Sir Charles Frederick Oliver lived at 20 Alexandra Road in 1899, ‘Merridale’ (now 263) London Road in 1901, ‘Hughenden’, Knighton Park Road between 1911 and c1932 and ‘The Firs’ London Road between c1932 and 1939.
Solicitor and alumnus of Loughborough Grammar School, Sir Charles wears the uniform of a Lieutenant Colonel in the Leicestershire Volunteer Regiment. The letters T.D. after his name refer to the Territorial Decoration, a medal awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army which superseded the Volunteer Officer’s Decoration when the Territorial Force was formed on 1 April 1908. The letters D.L. denote a Deputy to the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. This wasn’t the first ceremonial title held by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver. He was also High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1934.
Sir Charles Frederick Oliver was an active and innovative freemason who was made a Provincial Grand Master in 1928. He subscribed – along with many fellow members – £50 to a fund to purchase for the Leicester Corporation William Wigston’s Chantry House and the two other historic houses in the Newarke that now constitute the Newarke Houses Museum.
To Leicester people of a certain age, the name ‘Oliver’ is synonymous with shoes and the family’s fortune was derived from the boot and shoe industry; initially manufacturing, then later factoring, distribution and retailing, built up over a single generation. Sir Charles’ grandfather was a publican in Barrow on Soar.