Thomas Wyatt
Mayor of Oxford 1830/1
Thomas Wyatt (1777–1845) was the son of John Wyatt junior and his third wife, Mary. The Wyatt family goes back to the seventeenth century in the parish of St Mary the Virgin.
Wyatt's father's line
Thomas Wyatt's grandfather was John Wyatt senior (the son of William Wyatt) who was born on 25 February 1697/8 and baptised at St Mary-the-Virgin Church on 14 March 1697/8. His elder brother William had also been baptised there on 24 May 1696, and his younger sister Mary was born on 30 June and baptised there on 31 July 1706: her mother is named as Mary.
Thomas Wyatt's father was John Wyatt junior, the son of John Wyatt senior and his wife Mary. He was baptised at St Mary the Virgin Church on 10 January 1733/4. His seven siblings were also baptised there: William (7 September 1731), an earlier John (12 July 1732), Elizabeth (born on 24 August, baptised 25 September 1735), Mary (27 January 1736/7), Thomas (17 August 1738), Ann (10 January 1739/40), and George (23 July 1741).
At the age of 27, Wyatt's father was already described as a widower when he married Anne Whiting of St Giles at St Mary the Virgin Church on 22 December 1760. John and Anne had three children baptised at St Mary's church, all of whom died in childhood before the future Mayor (who would have been their half-brother) was born: Anne (born 26 March 1765 and baptised the next day); Martha (born 16 September and baptised 22 October 1767); and James (born 4 November and baptised 10 November 1769).
The first four months of 1771 were bad for Thomas's father John: in that short period he buried his only son James (10 January); his second wife Anne (22 January); his daughter Martha (11 March); and his father John (28 April).
A commemorative diamond-shaped stone (left) in the floor of the Church of St Mary the Virgin reads "JOHN WYATT died April the 21st 1771, AGED 66".
John's remaining daughter, Anne, died at the age of seven on 21 May 1772 and was buried in St Mary's the next day. In the burial register John is described as a carpenter.
So in 1772 at the age of 37 the mayor's father John Wyatt junior was left a childless widower. Just under three years later he married his third wife, Mary Treadwell, on 14 January 1775. Both are described in the register as being of St Aldate's parish. They had three children baptised at St Aldate's Church:
- The future Mayor, Thomas Wyatt (born on 14 March 1777 and baptised two days later)
- Sarah Wyatt (baptised on 29 September 1778; buried at St Aldate's 7 December 1780)
- Mary Wyatt (baptised 31 May 1780, buried at St Aldate's 14 December 1780).
Thomas Wyatt himself
Thus Thomas Wyatt, the future Mayor, was John Wyatt's only surviving child. His father was already dead when he was apprenticed on his thirteenth birthday (14 March 1790) to the builder John Johnson. It seems likely that his father was the bargemaster John Wyatt who was buried at St Aldate's on 22 April 1787.
On 23 February 1802, when he was nearly 25 years old, Thomas Wyatt (described in the marriage notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal as a builder of St Aldate, married Martha Ensworth, third daughter of the wine merchant Thomas Ensworth (ans sister of the future mayor, of the same name) at St Martin’s Church. They had three sons:
- Thomas Wyatt junior, born 9 April 1803, baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 3 July 1803
- Charles Wyatt, born 25 November 1807, baptised at St Aldate's Church on 22 June 1808
- Henry Wyatt, baptised at St Aldate's Church on 24 March 1811.
Wyatt's mother, described as "Mary Wyatt the elder", died at the age of 70 and was buried at St Aldate's Church on 30 October 1803.
Also in 1803, Wyatt came on to the council. He was elected Junior Chamberlain in 1805 and Junior Bailiff in 1809.
Wyatt became a builder and timber merchant of St Ebbe’s, and is listed as a timber merchant at Friars Wharf in Robson’s 1839 Commercial Directory.
On 10 October 1830 "Thomas Wyatt, builder" was unanimously elected as on of the Mayor's eight Assistants, and at the end of the next month was elected Mayor (for 1830/1). The coronation of William IV took place near the end of his office on 8 September 1831, but he did not attend the coronation feast in the Mayor of Oxford’s traditional role as butler, as these services were dispensed with for this Coronation.
At the end of September 1831 Thomas Wyatt expressly declined to become a candidate for Aldermanship. Notwithstanding this, the Freemen of Oxford assembled in the Town Hall yard called out, "Wyatt, Wyatt"—"send out the Mayor"—we'll have Wyatt." In the end Wyatt's son-in-law Thomas Ensworth was elected.
After the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, Wyatt was elected councillor for the West Ward on 26 December 1835 and six days later was elected an Alderman for six years.
The 1841 census shows Wyatt living at Friars Wharf, St Ebbe's with his wife Martha and three servants. He is described as independent and has probably retired. He resigned from the council in 1842, and died in his home at St Ebbe’s at the age of 67 on 2 March 1845.
Wyatt's business premises were advertised to be let or sold in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 3 May 1845. The advertisement (put in by his son who was about to move the family business to the Steam Saw Mills that were in the course of erection) describes the property as
valuable, extensive and well arranged freehold premises known as Friars Wharf (west of the Basin), the property of the late Mr Thomas Wyatt, comprising a spacious Wharf and Yard, with powerful Crane, convenient and substantially built Carpenters' Workshops, Store Room, and Counting House: Timber, Deal, and Sawing Sheds; two very complete Dwelling Houses, Gardens, Labourer's Cottage, and Offices.
Wyatt's son
Thomas Wyatt junior (born 1803) became a surveyor, architect, and builder. His daughter Elizabeth Jane Wyatt married Alfred Williams, an architect who designed Harrods and Harvey Nichols in London.
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 8 March 1845, p. 3b (obituary)
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entry numbered 2907
- See also James Wyatt, Mayor 1842 (his cousin)
- PCC Will PROB 11/2109 (Will of Thomas Wyatt, Gentleman of Oxford, proved 11 February 1850)
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Ebbe), 891/03/54