John Richard Carr
Mayor of Oxford 1863/4, 1867/8, and 1871/2
John Richard Carr (1811–1893) was baptised on 25 December 1811 at St Giles' Church. He was the son of Richard Carr and Sarah Towers of Banbury Road, Oxford.
Carr married his first wife, Elizabeth Dodd on 23 January 1832, and they had six children: Ellen Elizabeth (1832), George Cornelius (1834), Mary Ann Eliza (1857), Thomas Arthur (1836), Henry Theophilus (1841) and Sydney Frank (1846).
Carr started off as a clerk in the Broad Street office of the solicitor Crews Dudley, who was also an agent for the Liberal Party. By 1841 the Post Office Directory lists John Richard Carr as a clerk at 72 St Giles' Street (one of the houses demolished to make way for the new northern section of the Taylorian).
Carr worked for the Liberal Party for fifty years, and in 1852 he came on to the Council as the representative for North Ward without a contest.
The 1851 census shows Carr at the age of 40 living at 72 St Giles: he is described as a "Managing Clerk to an Attorney". Three of his children were living at home with him and his wife Elizabeth: Ellen (18), George (16, described as "working in attorney’s office"), and Mary (13 and at school).
In 1856 Carr was appointed a Charity Trustee, and was a visitor of Littlemore Asylum for thirty years. He was also a member of the Board of Guardians (and Chairman for a considerable period), being prominent in the movement for the erection of Cowley Industrial School and Workhouse. He was a member of the Board of Thames Valley Drainage Commissioners.
Carr was one of the four Liberal leaders who dominated the council’s important committees: he was chairman of the police committee from its inception in 1869 to 1886. Under his chairmanship of the Market Committee the meat market was considerably enlarged and greatly improved.
From 1861 to 1876, Carr practised as a solicitor at 72 St Giles' Street. The 1861 census shows him living there at the age of 49 with his second wife Hannah (31), his son Henry Theophilus Carr (then a solicitor’s clerk of 20), his niece Maria Page, and a servant. In 1871 he and Hannah are living there alone looked after by a cook, housemaid, and groom.
Carr also owned 9–10 Broad Street, which he leased to Henry Taunt from 1874 to 1894.
Carr was elected Sheriff of Oxford in 1861, Mayor in 1863, and an Alderman in October 1865. He was elected Mayor again in 1867 and 1871, also serving as Chief Magistrate during those two years. In 1870 he was nominated by the Council as a Justice of the Peace.
In about 1880 Carr moved to 20 Beaumont Street, and the 1881 census shows him living there at the age of 69 with Hannah (49), his granddaughter Rose Carr (15), and two servants.
On the formation of the new City Council in 1889, Carr was returned as councillor for the North Ward, and he was selected as Alderman for a full six-year term. The 1891 census again shows him at his Beaumont Street home with his wife Hannah and granddaughter Rose, plus a cook, parlourmaid, and housemaid.
Carr’s second wife, although twenty years his junior, died on a trip to Southsea in 1892, and he never recovered from the shock. He was seriously ill for some time and on 28 June 1893 died at the age of 82 at his home, 20 Beaumont Street. His funeral was held at Holywell Cemetery on 3 July, with the Rector of the City Church at Carfax (C. J. H. Fletcher) conducting the service. The cortège left his residence at Beaumont Street at 3.30pm with an open hearse bearing the coffin, which was preceded by over 30 constables of the City Police Force as well as Superintendent Head, two inspectors, and four sergeants. The Mayor and a large number of the Corporation joined the procession at the Randolph Hotel after changing into their robes.
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 1 July 1893, p. 5g (obituary)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 8 July 1893, p. 5f (funeral)
- 1851 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1728/603
- 1861 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 894/6
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1438/13
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1502/14
- 1891 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1167/119