Charles James Sadler
Mayor of Oxford 1836/7, 1849/50, 1854/5, and 1860/1
Charles James Sadler (1793–1872) was born in Oxford.
In September 1815 Sadler, described as a "confectioner of Oxford" married Jane Neadle of Piccadilly at St James’s, London.
The couple had only one child, Charles James junior, who was baptised at All Saints Church on 14 March 1817.
Sadler was a confectioner and fruiterer in the parish of St Mary the Virgin at 104 High Street (below).
Sadler because a Councillor in the old Corporation in 1823, and was elected Senior Chamberlain in 1825 and Junior Bailiff in 1828. After the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, he was elected councillor for the South Ward on 26 December 1835 and six days later was elected an Alderman for six years. He led the more moderate reformers following that Act, and served his first term as Mayor for the year 1836/7, although he was attacked by the Liberals for allowing himself to be nominated for the Mayoralty by the Conservatives.
Sadler became Chair of the Paving Commission in the late 1830s.
By the time of the 1841 census, Sadler (aged 48) had moved away from his shop, although he is still described as a confectioner, and was living in Broad Street with his wife Jane, his daughter Mary, and two servants.
On 30 December 1841 he was granted a lease by the council of the high corner tenement (built in 1813) on the corner of Turl Street and Broad Street (below). He remained here at 1 Turl Street (which was in St Michael’s parish) for over thirty years until his death.
Sadler’s High Street shop was taken over by his son Charles and his son’s wife Elizabeth, who are living there at the time of the 1841 census, along with six male servants (presumably including shop assistants) and one female servant. They had their first child, Amelia, later that year, but she died at the age of seven weeks and was buried at St Mary the Virgin Church; their next child, Emily Jane, was baptised at St Mary’s in 1844.
Sadler opposed the adoption for Oxford of the Health of Towns Act 1848, disliking the idea of local autonomy being threatened by "foreigners".
Sadler’s second term as Mayor was for the year 1849/50. In a debate in the town council in 1850 he alleged that many clergy were teaching Roman doctrines while being paid by the Established Church.
The support of Sadler in an election was said to control 300 votes, and he was described as "autocrat of the street commissioners, the city estates committee, the market, the city charities, and the gas works".
The 1851 census shows Sadler, described as an Alderman and Magistrate, aged 58 and living at 1 Turl Street with his wife Jane and one servant.
In November 1851 Sadler urged the council to provide "a public reading room or library for the mass of the people ... instead of driving them to the public house". In October 1852 ratepayers voted in favour of a free city library by 596 to 72, and the library opened on 1 June 1854 beneath the old Town Hall. It was open from 9am to 11pm in summer and 9am to 10pm in winter, and attracted 650 visitors on its first day. Sadler praised its "solid advantages to the Middle and Working classes of this City".
His third term as Mayor was in 1854/5, and his last term in 1860/1. In the 1861 census he is described as "Mayor, Alderman & Magistrate".
Sadler’s wife died at the age of 76 in 1869, and she was buried at the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The parish register has a note in the margin reading "Aldn. Sadler’s wife buried in their old vault in the churchyard." The 1871 census shows Sadler at 1 Turl Street as a widower of 78, with his 27-year-old granddaughter Emily J. Sadler acting as his housekeeper, and with a cook and a housemaid. He is described as an Alderman and an agent to the gas company.
One year after the census, Sadler himself died. His obituary includes the following:
One of our oldest and most prominent citizens — Alderman Charles James Sadler — passed away from us suddenly and tranquilly, at his residence in Turl-street, on Wednesday last, at the ripe age of 79 years…. Probably no man ever held so many public appointments in the City as he did, and to mark their sense of his services his fellow-citizens, a few years since, had his portrait painted. He presented it to the City, and it now hangs in the Council Chamber. Latterly he had been afflicted with total blindness, and could not, therefore, take so active a part in public affairs as he had been accustomed to do. Still he was constantly to be seen, guided by an attendant, walking about, and wearing the accustomed scarlet geranium in his button-hole (for he was a devoted lover of flowers) and his cheery "How are you," when accosted by an acquaintance, made one completely forget his affliction.
When Sadler’s funeral took place at the church of St Mary the Virgin on 22 April 1872, the shops in the vicinity closed entirely or partially from 1pm. His funeral procession included the Mayor & Corporation, the City Magistrates, the Coroner of the Local Board, and a deputation from the Druids ("with which body the deceased was connected"), with the Macebearer in front carrying the mace covered with black crape. His obituary says, "His self-conceit was prodigious, and he would frequently say that he was never wrong."
People now have lunch beside Sadler’s grave, which is behind the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The inscription reads:
Charles James SADLER Alderman of this City died April 17 1872 aged 79
Jane SADLER his wife died Feb 2 1869 aged 76
Amelia Elizth SADLER their grandchild died in infancy 1841
See also:
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 9 September 1815: Announcement of Sadler’s marriage
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 20 April 1872, p. 5e (obituary)
- Jackson’s Oxford Journal, 27 April 1872, p. 5c (funeral)
- Portrait of Charles James Sadler by Sir William Boxall, 1890, in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall
- Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, Volume IV: The City of Oxford, opp. p.22 (photograph of the portrait of Charles James Sadler)
- 1841 Census: Oxford (St Michael), 0891/14/20
- 1851 Census: Oxford (St Michael), 1728/529
- 1861 Census: Oxford (St Michael), 894/80
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Michael), 1438/71