Post was originally delivered from Nettlebed in the early 19th Century and later from Wallingford. A Post Office first came to Warborough around 1840, not long after the first issue of the Penny Black.
Kezia Phillips, born 1821 in Nettlebed, married Thomas Gibbons, a grocer of Warborough, in October 1841.
On the census of 1841 Thomas gives his occupation as Tailor but Grocer when he was married. In 1843 & 1847 when Kezia & Thomas’s children, Thomas Phillips & George Stephen were baptised at Warborough he again gives his occupation as a Tailor, while on the 1847 Post Office Directory he is listed as shopkeeper.
The 1847 Post Office Directory lists:
Post Office – William Wiggins, shopkeeper as receiving house for letters from Wallingford. Receiving houses were shops, and businesses that letters could be left at for transmission to the General Post Office for dispatch and delivery, they were not allowed to conduct any other business other than acceptance of mail.
Thomas appeared in the 1851 census return for Warborough, listed as a grocer but by 1861 Kezia is a widow and grocer, living with Ann Beisley, a servant. The parish registers between 1812 and 1879 are lost so the date of Thomas’s death cannot be confirmed.
William Wiggins, a grocer is living 5 houses away. Although it is recorded that a sub post office came to Warborough in the 1850’s the 1861 lists Kezia as a widow and grocer and has Ann Beisley, servant living with her. There is no mention of Post Mistress until 1881.
Like today, Sub-Post Offices were run by Sub- Postmasters. Although there were some exceptions, the majority of Sub-Postmasters were not salaried staff but ran shops and other businesses from their premises and only ran the post office as a franchise.
In the early days it was not unusual to run a post office alongside another business in rural areas, a trend that has moved to urban areas in this the 21st Century.
In February 1889 Warborough Post Office became a topic of discussion when a letter was written to the Oxford Times regarding the difficulty in getting to the Post Office because of the ditch that had to be crossed.
Kezia continued to run the Post Office and one of the village grocery stores but by 1901 the reins had been handed to her granddaughter, Kate Gibbons. Kezia died on 17 November 1901 and is buried in the St Laurence churchyard.
Kate Gibbons married William Henry Baker in 1903. William was a motor and cycle engineer while Kate ran the Post Office. He was actively involved in his local community being a member of the Warborough and Shillingford branch of the Royal British Legion. He played cricket for Warborough and was elected an officer of the Shillingford Ex Service Men’s Club. They had three children, Lawrence William, Eugenie Katherine & Marie Josephine.
Around 1906 the Bakers produced a series of postcards of Warborough, some appear in the Photo Archive but two are reproduced below.
This photo from our archives shows the Post Office c1908 and it is most likely that it is Kate Baker in the centre of the photo. One of the men will be Kate’s husband William.
The 1911 census shows the family at the Post Office but now Catherine Bitmead is living with them and employed as a mother’s help.
By 1921, Leslie Louisa Beisley is living with the Baker family.
In 1928 a report in the Berks & Oxon Advertiser reports that Miss Beisley received a presentation at the Women’s Institute meeting in November for long service delivering letters to the village.
For many years the telephone exchange was housed in the property with originally just 19 subscribers. By the outbreak of war there were 60. There were two interesting subscribers – one of whom lived in Newington and was a friend of Adolf Hitler and the other, living in Shillingford Court was Lord Herschel who had to have a private line to Buckingham Palace as he was a Lord in Waiting to King George V.
Kate died in November 1943 and William in June of the following year. Both are buried in St Laurence churchyard. Thus ending 100 years of the Post Office being run by the same family.
We understand that after Kate & William died the post office was run by Leslie Louisa Beisley. Whilst the Gibbons/Baker family was linked to the Beisleys for several years, it appears to be a working relationship and no evidence has been found that the Beisley family was ever related to the Gibbons so the original claim that there was a 147-year run is unproven.
Theo King took over the Post Office in June 1946, a week or so after his discharge from the Royal Engineers. He received a glowing reference from his commanding officer.
Incoming mail was sorted at the Post Office until 1978 at which time it ceased to be delivered by two well-known residents, Harry Turner and Judith Gill. Their routes on bicycles covered not only Warborough but Shillingford, Drayton St Leonard and Newington as well.
Mr. King served the community in the Post Office for 40 years during which time he was also a church warden and scouter and well thought of in the village.
His funeral was well attended with overspill in St Laurence Hall because the church was full.
His contribution to the village is remembered with an unofficial blue plaque on the wall of the old Post Office on Thame Road and a window in St Laurence Church.
Mr. King is still remembered by many villagers.
Following the death of Theo King and the sale of The Post Office it was re-opened in the Nag’s Head public house on 21st November 1988. The postmistress was Barbara Hazell.
When the public house was sold and became a private house in 2003, the Rev’d Sue Booys asked Mike Powell, PCC treasurer to obtain a counter from the Post Office and use a small room in St Laurence Hall as a Post Office. Barbara Hazell continued as postmistress, and it was open for four mornings a week. Following the death of her husband, Barbara retired from the position and Rev’d Booys asked Mike Powell to become the nominated head of the Post Office and the Post Office duly appointed him Sub Postmaster. Rev’d Booys, set about persuading some of her congregation to help run the facility and Cherry Pearson became the face of the post office. The hours of business were extended in March 2006 to six mornings a week.
Eventually the Post Office, driven by the Government, was looking to reduce costs and increase profits by moving Post Offices into local shops again and Mike Powell was pressurised to give up and in July 2016 the St Laurence Hall office was closed and Mike and Cherry retired. Raj Niventheran was happy to take the Post Office facility into Aisha Stores which was a simple move and helped the village to retain its Post Office.
Researched by Sandy West & Lynda Raynor – 2023-2024