Alfred Wheeler
Mayor of Oxford 1882/3
Alfred Wheeler (b.1829) was the son of John Wheeler and his wife Mary Griffith. Both had been born in Gloucestershire (John in 1784 at Great Barrington and Mary in 1792 at Fyfield), but they married at Langford in Berkshire on 24 December 1813 and remained there.
Alfred was their eighth child, born on 21 February 1829 and baptised at Langford Church on 15 March. His eleven brothers and sisters also baptised at that church were John (1815), Edmund (1817), William (1819), Mary Ann (1821) Jane (1822), Eliza Jane (1823), Elizabeth (1827), twins James and Harriet (1831), Emma Sophia (1833), and Amelia (1836).
The 1841 census for Langford shows Alfred at the age of 13 living with his father John, a blacksmith, and mother Mary. All seven of his older siblings had already left home, and only his three younger sisters Harriett (11), Emma (6), and Amelia (4) were in the house.
The 1851 census for Langford indicates that John Wheeler (now aged 66) had retired from his job as a blacksmith, as he is described as a victualler. Alfred, who would have been 22, had already left home. By 1856 he had set up business as a plumber and glazier in Oxford.
On 20 August 1856 Wheeler married Emma Charlotte Spencer, who like himself had been born in Gloucestershire (Coln St Aldwyns) but had ended up in Oxfordshire. The following announcement was put in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 30 August 1856:
August 20, at Shipton-under-Wychwood, Mr. Alfred Wheeler, plumber of this city, to Emma Charlotte, second daughter of Mr. Robert Spencer, farmer and maltster, of Shipton.
The burial register adds that Wheeler’s father was an innkeeper (presumably back in Gloucestershire) and that Wheeler himself resided in St Peter-le-Bailey parish,
The married couple lived over Wheeler’s business at 16 Queen Street, and they had six children:
- Alfred John Wheeler (baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 5 July 1857, died in infancy)
- Frederick William Wheeler (baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church 4 April 1859, died in infancy)
- Emma Selina Wheeler (baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 2 January 1861)
- Matilda Caroline Wheeler (baptised at the age of two baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 19 July 1865 at the same time as her younger sister)
- Alice Maud Wheeler (baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 19 July 1865)
- Spencer Augustus Wheeler (baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 8 February 1871).
At the time of the 1861 census their two eldest sons, Alfred and Frederick, were already dead and so they have only one baby, Emma Selina. Also living in the house is Edward Thomas, Wheeler’s 18-year-old Oxford-born nephew, who is also described as a plumber and glazier, and two apprentices and a house servant.
Wheeler first came on to the City Council in October 1867: he represented the South Ward.
By the time of the 1871census, Wheeler’s business had evidently grown, as he is described as a “Plumber, painter &c employing 4 men and 2 boys”. (Wheeler was in fact a plumber, painter, decorator, lead & glass merchant, and patentee of the Oxford flushing cistern.) Of their four surviving children, only the new baby, Spencer Augustus, is living with them, and they now have two servants (a cook and a nursemaid). Emma Selina (aged 10) and Matilda Caroline (aged 8) were away at boarding school, but not very far away: they were at the Ladies School at 21 Beaumont Street, Oxford. Alice Maud (6) was staying with her uncle and aunt, John and Sarah Selina Crook, at 29 High Street, Eton.
At the time of the 1881 census Wheeler is described as a “Plumber & Decorator employing 7 Men & 1 Boy”. He and his wife were still living at 16 Queen Street, this time with two of their daughters: Matilda (aged 18 and an “artist in flowers”) and Alice (aged 16 and at school). Emma Selina (2) was a teaching lodging in Croydon.
In 1881 Wheeler was elected Sheriff of Oxford, and at the end of his year of office was elected Mayor of Oxford (for 1882/3).
By 1884, Alfred Wheeler’s premises and home in Queen Street had been taken over by T. H. Kingerlee, and from 1887 to 1899 Wheeler is listed in directories as living at Sunnymeade House (354 Banbury Road). He seems to have been away at the time of the 1891 census, when the house is occupied by his wife Emma (61), his daughter Alice (36), and an errand boy.
From 1900, Wheeler is listed as living at Thornbury House in Kidlington. The 1901 census shows him living there with his wife and his unmarried daughter Emma, aged 40, and two servants: he was then aged 72 and described as a retired Builder & Decorator.
Wheeler’s family
A Spencer Augustus Wheeler appears on the electoral for South Sydney in Australia in 1930.
See also:
- 1841 Census: Berkshire (Langford), 18/10/7
- 1851 Census (parents): Berkshire (Langford), 1687/227
- 1861 Census: Oxford (St Peter-le-Bailey), 894/102; parents: Berkshire (Langford), 728/147
- 1871 Census: Oxford (St Peter-le-Bailey, 1488/85
- 1881 Census: Oxford (St Peter le Bailey), 1502/74
- 1891 Census: Oxford (Summertown), 1165/76
- 1901 Census: Oxford (Water Eaton), 1391/71