Samuel’s son John Wilkins the elder, and (4) the latter’s nephew John Wilkins II (the mayor). See especially family tree on p. 88
- C.S.L. Davies, "The family and connections of John Wilkins, 1614–72", Oxoniensia LXIX 2004 (2005), 93–107, which is primarily about the cousin of the Mayor’s grandfather who bore the same name, but includes the Mayor’s early family history
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 24 December 1757 (death notice)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 391, 1586, and 2095
- PCC Will PROB 11/836 (Will of John Wilkins, Goldsmith of Oxford, 10 March 1758)