Lily Sophia Tawney
Mayor of Oxford 1933/4
Miss Lily Sophia Tawney (1867–1947) was the first ever woman to be Mayor of Oxford. She was the daughter of Archer Robert Tawney, Esq. (born in Dunchurch, Warwickshire in 1818) and Emma (born in Bloomsbury, London in 1828). Her paternal grandfather, Richard Tawney of Dunchurch, was a descendant of the Tawney brewing family which had produced four Mayors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Lily Tawney’s father had been an undergraduate of Merton College and had then studied at the Inner Temple. The 1851 census shows him at the age of 32, a bachelor living on his own in Wroxton, near Banbury, and looked after by no fewer than four servants. He must have got married soon after this, as he and his wife Emma Harriet (who was born in London) had six children baptised at the parish church at Wroxton:
- Eleanor Mary (1856)
- Mabel Emma Tawney (1858)
- Edward Plowden Archer Tawney (1861)
- Laurence Archer Tawney (1862)
- Ethel Catherine Tawney (1865)
- Lily Sophia Tawney (born on 26 January 1867 and baptised at Wroxton on 27 February)
- John Archer Tawney (1868).
By the time of the 1861 census, Lily’s father (still only 42) was described as a retired banker. He was away at the time of the 1871 and 1881 censuses, and indeed in 1881 her mother is shown both as married and as head of the household, suggesting that he did not spend much time at home in Wroxton. Lily Sophia Tawney was then 14, living at Wroxton with her mother and her older sisters Eleanor Mary (24), Mabel Emma (23), and Ethel Catherine (16). The five women had an array of servants: a governess, cook, lady’s maid, parlourmaid, housemaid, under-housemaid, and scullery housemaid.
In the mid-1880s the family moved to Oxford, where they lived at 63 St Giles’ Street (demolished to make way for Blackfriars). Lily herself was away at the time of the 1891 census, but the rest of her family were there: her father and mother (now respectively 72 and 62), and five of her siblings: Eleanor (34), Mabel (33), Ethel (26), Edward (30 and a Captain in the Royal Artillery), and John (22 and an articled clerk). They had five servants: a cook, lady’s maid, upper housemaid, under housemaid, and kitchenmaid.
At the time of the 1901 census, Lily Tawney at the age of 34 was back at home in St Giles’ Street . Her mother (72) was now a widow, and three of her siblings were still at home: Eleanor (44), Mabel (43) and John (32, a bank clerk). There are also three Tawney grandchildren aged 6, 4, and 2 living with their grandmother. They now had six servants: a cook, lady’s maid, nurse, parlourmaid, housemaid, and kitchenmaid.
By 1911 Lily’s mother, Emma Tawney (82) was a widow, living at 62 Banbury Road with her three spinster daughters: Eleanor (54), Mabel (53), and Lily herself (44). Her mother must have died soon after the census, and by 1916 the family lived at 14 Northmoor Road in the household of John Archer Tawney junior.
Miss Tawney entered the council in 1918 when there were no contested elections, and was returned unopposed for the North Ward in 1920. She was made an Alderman on 3 April 1929.
By 1927 Miss Tawney appears to be head of the household at 14 Northmoor Road, and by 1932 she is listed as living at 5 Lathbury Road.
Miss Tawney was on the Board of Guardians and was Chairman of the Public Assistance Committee. In 1933 she was elected Mayor or Oxford (for 1933/4), and while in office was always addressed as “Mistress Mayor”. She was awarded an OBE for public service.
In 1938 Miss Tawney moved to 28 Belsyre Court, Woodstock Road, for the rest of her life.
Miss Tawney resigned from the council in 1942, and died on 14 October 1947 following an operation in the Acland Hospital, Oxford. Her funeral took place at St Paul’s Church, Oxford and she was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery.
See also:
- Richard Tawney I (Mayor in 1748)
- Richard Tawney II (Mayor in 1764/5, 1778/9, and 1790)
- Edward Tawney (Mayor in 1772, 1784, and 1793)
- Charles Tawney (Mayor in 1837 and 1840)
- Oxford Magazine, 1933–4, p. 207
- Oxford Monthly, November 1933, p. 27
- Oxford Times, 17 October 1947, p. 8 (obituary)
- 1851 Census: Oxford (Wroxton), 1733/456
- 1861 Census: Oxford (Wroxton), 916/79
- 1871 Census: Oxford (Wroxton), 1462/63
- 1881 Census: Oxford (Wroxton), 1525/87
- 1891 Census: rest of family at Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1167/130
- 1901 Census: Oxford (St Mary Magdalen), 1384/153