Family and Education

b. by 1510, 1st s. of Richard Flaxney of Oxford by Alice. m. (1) Agnes (d.1550), da. of William Cogan of Oxford; (2) Catherine (d. 9 Sept. 1567), 2s. 7da.; (3) by Sept. 1569, Alice, wid. of one Wyckham, 1s. suc. fa. 1536 or later.1

Offices Held

Common councilman, Oxford 1531, chamberlain 1538-9, bailiff 1542-3, subsidy collector 1543, alderman by 1546-d., mayor 1551-2, 1552-3, 1562-3, 1577-8; commr. subsidy 1559.2

Biography

Flaxney’s father was a fishmonger and alderman of Oxford whose will mentions property in Oxford and a cottage in Standlake. Flaxney in his turn undertook the usual duties of a leading freeman. In 1542 he and a colleague were commissioned to see to the town’s defences and ten years later he was paid 40s. for expenses in London on business concerning the rent of an inn named the Blue Boar. He once represented the city in Parliament, his membership leaving no trace in the records. His goods were regularly valued at £20 for the subsidy. Flaxney made his will on 23 Dec. 1578 and the monumental inscription set up in St. Michael’s church by his eldest son recorded that he died on 25 Dec. It was probably this son who had painted the posthumous portrait of Flaxney now in the possession of the city of Oxford. Flaxney wrote of his lands, ‘whereof God hath made me his steward in this world’, that ‘nature moveth me to leave the greatest part thereof unto my wife and children’. The properties bequeathed to the eldest son Thomas included the lease of a brewhouse held from the parish of St. Michael, and among other bequests was that of his scarlet cloak to the city of Oxford. His wife was to be sole executrix and residuary legatee and the overseers included Thomas Williams I.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: T. F.T. Baker

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Antiqs. Oxf. iii. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xxxvii), 162, 171; Bodl. wills Oxon. 186, ff. 136v-8; Oxf. Recs. 134-5.
• 2. Oxf. Recs. 103, 151, 167, 188, 204, 212, 299, 394; Surveys and Tokens (Oxf. Hist. Soc. lxxv), 139.
• 3. Oxf. Recs. 10, 21, 31, 52, 95, 130, 134-5, 164, 211, 310, 399; Oxf. City Docs. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xviii), 74; E179/162/224, 229, 240, 261, 282. Bodl. wills Oxon. 186, ff. 136v-8; Antiqs. Oxf. iii. 162; R. E. Poole, Oxf. Portraits, i. 244-5.