Amos John George
Mayor of Oxford 1924/5
Amos John George (1860–1928) was born in Kirtlington, Oxfordshire. His parents were the bootmaker Thomas George (born at Cuddington in Berkshire in 1830), and Jane Sarah Hawtin (born at Kirtlington in 1833).
The 1861 census shows Amos at just one year old, living at a cottage in Kirtlington with his parents and two older siblings: Ellen Jane (5) and Evan (3). His eldest sister, Bridget (7) appears to have been away from home. Two other siblings were born after that census: Albert in 1863 and William in 1868.
Amos’s mother, Jane, died at the age of 38, and was buried at Kirtlington Church on 24 March 1870. At the time of the 1871 census Bridget (17) is described as a general servant; Ellen (15) is keeping house for her father; Evan (13) is an apprentice shoemaker; and Amos and William are at school
Amos attended the village school in Kirtlington, and in 1876 went to work in the Telegraph & Booking Department of the Great Western Railway. By the time of the 1881 census his father had married his second wife, Sarah, who was born in Bletchingdon, and Amos, now 21, was following his father’s trade as a cordwainer, as were his younger brothers Albert (18) and William (13).
In 1883 Amos George became Organizing Secretary of the Band of Hope Union, and this appears to have been his full-time job: he organized large festival choirs for their choral concerts at venues such as the Town Hall and Blenheim Palace.
On 21 November 1887, when he was 27, Amos George married Mary Ann Bunker, a carpenter’s daughter aged 21, at Kirtlington, and they spent all their married life in Oxford. In 1891 they lived at 9 Church Street, St Ebbe’s, and Mary Ann’s sister Bessie (13) was staying with them. The following year their only son, Frederick, was born.
Later in the 1890s Mrs George opened a café in Oxford’s covered market that was to remain open for 80 years. She is listed in Kelly’s Directories from 1899 as "15–16 The Market, Mrs A. George, dining rooms", and her advertisement reads:
When you are in Oxford, stop at Tea, Coffee, and Dining Rooms, 95 & 96 1st Avenue, Oxford Meat Market (near Market St end). Hot Joints Daily, 12 till 2 o'clock. Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Lemonade, &c. Prices strictly moderate. Your patronage and recommendation respectfully solicited. Mrs. A. J. George, Proprietress. Don't forget the address: Meat Market, Oxford
The ginger beer bottle on the left inscribed "George's Market Dining Rooms" dates from 1902.
George’s Café in Oxford’s covered market was to survive until the 1970s.
The 1901 census shows Amos George at the age of 41 living at 36 Newton Road, south Oxford. He is still described as a Temperance Secretary, but there is no mention of his phonograph business. With him are his wife Mary (35), their son Frederick (8), and his wife’s brother, Frederick Bunker (17), a provision merchant’s salesman who may well have supplied George’s Café. The family have a general servant.
In 1907 George opened a phonograph stores at Market Buildings, Market Street, which he ran until 1921. His brother Albert W. George had a boot & shoe-making business at 8 Hythe Bridge Street, and George seems to have managed it in later life.
In 1909 George was elected by the South Ward to the city council for the first time. He was the council representative on the Board of Guardians for six years, and the Chairman of Oxford Unemployed Relief Committee for nine years.
George’s son Frederick (b.1892) had the educational opportunities his father had lacked and obtained an open Toynbee scholarship at the University of Oxford.
George was elected Mayor of Oxford in 1924. His wife was presented with a new gold chain from Councillor Gerken’s widow, to be used by future Lady Mayoresses.
George died in 1928. His widow continued to run her café in the market, and a schedule of city council rents in 1933 shows that she paid £67.1.2 a year for Shops No. 15 and 16, which included a room on the first floor and a cellar.
See also:
- The Changing Faces of Oxford City Centre, Book 1, pp. 53–4, for photographs of Amos George and his wife and their café
- Oxford Journal illustrated of 1 March 1916, p. 9 ("Who’s Who in Oxford")
- Memorial to Amos George east of the porch of Kirtlington Church
- 1861 Census: Oxford (Kirtlington), 897/36
- 1871 Census: Oxford (Kirtlington), 1442/32
- 1881 Census: Oxford (Kirtlington), 1505/28
- 1891 Census: Oxford (St Ebbe 1), 1168/42
- 1901 Census: Oxford (Grandpont), 1384/89