John Seary
Mayor of Oxford 1895/6
John Seary (born 1819) was the son of John Seary (born in Chipping Norton in 1783) and his wife Elizabeth (born in Deddington in 1779). When he was baptised at St Clement’s Church on 12 September 1819, his father was described in the parish register as a servant; in the 1841 census he was listed as a labourer, and in the 1851 census, when he was 67, as a servant again. He had a younger brother, David, baptised at St Clements on 26 June 1825.
Seary’s parents and brother David (an apprentice compositor of 15) were living at the Plain, St Clements in 1841, but Seary who would have been 21, seems already to have left home: he was presumably an apprentice tailor elsewhere.
Seary married his wife Julia Churchill in about 1846, and they came back to live in St ClementsIn the late 1840s, Seary came back to St Clements, where he sent up business in the High Street (now known as St Clements Street). He and his wife had seven children: Ann Webb Seary (baptised at St Clement’s Church on 9 August 1848), Thomas Capel Seary (5 May 1850), Louis Kossuth Seary (7 December 1851), Walter Seary (3 September 1854), Arthur (1856), Francis or Frank Seary (20 June 1858), and Emilia (1859). At the time of the 1851 census Seary and his wife were living in St Clements with their first two children, and he is described as a tailor’s foreman.
By 1854 Seary had moved to Iffley Road, where he can be seen in the 1861 census, described as a clothier’s assistant at the age of 41. All seven children are at home with him and his wife, and they have a house servant. Later in 1861 his eighth child, Ralph, must have been born.
By 1871 Seary had moved to larger premises at 1, 2, and 3 Queen Street and is described as a clothier employing 14 men, 2 apprentices, and 8 females. Ann (23), Louis (19), Frank (13), Emily (11) and Julia (5) are living over the premises with Seary and his wife, as well as a clothier’s assistant, a clothier’s apprentice, and two domestic servants.
In 1872 Seary’s daughter Ann married the dentist Sydney Charles Hayes at St Martin’s Church, Carfax.
The following advertisement was published in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 29 September 1877:
JOHN SEARY,
2 & 3 QUEEN STREET, OXFORD
SPECIALITIES FOR THE SEASON
MEN’s ULSTER COATS, from 21s. each BOY’s ULSTER COATS, from 7s 6d.
ALL WOOL TWEED SUITS, made to order, at 50s.
TROWSERS FROM THE SAME MATERIAL, 13s. 6d. per Pair
BEDFORD CORD & CHIPPING-NORTON
TWEED BREECHES & TROWSERS,
GOOD FITS WARRANTED
The NEW CANVAS HORSE CLOTH, lined with Woollen, and Straps and
Shaped, at 12s. 6d., ROLLER to match, 5s.
QUEEN STREET, OXFORD
The Times of 26 October 1880 gives some incidental details of Seary’s council career in a report about an inquiry into election procedures at Oxford:
Mr Seary, an outfitter and a member of the Town Council, after giving some information about the arrangements for the South ward, was asked if he knew anything about flags and colours, and said, unfortunately, he did. He had sent in a bill for £164, and he was sorry to say it was not paid. The flags were supplied to the whole town. Two known Conservatives came to him for an estimate for Mr Evitts for 5ft poles and flags, and he asked 1s 6d each. They returned and brought an order for 400, which were made and distributed. Afterwards he saw Mr Evitts and said "People are worrying me for flags; what am I to do?" and Mr Evitts said, "Make another 500." His place was inundated with people requiring flags. He did not receive any orders from the other side; but many came from private individuals. He had been returned twice to the Council, once after a contest hardly fought. He canvassed the ward, and the contest cost him from £20 to £30, chiefly for printing. He never expected to be repaid. He had no doubt it would be better for the city if the political parties were more equally balanced.
At the time of the 1881 census, Seary was described as the employer of 39 hands and two apprentices. He and his wife Julia still lived over the shop at 2 and 3 Queen Street, and with them were Arthur (a clothier’s assistant aged 20), Francis (an unemployed ironmonger’s assistant aged 23), and Emily (20), as well as a clothier’s assistant, an apprentice, and their two servants.
Kelly’s Directory of 1891 lists Seary in the court list as a private individual, living at 1 Queen Street, and this is given as his home in the 1891 census. By that year his eldest daughter (Mrs Annie Hayes, aged 43) has come back to live with the family, together with her children Cyril (17) and Gwendoline (16).
Seary’s wife, Julia Churchill Seary, died in Oxford near the beginning of 1893 at the age of 69.
John Seary had already been made an Alderman when in 1895 at the advanced age of 75 he was elected Mayor.
Because he was on the Municipal Buildings Committee when the new Town Hall was opened (1897), Seary’s head is carved in stone in the Council Chamber corridor (right).
By the time of the 1901 census, when Seary was a widower of 81 and described as a retired clerical outfitter, he had moved to London to live with his youngest son Ralph (39) at 27 Rathcoole Avenue, Hornsey. Ralph, a clerical outfitter like his father, was single and the head of the household, which also comprised Seary’s spinster daughter Emily (41) and his granddaughter Gwendoline Hayes (26) who was a retail draper’s clerk
See also:
- 1841 Census: (parents) Oxford (St Clement), 876/10/19
- 1851 Census: Oxford (St Clement), 1727/309; (parents) 1727/320
- 1861 Census: Oxford (Cowley), 891/11
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Martin), 1437/20
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Martin), 1501/8
- 1891 Census: Oxford (St Martin), 1167/7
- 1901 Census: Middlesex (Hornsey), 1240/151