John Galpin
Mayor of Oxford 1873/4 and 1879/80
John Galpin (1824–1891) was the son of the carpenter William Galpin (born in Crewkerne, Somerset) and his wife Lois Busby (born 1798/9 in Combe, Oxfordshire).
John’s father came from Somerset to Oxfordshire to find work, and appears to have met his wife Lois there too. They married in Yeovil on 10 February 1822. Their first child, Susan, appears to have been born before November 1822, as on 2 November 1823 a Susan Galpin aged one was buried at St Giles' Church. Their next child, William Robinson Galpin, was baptised at Combe on 20 December 1823, while John, their third child, was privately baptised at St Giles' Church in Oxford on 7 January 1825 (when the family were then described as living at Spindlelove’s Yard in that parish). Their fourth child, Joseph, was taken back to Combe to be baptised on 26 August 1827, with the family still described as being of St Giles.
In 1827/8, John’s parents moved to the adjacent parish of St Mary Magdalen, and his seven youngest siblings were baptised at that church. The family was living at Gloucester Green at the time of the baptisms of Elias (6 December 1828), Jane (20 December 1829), and Thomas (25 December 1831). They evidently moved to Gravel Lane in about 1832, as this is the address given in the baptism register for Henry (29 December 1833, died in infancy), Henry Busby (31 January 1836, died in infancy), Elizabeth (25 March 1838), and James (29 January 1840).
By the time of the 1841 census, the Galpins were living in Gas Street, St Ebbe’s. John at 16 had already left home, and was an apprentice carpenter with Margaret Wyatt’s building firm in St Giles' Street. By the time of the 1851 census, his parents were living in Bath Street, St Clement’s, where they remained for the rest of their lives. Their joint grave can be seen in St Clement’s churchyard.
John Galpin married his wife Catharine Green in March 1843 when he was about 18 years old, and they began their married life in Oxford. Their first child, Lucy, was born there in September 1843, just six months after the marriage, and their next child, John, in 1845.
Galpin then went to work for a building firm in London, so his next three children were born in Lambeth: George (1847), Charles (1850), and Frederick (1852).
In 1854 at the age of 29 Galpin was appointed Surveyor to the Paving Commissioners in Oxford and was responsible for designing Hythe Bridge. His last three children were born in Oxford: Julia in 1855, Arthur in 1857, and Henry in 1859.
At the time of the 1861 census Galpin, described as "Surveyor to Oxford Improvements Committee", was living with his wife and eight children in the parish of Cowley, probably at Donnington Lodge in Iffley Road. From 1864 to 1868 Galpin was Surveyor to the Local Board, with responsibilities that included drainage.
In 1858 Galpin had begun to engage in speculative developments in the housing business, and when the Oxford Building and Investment Company was registered in February 1866, he was its Secretary and Surveyor. He was also manager of the Oxford and Berks Brick Company, and a partner with one of his sons in a timber business at Abbey Wharf and with another in an auctioneering and estate firm. His prosperity is reflected in the fact that by the time of the 1871 census, where he is described as an "Auctioneer and Surveyor", he was living at Northern House in Summertown and the family had two servants.
In politics, Galpin was a Liberal. He was elected Sheriff of Oxford in 1872, an Alderman in 1872, and Mayor in 1873 and again in 1879. He was also a Justice of the Peace.
In the early years of the growth of the suburb of North Oxford, Galpin was a principal developer, acting as broker between builders and lessees and arranging finances. Together with the builder John Dover, he concentrated on the Norham Manor estate and the Warnborough Road area. But competition for sites increased, and when T.S. Omond became Estates Bursar of St John’s College in 1877 he questioned earlier "gentleman’s agreements". Galpin found himself with a lot in Farndon Road from which the gravel had been removed and said, "I cannot but think that from some quarter or other there is someone giving me a sly poke and that an inch or two below the belt." The business started to fail and by 1881 was in a very shaky state. By the time of the 1881 census Galpin had moved back into Oxford, to 28 Beaumont Street in St Mary Magdalen parish. On 31 October that year Galpin’s wife, Catherine, died at the age of 59 and was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church.
The crisis for the business came in 1883. In March that year the directors announced that they would not pay any dividend on half-year savings, and in April the Oxford Building and Investment Company went into liquidation. An effigy in alderman’s robes, representing Galpin, was paraded through the streets of Oxford and dumped outside Galpin’s house in Beaumont Street, but the police removed it before it could be burned. In August the Oxford and Berks Brick Company also went into liquidation, followed by Messrs Galpin & Son in November. The liquidator Walter Gray (who himself was to become Mayor in 1888) took over Galpin’s offices in New Inn Hall Street.
John Galpin died at the age of 66 at 36 Pembroke Street, St Aldate’s, and was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church on 19 March 1891.
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 21 March 1891, p. 5g (obituary)
- Tanis Hinchcliffe, North Oxford (Yale University Press), pp. 43, 45, 52, 57, 59–63, 76, 109, 112, 150
- Sydney Galpin, "The Oxford Branch of Galpins" (Bodleian Library, MS Top. Oxon. d.473).
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Ebbe’s), 891/03/58 (rest of his family only)
- 1851 Census: Oxford (St Clements), 1727/362
- 1861 Census: Oxford (Cowley), 891/20
- 1871 Census: Oxford (Summertown), 1436/19
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1502/15