Richard Dry
Mayor of Oxford 1843/4
Richard Dry (1773–1848) was the son of William Dry, a tailor of St Peter-in-the-East, and Mary Higgins, who married at St Cross Church on 7 February 1766. They baptised seven children at St Peter-in-the-East Church: Thomas (4 July 1769), Mary (9 December 1770, died unmarried at the age of 73 in 1844), John (23 March 1772), Richard himself (30 November 1773), twins Edward and Samuel (31 March 1776) and Ann (28 November 1777). In 1779 they had a daughter Elizabeth whose baptism does not appear in the St Peter’s register: she died unmarried at the age of 82 in 1861.
Dry joined his father in his tailor’s business, and Pigot’s 1823 Directory lists R. & W. Dry as tailors in the High Street: their home would have been at the east end, in St Peter-in-the-East parish. It is variously described as being in the High Street or in King Street (the part of Merton Street that runs southwards from the High), which suggests it may be on the corner where the Ruskin School of Drawing is now. When his mother, who died at the age of 70 on 16 July 1807, was buried at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 19 July, she is described as "wife of Mr Dry, tailor". His father William died at the age of 77 on 29 May 1819 and was buried with her on 3 June that year.
On 10 January 1814, when he was 40, Dry (described as being of St Peter in the East parish) married Mary Deane at Drayton St Leonard. They had nine children baptised at St Peter-in-the-East Church:
- 1814: Mary Elizabeth (baptised 28 December 1814, died on 20 June 1829, aged 14)
- 1816: Richard Deane (baptised 14 August 1816, died 26 February 1901, aged 84)
- 1818: Emma (baptised 18 April 1818, died 9 August 1818, aged 5 months)
- 1820: Susanna Emma (baptised 12 January 1920)
- 1821: William John (baptised 23 May 1821)
- 1822: William (baptised 27 October 1822)
- 1823: Anne Charlotte (baptised 9 May 1823)
- 1824: James (born 9 March, baptised 21 March 1824)
- 1825: Matilda (baptised 5 January 1825, died aged 32 on 14 April 1856)
Dry was elected on to the old Corporation in 1822, following his brother Thomas who had become a councillor in 1818. He was elected Junior Chamberlain in 1824 and Junior Bailiff in 1829.
After the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, he was elected councillor for the East Ward on 26 December 1835. He was elected Mayor of Oxford in 1843, and also served as an Alderman.
In the 1841 census, when Dry was about 67, he is listed as "independent", indicating that he had retired. He and his wife still had three children living at home (Richard, Matilda, and Anne), and the family was looked after by three servants.
Dry died on 30 November 1848 at the age of 75 and was buried at St Peter-in-the-East Church on 7 December 1848. His wife Mary died thirteen years later at the age of 71 on 12 April 1861 and was buried with him.
Dry’s older brother Thomas of Pembroke Yard, St Aldate’s (who died at the age of 79 in 1848) is probably the father of the Richard Dry who was a wine and spirit merchant at 37 Pembroke Street, St Aldate’s and who married Charlotte Cecil at St Mary Magdalen Church on 19 June 1832
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 15 January 1814: Announcement of Dry’s marriage
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 2 December 1848, p. 3b: Report of Dry’s death
- Inscriptions on the gravestones of St Peter-in-the-East Church (now the library of St Edmund Hall): these include Richard Dry himself, his wife, and his children Emma, Mary Elizabeth, Matilda, and Richard Deane; Richard’s brother Thomas and his wife and daughter (both named Temperance); and Richard’s father and mother, his Aunt Mary, and his sisters Mary and Elizabeth
- PCC Will PROB 11/2087 (Will of Richard Dry, Gentleman of Saint Peter in the East, Oxford, proved 1 February 1849)
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Peter-in-the-East), 891/16/15