Thomas Mallam
Mayor of Oxford 1839/40 and 1846/7
Thomas Mallam (1786–1850) was baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 9 August 1786, the son of Richard Mallam and Elizabeth Wall, who had married at that church on 5 October 1778. Richard founded the family auctioneering business in St Aldate’s, and is still listed as an auctioneer and appraiser there in Pigot’s Directory for 1823.
Their two eldest sons, an earlier Thomas and Richard, were buried as children at St Aldate’s in 1784 and 1786. Thomas had two other older brothers who survived: Robert (baptised at St Aldate’s on 5 September 1783) and William (10 June 1785).
His parents went on to baptise four more children at St Aldate’s: Elizabeth (8 April 1789), George (10 January 1791), Mary Ann (29 November 1792, died age four), and Benjamin (3 December 1793). After this they started to baptise their children at St Martin’s Church, suggesting that they may have moved into the vicinity of Carfax at the end of 1795. Their next son, Henry, was born on 10 November 1795 but was not baptised at St Martin’s until 11 April 1797, at the same time as his new baby sister Sophia (who died at the age of one). Thomas’s youngest siblings were Harriet (baptised at St Martin’s on 20 June 1799) and Charles Richard (30 December 1801).
Thomas followed the same trade as his father, opening a separate auctioneering and appraising business at 126 High Street in All Saints parish (left). Pigot’s 1823 directory lists Thomas as operating here and his father Richard in St Aldate’s
On 21 July 1816 Mallam married Lydia Butler (sister of William Butler) at St Aldate’s Church, and they brought up a huge family over this shop. At the baptism of first two children in 1817 and 1818, Mallam is listed as a mere a tobacconist; but from 1821 he is described as an auctioneer. In an 1830 directory he is described as an "Auctioneer and Appraiser", and in 1839 as a "Tobacconist, Auctioneer, & Timber Merchant".
The family name survives in this building: Herbert Mallam Gowers Solicitors are reached via the door on the right
By April 1817 Thomas Mallam and his wife were living in a large new house in what was then known as St Giles' Road but is now Woodstock Road: its proper name was The Shrubbery but it was nicknamed "Quidville", probably referring to a quid of tobacco rather than money. Its address today is 72 Woodstock Road, and it is now the home of the Principal of St Hugh’s (below).
Thomas himself had been one of thirteen children, and he and his wife Lydia filled this house with thirteen children themselves. The baptisms of all except Lydia Jane are recorded in the register of All Saints Church:
- 1817: Thomas Mallam, born 9 June and baptised 12 June 1817, died 31 March 1895
- 1818: Robert Mallam, born 11 July and baptised 14 July 1818, died 23 March and buried All Saints 27 March 1857
- 1819: Lydia Jane Mallam, born 11 November 1819 (Mrs Thomas Ward); she was still alive in 1901
- 1821: James Richard Mallam, born 14 May and baptised 18 July 1821, died 4 March and buried at All Saints 9 March 1877
- 1823: Anne Elizabeth Mallam, born 24 April and baptised 21 May 1823, died 26 February 1872
- 1824: Sarah Mallam, baptised 6 May 1824, died 26 April 1905
- 1825: Charles Mallam, born 11 November and baptised 9 December 1825, died 16 May 1890
- 1827: Benjamin Mallam, born 16 September and baptised 14 October 1827
- 1829: Henry Guy Mallam, born 25 June and baptised 23 July 1829
- 1831: William Mallam, born 7 November and baptised 5 December 1831, died December 1832, buried All Saints 2 January 1833
- 1833: George Mallam, born 16 December 1833, baptised 13 January 1834, died 1896
- 1837:Catherine Mallam, born 4 March and baptised 31 March 1837 (Mrs John Espin)
- 1839: Lucy Mallam, born 3 April and baptised 30 April 1839, died 7 February 1913.
At the time of the 1841 census Thomas and Lydia were living there with seven of their children (James, Anne, Sarah, Henry, George, Catherine, and Lucy), looked after by three servants. Charles and Benjamin were presumably away at boarding school, while their four eldest children had probably left home.
Mallam was elected a member of the Old Corporation in 1818, Junior Chamberlain in 1823, and Senior Bailiff in 1826. After the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, he was elected councillor for the Central Ward on 26 December 1835 and six days later was elected an Alderman for six years. He served as Mayor of Oxford in 1839/40.
Mallam was re-elected on to the Corporation in 1841 and served a second term as Mayor in 1846/7, and was re-elected on to the Corporation again at the end of his term of office.
Mallam died on 28 March 1850 at the age of 64 after suffering illness for several months and was buried at All Saints Church on 4 April 1850. His wife Lydia died nineteen years later at the age of 76 and was buried with him on 19 October 1869.
Their eldest son Thomas founded Mallam’s solicitors (which still survives as Herbert Mallam Gowers Solicitors) at 126 High Street with his younger brother George, and moved into his father’s house. Mallam’s third son, James Richard, founded Mallam’s Fine Art Auctioneers at 126 High Street, but it later moved to its present home in St Michael Street.
Above: The library of The Shrubbery, Thomas Mallam's former house, in the early twentieth century.
See also:
- Slatter family tree site (contains a great amount of Mallam genealogy)
- The Mallam family
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 30 March 1850, p. 3c (death notice) and 4d (short obituary)
- PCC Will PROB 11/2113 (Will of Thomas Mallam, Auctioneer of Oxford, proved 27 May 1850)
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Giles), 891/05/34