Thomas Wyatt
Mayor of Oxford 1830/1
Thomas Wyatt (1777–1845) was the son of John Wyatt and his third wife, Mary.
Thomas’s father, John Wyatt junior, had been baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in January 1733/4. John was described as a widower when he married his second wife, Anne Whiting of St Giles, at St Mary the Virgin Church on 22 December 1760. He and Anne baptised three children at the church: Anne (born 26 March 1765); Martha (born 16 September 1767), and James (born 4 November 1769).
John’s Wyatt junior's second wife Ann, his father John Wyatt senior, and his children James and Martha all died in the three months between January and April 1771. This memorial stone in the floor of the Church of St Mary the Virgin (left) commemorates John Wyatt senior (the Mayor’s grandfather), who died at the age of 66 on 21 April 1771.
John Wyatt junior married his third wife, Mary Thurland, at Kidlington on 6 June 1771, less than five months after the death of his second wife. His only remaining child from his first marriage, Anne, died at the age of seven on 21 May 1772. The future Mayor, Thomas, was born on 14 March 1777 and was baptised at St Aldate’s Church two days later. His younger sisters Sarah and Mary were baptised there in 1778 and 1780 respectively.
There is anecdotal evidence that Thomas Wyatt’s parents parted on 15 May 1779, and by the time that Thomas was apprenticed on his thirteenth birthday (14 March 1790) to the builder John Johnson, his father was already dead.
Thomas Wyatt married Maria Ensworth, sister of Thomas Ensworth, at St Martin’s Church on 23 February 1802. Their first son, also called Thomas, was baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1803. In that year he 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.
Wyatt was elected Mayor in 1830. The coronation of William IV took place near the end of his office on 8 September 1831, but it is unclear whether he attended the coronation feast in the Mayor of Oxford’s traditional role as butler.
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' with his wife 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.
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