James Pike
Mayor of Oxford 1855/6
James Pike (1811–1879) was the son of John and Maria Pike. He was baptised at St Thomas’s Church in Oxford on 26 July 1811, as were his older brother and sister (John in 1804 and Miltadah in 1808).
Jackson's Oxford Journal of 3 March 1838 announced the marriage of "Mr James Pike of this city" to Mary Anne, daughter of the late Richard Burnett, Esq. of Dublin, and their first child, Marion, was born at St Anne’s in Dublin on 25 November 1838. They then came back to Oxford, and she was baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 6 June 1839, with Pike described as a hop merchant.
Hobson’s 1839 Commercial Directory listed a J. Pike as "Hop, & Lead, & Window Glass Merchant, Cut Glass Manufacturer, & Staffordshire & China Warehouse" in George Street.
Pike's second child, James Burnett, was baptised at St Thomas’s on 12 January 1842. Their next two children were baptised at the newly-built St Paul’s Church: Elizabeth Maria on 25 March 1844, and Charles Frederick on 6 March 1846.
Pike’s remaining children were all baptised at the Wesley Memorial Church in New Inn Hall Street: Florence Matilda (baptised 22 December 1847), Kathleen Sophia (3 April 1850), Edith (15 December 1851), Richard Walter (8 September 1853), and Ella Clarinda (1 July 1859).
The 1851 census shows Pike as a hop merchant of 39 living near Worcester College with his wife and five of his nine children. They have five servants: a nurse, cook, housemaid, and two nursemaids. Gardner’s Oxford Directory of 1852 lists James Pike & Co. of Worcester Street as a Hop Merchant and a Window Glass & Lead Manufacturer.
In 1855 Pike was not only the first Oxford Mayor ever chosen directly from the common councillors, but as a Wesleyan he was also the first nonconformist Mayor. He acknowledged the "peculiar honour" of his appointment, but claimed that although he preferred another system, he did not consider himself a dissenter from the Establishment.
The death of Pike’s youngest son, Walter, at his Worcester Street home at the age of ten on 8 October 1863 was announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal two days later.
In later censuses, Pike’s address is given specifically as Worcester House, 1 Worcester Street. In 1861 six of his nine children are living at home, and the family has four servants. The family is still there in 1871, with Elizabeth, Florence, Kathleen, Edith and Ella still at home. Five months after this census, however, on 29 September 1871, PIke's wife Mary Ann died at the age of 54: a death announcement was inserted in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 7 October.
Pike is not listed in any directories after that date, and it appears that he moved away from Oxford to Charlton after the death of his wife, as the announcement of his death in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 15 March 1879 reads as follows: "March 7, at his residence, 19, Victoria-road, Charlton, James Pike (late of the City of Oxford, J.P.) in the 68th year of his life."
See also:
- 1841 Census (St Thomas), 891/18/12
- 1851 Census (St Thomas), 1728/417
- 1861 Census (St Thomas), 896/49
- 1871 Census (St Thomas), 1441/26