No. 42: University of Oxford Development Studies
The front of No. 42 St Giles dates from the nineteenth century. It is a Grade II listed building (ref. 1485/513)
This house appears to have no doorway. In fact the door on the left (which looks as though it belongs to No. 43 to the south) leads here.
At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford, No. 42 was occupied by Miss Wheeler, and its frontage measured 7 yards 1 foot 9 inches.
In the 1841 and 1851 censuses this house was occupied by Ann Stevens, a widow of 80 by 1851 and described as a proprietor of houses.
In 1881 Thomas C. Browne (a clergyman without cure of souls) lived here with his wife and his cousin, plus four servants.
The building was then a dentist's until late in 1955, when the Registration Office for Births, Marriages, and Deaths moved here (from across the road at No. 13). Within months what is probably its most famous marriage took place: C.S. Lewis married Joy Davidman here on 23 April 1956. The office moved to the Westgate on 1 December 1975, and the building (which is next-door to the Friends' Meeting House) is now a Quaker shop.
| Occupants of 42 St Giles' Street listed in censuses and directories | |
| 1841–6 | Mrs Ann Stevens |
| 1861–72 | S. Bridgewater (Mrs Bridgewater only from 1866) |
| 1875–87 | Rev. Thomas C. Browne |
| 1889 | Colonel A'Court |
| 1890–1932 | William Geekie Dental Surgeon (Mrs Geekie from 1926) |
| 1934–55 | Miss Dorothy Smith Dental Surgeon |
| 1955–75 | Registration Office for Births, Deaths, & Marriages |
| By 1980–2007 | Oxford Quaker Shop |
| 2008–present | University of Oxford departments: Department of International Development International Gender Studies Centre Young Lives Research Project |