Oxlade Family History

Occupation – Brewer

In 'Village Life in the Eighteenth Century" Herbert Green relates," The maltsters made more malt t than the parish required and sent quantities by road to the River Thames at Great Marlow. Barges, of often with names like the 'Ship of Henley', the 'Dove' or the 'Angel' carried the rnalt from Marlow to London. The journey was sometirnes dangerous as the barges had to shoot the weirs on the river through flash locks. Tax had to be paid on malt before it left Marlow and when a barge met with an accident and sank, the rnaltsters were quick to ask for a refund of tax already paid on the malt lost and the Collector was called in. In 1723 William Davenport, maltster of West Wycombe received a refund of tax when a load of malt sank in the River Thames. The sale in one year of nearly 3,500 hop poles by the the LordManor (Sir Francis Dashwood) suggests that many hops were grown as well as much malt made and beer brewed in West Wycombe itself".

I It may be that the Oxlades used their Brick and Tile Kilns in the making of brew as in the 17th C e ntury William Oxlade appeared before the Quarter Sessions Courts and was warned to stop s selling beer for specified periods of time. John Oxlade, Barber Chirugeon (Surgeon) of Great Marlow also mentions in his Will of 1702, his business of selling Brew, apparently in addition to his other duties.

From at least the twelth century London's wooden alehouses had to be licensed. This was because they were seen as being a fire hazard, alehouses built of stone didn't need to be licenced. It appears that throughout the Middle Ages licencing was an ad hoc affair. If your local lord decided that you needed a licence to sell your brew, then he'd be quite happy to either sell you one, or stop you doing it if you decided that you didn't need one.

From 1552 all pubs needed to be licensed,and the licensee had to provide a bond to guarantee his good behaviour towards community and more importantly, customers.The Victuallers' Recongizances are often useful to Genealogists because the bondsman was often a father or brother. The Victualler had to provide refreshment for travellers at all times, normally supply food and accommodation as well as the full range of drinks. If the pub became a home for criminals, tarts or gamblers, the licence could be refused next year or taken away summarily in the worst cases.

In1607 local authorities were issued with the 'Articles of Direction Towards Alehouses'. These instructed them that '... in every parish,hamlet, township, there be perfect and true Certificate made, how many Alehouses, or victualling houses were the last day of February last past. And how many of them by licence, and how many not. And what persons in the places aforesaid keep any Innes, and how long the saide house or houses have been kept and used for Innes.' These directions were designed to erradicate unlicenced alehouses, and shows that although licences were issued pre 1607, in practice, they weren't compulsory until then ,in theory at least. In the days when everyone brewed for their own consumption (because of the boiling, ale and beer was reckoned to be safer to drink than water), it must have been difficult to keep tabs on small scale sellers.

Which may be why William Oxlade was before the Court in the Christmas Session of 1680/81. There is evidence from later Court proceedings that a feud had developed between William Oxlade and his Landlord, Richard Turner who also happened to be the Coroner.William, Richard, their wives Mary and Elizabeth and Ann Oxlade, Spinster, appear in the Sessions Records as having assaulted Richard Turner. Perhaps the Coroner sought the assistance of the Petty Constable as at the following Christmas Session another of the Oxlades, John, becomes involved. He, described as "a person of Civill life and conversation and att that tyme was not in any wise disorderly or abusive to any Person, neither had he dranck one flaggon of beer," according to the Court Records was maliciously set upon by the Petty Constable who was later removed from the position. Later William Oxlade jnr was to be sworn as Petty Constable,perhaps a matter of insurance for the family. The malt kiln.........................

Judging by the Oxlade Wills, the meale and malt houses were attached to the farms which meant that the basic commodities were to hand and sons did not have to move long distances away from home to earn a living. Having kinsmen who owned brick and tile kilns where the sprouts could be dried was a further economy and no doubt was considered when apprenticeships were purchased for these sons. Several Oxlades became booksellers, which usually included printing and book binding . Entry into the trade of Cordwaining, the skill of working in fine Cordovan leather, probably came about as an extension of the printing trade. It seems that little was left to whim or fancy.

Other acts were passed in the eighteenth century to licence (and limit) the supply of alcholic drinks, particularly gin, but then in 1830 came the Beer House Act, aka Billy's Beer Bill. For an annual £2 excise licence anyone could sell beer from any premises they wished. The beerhouse licence was for the sale of beer only, as oppposed to the full spread of beer, wine and spirits and food. It was intended for supplying the lower classes, who generally drank beer for simple thirst quenching (well, the first couple of pints, anyway) - when water was unsafe.A lot of people set up beer shops in their front rooms, sometimes initially brewing their own, then generally buying in from a common brewer. It was normal practice for the wife to run the beer side while the man went out to work, or pursued a trade in his own back yard.

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.................................................................................................The cooler...............................................Vat for storing beer

Several of the Oxlades took advantage of this Law, probably to compensate for the loss of income when Lacemaking became unprofitable. There was no obligation to provide accommodation, or food and refreshment for bona-fide travellers. There were various amendments to the licensing laws, to control flagrant abuses or problems like the London gin shops, restrictions on licensing hours,initially covering Sunday and other times of divine service only, later, in wartime, cutting drinking hours to keep soldiers sober. These days in England both the premises and the seller hold separate licences to say that they are fit to trade.

There is a resurgance of interest in what are now called the family-owned regional and tiny craft brewers . A recent article published in the March 2001 edition of Country Living (British edition) cited 50 regional and 400 craft brewers as operating in Britain. They went on to name the various beers available in the different regions and offered tours of independent breweries in England and Scotland, all of which were offering guided tours and informal beer tasting. This may be a chance for present day Oxlades to get in touch with their roots or perhaps a taste of what it meant to be an Oxlade in times past.

As will be seen in the table below the Oxlades were involved in the sale Liquor until around the beginning of the 1900s and perhaps later. In 2001Oliver Darling a descendant of John Oxlade (abt.1687 - 1774) is employed in the Industry and interestingly his brother Mark works in the Printing Trade which the Oxlades have followed since at least 1630 when Francis Oxlad aged 24, Stationarius, the son of Thomas Oxlad, Yeoman, of Stokenchurch was subscribed at Oxford University.

Licensed Victuallers,Publicans and Tavern Keepers

Sources:

1. Eve McLaughlin & Chris Westmorland ,Bucks Genealogy List.

2. Ancestry.com – Census

3. Oxlade Wills

4. Sessions Records

5.Illustrations from "Village Life in the Eighteenth Century" by Herbert Green

Last changed: 24/06/2007, 16:00:55