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From: 164 Autumn 2026
Author: Peter Simth
A separate article in this journal provides an update on a Freemen-led project to seek a new plaque celebrating the life of 18th century aeronaut and Freeman of Oxford, James Sadler.
Another prominent Sadler was four times Oxford Mayor, Charles James Sadler. He was the son of Thomas Blakeney Sadler and nephew to aeronaut James Sadler. His middle name, James, probably honoured both his uncle and grandfather. Born in 1792, eight years after James Sadler’s historic first flight in 1784, he became a Freeman in February 1816.
In 1851, while an Alderman and Magistrate in between stints as Mayor, Charles urged the council to provide “a public reading room or library for the mass of the people…instead of driving them to the public house.” This followed the national Public Libraries Act 1850 allowing councils to use public funds to build and run free libraries.
This urging helped lead, in October 1852, to ratepayers voting in favour of a free city library. It opened it’s doors in June 1854, beneath the old Town Hall. Sadler praised it’s “solid advantages to the Middle and Working classes of this City”. (source: oxfordhistory.org.uk)
We of course still have our free public central library, having moved out of the “new” Town Hall into it’s bespoke Westgate premises in 1973. This is another positive freeman Sadler legacy, and it will be interesting to further research the origins of that family and the Freedom.
Portrait credit Oxfordshire History Centre ref POX0655029
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