PC ASH

Something of a mystery: PC Ash didn't die in the War, and so this entry on the memorial seems to have been made in error.

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William George ASH

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 20 June 1917, p.6.

Lived at 164 Marlborough Road.

Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, service no. 29968.

Died of wounds on 11 May 1917, aged 27, in northern France.

Buried at the Achiet le Grand Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France.

William Ash was born in Oxford in the spring of 1890, the second of six brothers. The boys' father Thomas was a Police Constable in the Oxford City force. William was a dairyman. On 22 December 1915, when he was 25, he married Emily Louisa Edgington at St Peter’s church in Cassington. He died less than 18 months later.

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Arthur BELCHER

Image courtesy of Jim Tallett. Click here to see the whole photo.

Lived at 21 Marlborough Road and then 48 Chilswell Road.

Sergeant in the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 200883. Some sources give his rank as Lance Sergeant, a slightly more junior rank.

Died of wounds on 7 September 1917, aged 21, in northern France.

Buried at the St Sever Cemetery Extension in Rouen, France.

Arthur Belcher was born in Oxford in April 1896, the eldest son of Joseph and Annie Belcher. The family were living at 21 Marlborough Road in 1901, but by the 1911 census they had moved to 48 Chilswell Road, next door to the family of James Prestidge (see below). On leaving school Arthur was employed as a clerk at Elliston & Cavell, the well-known department store on Magdalen Street (which later became Debenhams).

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John BENSON

John Benson's name on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Probably lodged at Eastwyke Farm on the Abingdon Road.

Lance Corporal with the 5th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 10594.

Killed in action on 25 September 1915, aged 19, at Ypres in Belgium.

Commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.

John Benson was born in April 1896 in Walworth, part of Southwark (then in Surrey, but now in London). He came to Oxford between 1911 and 1914 to work for the butchers RR Alden & Son, who were based at Eastwyke Farm on the Abingdon Road. He was one of 18 employees of RR Alden's who went to fight, three of whom died. John and his colleagues are commemorated on the company's Roll of Honour.

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Ernest William BROOKS

Image courtesy of Clive Organ. Click here to see the whole photo.

Lived at 7 Whitehouse Road.

Captain with the 6th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry.

Killed in action on 20 September 1917, aged 30, near Langemarck in West Flanders, Belgium.

Buried at the Cement House Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Ernest Brooks was born in Oxford in September 1887, the son of George and Emma Brooks. He had a sister, Dorothy, who was a year younger. Both Ernest and Dorothy were teachers.

After his death at Passchendaele, a senior officer wrote that Ernest's men were devoted to him; another said that he had died a true soldier's death and that even though wounded Ernest was 'quite calm, cheerful and in no pain'.

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Charles Victor James CASTLE

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 29 September 1918, pp.6-7.

His wife Annie lived at 20 Buckingham Street.

Private in the 9th Canadian Light Trench Mortar Battery of the 3rd Canadian Division, service no. 775462.

Died from wounds on 18 August 1918, aged 27, at the Somme in France.

Buried in the Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery at the Somme, France.

Charles Castle was born in Cumnor in 1891. He was the illegitimate son of Emily Florence Clemson, who was herself the illegitimate daughter of a pedlar woman. Charles worked as a jobbing gardener and in 1913 he emigrated to Canada. His sweetheart, Annie Greenwood, who was from Grandpont, followed him a few months later and they were married in April 1914. They had a son. When Charles joined the Canadian Army in mid-1916, Annie came back to Oxford and lived at 20 Buckingham Street, her childhood home.

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Richard Charles CHERRILL

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 16 August 1916, p.6.

Lived at 72 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 3591.

Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 23, at the Battle of Pozieres on the Somme in France. William Ingram, Percy Palmer, Harry Saunders and Arthur Whiteley (below) were all killed in the same battle on the same day.

Buried at Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers La Boisselle, France.

Richard Cherrill was born in Oxford in September 1893, the younger of the two children of Edward and Emily Cherrill. By 1901 the family had moved to 72 Marlborough Road and Richard's older brother William was working as an assistant at Frank Cooper's marmalade factory in Park End Street; Richard was a porter at a chemist's shop. Both fought in the War, but William survived. Their parents remained in Marlborough Road until their deaths in the late 1920s.

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Albert Henry COBB

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 11 April 1917, p.6.

His family lived at 31 Western Road.

Private with the 2nd (City of London) Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, service no. 11060.

Killed in action on 28 February 1917, aged 24, at the Somme in France.

Buried at the Sailly Saillisel British Cemetery, France.

Albert Cobb was born in late 1892 in Islington in London, and grew up in Finsbury Park. He was employed as a paperhanger. He enlisted in Holloway in Middlesex but by 1917 his family had moved to Oxford and were living at 31 Western Road in Grandpont. Albert was killed soon afterwards.

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Charles John COLLETT

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 10 May 1916, p.6.

Lived at 218 and then at 220 Marlborough Road.

Sapper with the 11th Field Company of the Royal Engineers, service no. 6798.

Died as a result of a bomb explosion on 11 January 1915, aged 32, in Flanders, northern France.

Buried at the Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg l’Avoue, south-west of Lille in France.

Charles Collett was born on 1 June 1882 in Oxford, the third of the 12 children of Charles and Laura Collett. His father worked as a fireman, tending the furnaces at the nearby St Ebbe's gasworks. On leaving school Charles junior worked as a blacksmith and in 1900, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the regular army. He was sent to South Africa to participate in the Second Boer War. In 1907 he was stationed in Sierra Leone and by 1911 he was serving in Malta. On the outbreak of the First World War Charles was sent to France and he died on 11 January 1915 as a result of a bomb explosion in the explosives shed. Four of Charles's brothers also fought in the War, but survived.

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Percy COLLINSON

Image courtesy of Jim Tallett. Click here to see the whole photo.

His family lived at 33 Newton Road.

Originally with the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 3218, but later with the Sherwood Foresters and then a Private with the 7th Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, service no. 204853.

Killed in action on 2 September 1918, aged 24, on the Somme in northern France.

Buried at Vraucourt Copse Cemetery, Vaulx Vraucourt, Pas de Calais, France.

Percy Collinson was born in the summer of 1893 in the parish of St Peter le Bailey, in the centre of Oxford. His father worked as a painter for Salter's Steamers. Percy was educated at the City Technical School in St Ebbe's (which later became Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University) and he was an active member of the Oxford YMCA. He died at the Somme whilst endeavouring to rescue a wounded comrade; both were killed by enemy machine gun fire. Percy is also commemorated on the St Peter le Bailey war memorial and on the war memorial of the Roman Catholic church of St Aloysius on the Woodstock Road.

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Bertram Cecil COPPOCK

Bertram Coppock's name on the Cambrai Memorial, France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

His family lived at 80 Chilswell Road.

Sergeant with the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, service no. 41706.

Died on 21 November 1917, aged 21, at the Battle of Cambrai in northern France. James Prestidge (see below) was killed in the same battle six days later.

Commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France. He has no known grave.

Bertram Coppock was born in Leamington Spa in early 1896 but his father came from Oxford and he was baptised at St Clement's church in April of that year. He had an older brother, Frederick, who moved (with their mother) to Oxford in around 1915, to live at 80 Chilswell Road in Grandpont. It's possible that Bertram had moved here as well. Both brothers fought in the War, and Frederick survived.

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George Henry COX

George Cox's grave in the churchyard of St Laurence, South Hinksey.

Lived at 'The Haven' at the far southern end of the Abingdon Road, in the area known as Cold Harbour.

Private with the 11th (Labour) Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, service no. 26454.

Died of illness on 5 December 1916, aged 33, in England (probably in Reading).

Buried in the churchyard of St Laurence, South Hinksey.

George Cox was born in the spring of 1883 in Asthall near Witney, the only child of William Cox (an insurance agent) and his second wife Mary. When George was 21 he married Fanny Greenaway; they moved to Oxford and by 1910 were living in a house called 'The Haven' at the far southern end of the Abingdon Road. They had two sons and George worked as a groom and gardener, probably at a large house nearby. During the War he served in France but he died in England and is buried in Oxford. He is commemorated on the St Matthew's war memorial and on the memorial in the church of St John the Evangelist, New Hinksey (which lists men from both New Hinksey and South Hinksey who died in the War).

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Arthur CROSS

Arthur Cross's grave in Osney Cemetery, West Oxford. Image courtesy of Anne Kiltie.

Lived at 26 Buckingham Street.

Private in the (Royal) Army Service Corps, service no. 19999, later transferring to the Labour Corps, service no. 301728.

Died of carcinoma of the oesophagus (possibly a side-effect of having been gassed) on 10 August 1919, aged 49, in Oxford.

Buried in Osney Cemetery in West Oxford.

Arthur Cross is not named on the St Matthew's memorial, but he lived in Buckingham Street, so we feel he ought to be. He was born in Ledwell near Chipping Norton in 1870/71; his father died when Arthur was still an infant. Arthur married Mary Goodgame in 1866/67 and they moved to Oxford and had 6 children. Their oldest son Harry also fought in the War, but survived. However, Mary's brother Joseph Goodgame was killled.

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Arthur Thomas DOLLEY

Arthur's sister Freda kept this photograph of Arthur with the letter he wrote to her from the trenches, just before he died. Image courtesy of Annabel Panting.

Lived at 21 Western Road, 42 and 78 Chilswell Road, and then 73 Abingdon Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 2649.

Killed in a trench collapse on 3 December 1915, aged 23, at Hebuterne, France.

Buried at Hebuterne Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

Arthur Dolley was born in early 1892 in Oxford, the oldest of the four children of George and Maria Dolley. The Dolley family had for several generations been landlords of the Dolphin & Anchor pub at 43 St Aldates. Arthur himself worked as a clerk at the nearby St Ebbe's gasworks. Four days before he died in a trench collapse he wrote to his younger sister Freda, who was ten, describing the awful conditions in the trenches. Freda later married Reginald Townsend, the son of Thomas Townsend (see below).

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Cyril Vincent DRURY

Cyril Drury's name on the Arras Memorial in France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at 3 Bridewell Square off St Aldates; his family moved to 266 Marlborough Road in 1915/16.

Enlisted with the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry (service no. 27521) but was transferred to be a Private with the 5th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s) Regiment, service no. 37737.

Killed in action on 28 April 1917, aged 25, at Arras in France.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial at Pas de Calais, France. He has no known grave.

Cyril Drury was born in the parish of Holy Trinity, just to the north-west of Grandpont, in late 1891. He was the youngest of six children; his father was a tailor. His mother died when Cyril was only four, and his sister Elsie died in the same year, when she was seven. On leaving school Cyril worked as an assistant grocer.

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Percival Hugh EDENS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 11 July 1917.

Lived at 218 Abingdon Road, Cold Harbour.

Private, initially with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 4341, and later with the 5th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 201496.

Killed in action on 3 May 1917, aged 32, at the Battle of Arras in France. Albert Oliver and Albert Smith (below) were killed on the same day in the same battle.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial at Pas de Calais, France. He has no known grave.

Percival Edens is incorrectly recorded on the St Matthew's war memorial as 'LG Edens'. Lionel George Edens was from North Oxford and so is commemorated on the St Margaret's war memorial, but Percival Edens lived on the Abingdon Road and is commemorated on both St Matthew's and St Ebbe's war memorials. He was born in Jericho in 1884, one of the thirteen children of George and Annie Edens. He was educated at St Barnabas School and followed his father in becoming a plasterer. When he was 22 he married Edith Cheer and they had six children. The family had moved to the Abingdon Road by 1908.

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Edward William HICKS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 17 April 1918, p.6.

His mother lived in Cumnor after the War.

Corporal with the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade, service no. 45517.

Killed in action on 24 March 1918, aged 29, in northern France.

Commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial near Arras in France. He has no known grave.

Edward William (also known as William Edward, or Ted) Hicks was born in Besselsleigh near Abingdon in December 1888. His parents Joseph and Sarah married in Chelsea but moved to Oxford soon afterwards and the first five of their twelve children were born here. In 1888, shortly before Edward was born, the family moved to Besselsleigh and took on the licence of the Greyhound pub. In around 1905, when he was about 17, Edward emigrated to Canada. At the outbreak of War he enlisted with the Sifton Machine Gun Battery, eventually joining the Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade. Four of Edward's brothers also fought in the War, but appear to have survived.

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Edgar HOOK

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 October 1918, p.6.

His wife and her family lived at 29 Western Road.

Sergeant with the 9th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, service no. 47039. Formerly Corporal with the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. TR/12205.

Killed in action on 3 August 1918, aged 29, in northern France.

Buried at the Mont Noir Military Cemetery, St Jans Cappel, France.

Edgar Hook was born in Oxford in the spring of 1889, the only child of Thomas and Laura Hook. Thomas worked for the Post Office and the family lived in East Oxford. Edgar became a school teacher. He joined up to fight in the War, and then in November 1917 married Winifred Lucas at St Matthew's church in Grandpont. Her family lived at 29 Western Road and following her marriage Winifred continued to live here whilst Edgar was away fighting. He was killed only nine months later.

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William James INGRAM

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 13 September 1916, p.7.

Lived at 14 Newton Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 4788.

Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 18, at the Battle of Pozieres on the Somme in France. Richard Cherrill (above), Percy Palmer, Harry Saunders and Arthur Whiteley (below) were all killed in the same battle on the same day.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

William Ingram was born in 1898/99 in South Africa, the oldest child of John and Rosina Ingram. The family moved to England and by 1911 they were living at 33 Norreys Avenue off the Abingdon Road, and John was working as an assistant pawnbroker. By 1916 they had moved to 14 Newton Road in Grandpont. William must have enlisted as soon as he was able to, because he was only 18 when he died. William's father John also fought in the War (despite being almost 40 when it started) but survived.

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James IRWIN

James Irwin's signature on his military attestation (sign-up) papers.

His wife's family lived at 34 Western Road.

Gunner with the 103rd Company of the Royal Garrison Artillery, service no. 33342, and then Pioneer (or Sapper) with the Royal Engineers, Railway Troops, service no. WR/143031.

Died of bronchial pneumonia on 18 December 1918, aged 28, in Alexandria, Egypt.

Buried at Ramleh War Cemetery, Israel.

James Irwin was born in Birmingham in August 1890, the youngest of three children. He enlisted in the army in May 1910 when he was 19. He served in Jamaica and then, when War broke out, in France. On Christmas Day 1915, whilst on leave, he married Lilian Yeatman at St Matthew's church in Grandpont. Three months later he was posted to India, then to Aden, and thence to Egypt, where he was involved in the building of military railways. He died of bronchial pneumonia in Alexandria, six weeks after the armistice.

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Ernest Lancelot JAGO

Ernest Jago's grave in the St Venant Robecq Road British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at 4 Edith Road.

Private with the 2nd/8th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment, service no. 57923.

Died of wounds on 10 July 1918, aged 18, near Ypres in northern France.

Buried at the St Venant Robecq Road British Cemetery, Robecq, Pas de Calais, France.

Ernest Jago was born in Ashford (now in Kent) in September 1899, the only child of Ernest and Kate Jago. By 1911 the family had moved to Oxford and were living at 4 Edith Road in Grandpont. In the early part of the War Ernest worked in the Secretary's Office at the Oxford University Press in Jericho. He enlisted in the army in October 1917, a month after his 18th birthday. He died near Ypres only four months before the War ended. Ernest is also remembered on the Oxford University Press war memorial, together with Albert Margetts (see below).

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William Reginald KING

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 6 March 1918, p.6.

Lived at 60 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 5th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 200381.

Killed in action on 3 February 1918, aged 20, in northern France.

Buried in the Grand Seraucourt British Cemetery, Aisne, France.

There is a marble memorial to him on the northern wall of St Matthew’s church. Its design is identical to that of the memorial to Charles George Tyrrell (see below).

William (sometimes recorded as Reginald) King was born in late 1897 in the parish of St Aldates. He was the only child of William and Rose King. William's father, a grocer's manager, died when William was 14. Whilst fighting on the Somme William suffered from trench foot and was gassed.

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Ernest James LITTLE

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 3 November 1915, p.7.

Lived at 198 Marlborough Road.

Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, service no. 13992

Killed in a railway accident on 11 March 1916, aged 29, in Didcot, having been wounded at the Battle of Loos five months earlier.

Buried in the Botley Cemetery, Oxford.

Ernest Little was born in Oxford in 1886/87, the eldest son of a jobbing gardener. He was one of three brothers - Ernest, Frederick and Hubert (see below) - who died in the War. Their parents William and Mary had nine children in total, two girls and seven boys. After leaving school Ernest worked as an errand boy for Boots the Chemist on Queen Street and later as an assistant to a shoemaker. In 1908 he enlisted in the Grenadier Guards, and by 1911 was living in St George's Barracks in Hanover Square, London.

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Frederick Charles Squires LITTLE

Frederick Little's name on the Pozieres Memorial in France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at 198 Marlborough Road.

Initially enlisted with the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars (service no. 1938), but later transferred to the 4th Squadron of the Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) in which he was a Private, service no. 105100.

Killed in action on 26 March 1918, aged 27, at the Battle of St Quentin on the Somme in France. Reginald Norgrove and Albert Reynolds (below) died in the same battle five days earlier.

Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, on the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Frederick Little was one of three brothers - Ernest, Frederick and Hubert - who died in the War (see above and below). He was born in 1890 in Oxford and was given his mother's maiden name (Squires) as his second middle name. By 1911 he was working as a college servant at Christ Church and he was to be one of more than fifty Christ Church servants who did military service during the First World War. He is named on the Christ Church war memorial, which lists all members of the college and cathedral community who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars.

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Hubert Harry LITTLE

Hubert Little's grave at the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at 198 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 61st Company Machine Gun Corps, service no. 133384.

Died of disease on 25 February 1919, aged 19, in northern France.

Buried at the Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, on the Somme, France.

Hubert Little was the youngest of three brothers - Ernest, Frederick and Hubert - who died in the War (see above). Hubert was born in 1899 in Oxford and like his older brother Frederick he served with the Machine Gun Corps. Two other Little brothers - William and Arthur - also went to fight but survived. The youngest child of the family, Cecil, was only ten or eleven when war broke out, and hence too young to go.

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Albert James LUCAS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 6 June 1917, p.6.

Lived at Sunnyside, now 92 (then 66) Botley Road. His father and grandparents lived at 106 and later 110 Abingdon Road.

Second Lieutenant in the 66th Squadron (and General List) of the Royal Flying Corps.

Died of wounds on 16 May 1917, aged 22, in France.

Buried at Warlincourt Halte British Cemetery, Saulty, France.

Albert (known as Bertie) Lucas was born in late 1894 in Oxford, the eldest child of John Butler Lucas and his wife Mary Bate Lucas. John was a councillor on the City Corporation and a partner in a successful hide and skin brokerage business in Park End Place. Bertie joined the Royal Flying Corps as an air mechanic in 1915 and obtained his commission on 1 August 1916, when he was 21. On the same day he married his first cousin, Violet Chauncy, at St Frideswide's church on the Botley Road. They had a daughter, Peggy, who was born three months after her father's death. She went on to fly spitfires in the Second World War and to have four husbands.

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Albert Charles MARGETTS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 August 1916, p.6.

Lived at 122 Marlborough Road.

Corporal with the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 200871.

Reported missing on 22 August 1917, presumed killed in action, aged 27, in Flanders.

Commemorated on the Wall of Remembrance at the Tyne Cot Memorial in West Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Albert Margetts was born in April 1890 in Holy Trinity, the parish just to the north-west of St Matthew's. His father was a general labourer and later a sawyer. Albert joined the Oxford University Press in Jericho to work as a compositor. He was a keen sportsman and was in the OUP football and athletics teams. Together with Ernest Jago (above) Albert is listed on the Oxford University Press war memorial. 356 men from the Press served in the First World War and 45 of them died.

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Edward Reginald MARRIOTT

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 21 October 1914, p.12.

Lived at 147 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 1st Battalion of the (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Royal Berkshire Regiment, service no. 9757.

Killed in action on 19 September 1914, aged 20 or 21, near Mons in France.

Commemorated on La Ferté Sous Jouarre Memorial, Seine et Marne, France.

Edward Marriott was born in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, in 1893/94, the older of two brothers. Their father James was in the Royal Marines; their mother Christina died when they were young children. James remarried and the family moved to Oxford. Edward worked as a footman before enlisting in Reading; he was killed only months later. His younger brother Alexander had joined the Royal Navy in 1911 when he was 15; he served on various ships as a Signaller in the War, but survived.

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William John MERRY

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 18 April 1917, p.4.

Lived at 5 Weirs Lane and then at Woodbine Cottage, Abingdon Road (just south of the junction with Weirs Lane), Cold Harbour.

Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, service no. PO/18395. Was part of the East African Expeditionary Force.

Died on 17 March 1917 from blackwater fever, aged 20, in Dar es Salaam, the capital of German East Africa.

Buried at Dar es salaam (Sea View) Cemetery, Tanzania.

William Merry was born in Oxford in 1897, the third of the seven children of Spencer and Ellen Merry. His father was a builder’s labourer and later a painter; his mother was a laundry worker. Spencer Merry and three of his sons all fought in the War, but only William died.

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Reginald James NORGROVE

Reginald Norgrove's name on the Pozieres Memorial, France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at 12 Edith Road.

Private with the 7th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, service no. 24058.

Died of wounds on 21 March 1918, aged 20, at the Battle of St Quentin on the Somme in France. Albert Reynolds (below) was killed in the same battle on the same day, and Frederick Little (above) five days later.

Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, on the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Reginald Norgrove was born on 13 May 1897 at 12 Edith Road, the oldest of three children. Reginald was particular friends with Horace Tallett and (Charles) George Tyrrell (see below). For many years, until the mid 1960s, this notice appeared annually in The Oxford Times, placed there by Reginald's sister Doris and brother Frank, and by Richard Tyrrell, brother of George Tyrrell, whom Doris married in later life.

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Albert Edward OLIVER

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 13 February 1918, p.6 Pte AE Oliver had gone missing nine months earlier and was now presumed dead.

Lived at 2 Jubilee Terrace.

Private with the 5th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 32709.

Killed in action on 3 May 1917, aged 29, at the Battle of Arras in France. Percival Edens (above) and Albert Smith (below) were killed on the same day in the same battle.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial at Pas de Calais, France. He has no known grave.

Albert Oliver was born in Oxford in the summer of 1887, the only child of Edward and Mary Ann Oliver. Albert’s father was a boatman and by 1911 the family was living at 2 Jubilee Terrace, Grandpont, and Albert was working as a boat-builder, possibly at the oar and scull works of Harris & Son, which was next door to the house. In June 1915 he married Martha Lammas who was from Headington. By this time he had already volunteered to serve with the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry and was stationed at Great Waltham, near Chelmsford in Essex. Albert and Martha had one child, Stanley, who was only eight months old when his father died.

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Percy Arthur PALMER

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 20 September 1916, p.7. It says that Pte Palmer was 'Wounded' when in fact he had been killed.

Lived at 192 Abingdon Road and then at 17 Sunningwell Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 200290.

Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 21, at the Battle of Pozieres on the Somme in France. Richard Cherrill, William Ingram (above), Harry Saunders and Arthur Whiteley (below) were all killed in the same battle on the same day.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Percy Palmer was born in Oxford in early 1896, the elder son of Walter and Ada Palmer. His father worked for Salter's Steamers, the boat-building and hire firm based at Folly Bridge. Before the War Percy worked as a messenger for the City Isolation Hospital at Cold Harbour, at the southern end of the Abingdon Road. Both he and his brother Cyril joined the army, but Cyril survived the War. Percy is also commemorated on the war memorial in the church of St John the Evangelist, New Hinksey.

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Arthur George PHIPPS

Arthur Phipps's grave in Osney Cemetery in West Oxford. Image courtesy of Anne Kiltie.

Born at 50 Chilswell Road and later lived at 86 Chilswell Road.

Private with the 10th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, service no. 260385.

Died of Spanish influenza on 12 April 1919, aged 19, at the Endell Street military hospital in Covent Garden in London.

Buried in Osney Cemetery in West Oxford.

Arthur was the nephew of Walter Phipps (see below). He was born in December 1899, the only child of Arthur Phipps, a bricklayer, and his wife Annie. The Phipps were well-known local builders and various members of the extended family had built many of the new houses on the Grandpont estate in the 1880s, 1890s and early 20th century. Arthur died in the Endell Street military hospital in Covent Garden in London, which was opened in May 1915 by militant suffragists Dr Flora Murray and Dr Louisa Garrett Anderson. It was the first military hospital to be run and staffed entirely by women.

Walter James PHIPPS

Walter Phipps's grave in Osney Cemetery in West Oxford. Image courtesy of Anne Kiltie.

Lived at 174 Marlborough Road.

Second Air Mechanic with the Royal Air Force, service no. 286711.

Died of bronchial pneumonia on 9 February 1919, aged 41, in Oxford.

Buried in Osney Cemetery in West Oxford.

Walter Phipps was the uncle of Arthur Phipps (see above). He was born in 1877, one of the nine children of George (a bricklayer) and Sarah Phipps. By 1891 the family had moved to 174 Marlborough Road in Grandpont, the house in which Walter was to live for the rest of his life. Next door was the family of Alexander Rennie (see below). Walter and three of his older brothers all followed their father into the bricklaying and building trades. He married Annie Radborn in 1901 and they lived at 174 Marlborough Road with Walter's parents and had five children there, all of whom were baptised at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Stewart Street in New Hinksey. Walter did not enlist until 20 August 1918, when he was 41.

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Albert William PITCHER

Albert Pitcher's grave in Botley Cemetery, West Oxford. Image courtesy of Adrian Colbrook.

Lived at 15 Marlborough Road.

Private in the (Royal) Army Service Corps, service no. SS/14631. Transferred to the 18th Company of the Labour Corps, service no. 310712.

Died on 24 September 1919, aged 52, in Oxford.

Buried in Botley Cemetery, West Oxford.

Albert Pitcher was born in Melbury Osmond, Dorset, in 1867, the second son of Sedwin and Emily Pitcher. He married Emily Andrews in Cardiff in 1900 and by 1901 they were living in Oxford at 15 Marlborough Road in Grandpont. Albert was a carpet planner and later an upholsterer. By 1911 the couple had six sons.

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James Augustus PRESTIDGE

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 16 January 1918, p.6.

Lived at 118 Marlborough Road and later at 46 Chilswell Road.

Private in the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, service no. 28603.

Died on 27 November 1917, aged 32, at the Battle of Cambrai in northern France. Bertram Coppock (see above) died in the same battle six days earlier.

Commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, in Louverval, France. He has no known grave.

James Prestidge was born in early 1885 in North Hagbourne (then in Berkshire, now part of Didcot). He was the first of the ten children of James Prestidge and his wife Henrietta. James senior was a coachman and groom. By 1901 the family had moved to Oxford and were living at 118 Marlborough Road in Grandpont. In April 1912, when he was 27, James junior married Beatrice Miller, who came from Jericho. They had three children, one of who, Una, died in childhood. James's father also fought in the War: he enlisted when he was 50, but lied about his age and said he was 45.

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Frederick John Edward PULLEN

Image from the Royal Aeronautics Club archive.

Second Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps, service no. 82141.

Killed on 26 March 1918 in an aeronautical accident, aged 18, at Manston in Kent.

Buried in the Shepton Mallet burial ground with 16 other casualties.

Frederick Pullen was born in 1899 in Shepton Mallett in Somerset, the only son of Albert and Bessie Pullen. Albert was a prison warder and Frederick spent his early years living at HM Prison Shepton Mallett. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps less than two weeks after he turned 18, and spent some time in Oxford undergoing cadet training at the 2 School of Military Aeronautics. He was reported as having rescued a woman from drowning in the River Thames near Folly Bridge.

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Alexander John RENNIE

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 19 July 1916, p.7.

Grew up at 172 Marlborough Road.

Private in the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 3537.

Killed in action on 1 July 1916, aged 26, at Fromelles on the Somme, northern France. Frank Upfold (below) died in the same place two weeks later.

Buried in Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, France.

Alexander John Rennie (also known as Jack) was born in March 1890 in Jericho, the son of William and Louisa Rennie and the ninth of ten siblings. The family lived next door to that of Walter Phipps (see above). Alexander worked as a waterman for the university. In the summer of 1914 he married Lizzie Poulter and they went to live at 6 Nelson Street in Jericho; he must have enlisted soon afterwards. Their son Jack was born in January 1915 and died, aged 18 months, only a couple of weeks after his father.

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Frederick William A REVELL

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 4 September 1918, p.6.

Grew up at the Farrier's Arms pub, Cold Harbour, at the far southern end of the Abingdon Road.

Private in the 6th Battalion of the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, service no. 108000 (sometimes recorded as 208000).

Died on 10 August 1918, aged 19, at the Somme in France.

Buried in the Morlancourt British Cemetery No 2 at the Somme in France.

Frederick Revell was born in the spring of 1899, the son of Alfred and Annie Revell who were publicans at the Farrier’s Arms in Cold Harbour. He was on of eight children. Frederick's older brother Alfred also fought in the War, but survived.

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Albert Edward REYNOLDS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 July 1919, p.4.

Lived at 242 Marlborough Road.

Private in the 6th (Prince Albert's) Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, service no. 29185.

Killed in action on 21 March 1918, aged 19, at the Battle of St Quentin on the Somme in France. Reginald Norgrove (above) died in the same battle on the same day, and Frederick Little (above) five days later.

Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, on the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Albert Reynolds was born in Oxford in November 1898. He was the cousin of Leonard Reynolds (see below). Albert's father Ernest was a cabinet maker and he and his wife Alice had seven children. They remained living at 242 Marlborough Road until their deaths in 1940 and 1949 respectively.

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Leonard Percival REYNOLDS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 5 December 1917, p.6.

Lived at 6 Cobden Crescent, then at 64 Sunningwell Road; his family moved to 8 Western Road in 1922.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 201605.

Killed in action on 7 August 1917, aged 20, at Ypres in Belgium.

Buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery in Belgium.

Leonard Reynolds was born in 1897 in York, the son of George and Emily Reynolds. He was the cousin of Albert Reynolds (see above). Leonard's father was in the Royal Army Medical Corps and so the family moved around the country a lot, and their nine children were born in five differant towns. By 1911 they had moved to Oxford, living briefly at 6 Cobden Crescent before moving to 64 Sunningwell Road. On leaving school Leonard worked as a bookbinder’s errand boy.

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William Ernest RICHARDSON

Image from https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/247397/

His parents lived at 31 Edith Road.

Lance Corporal with the 2nd/7th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, service no. 26856.

Died on 24 October 1918, aged 19, north-east of Cambrai in northern France.

Buried at the Canonne Farm British Cemetery, Sommaing, France.

William (or Billy) Richardson was born in the summer of 1899 in Bicester, the son of a butcher, Ernest Richardson, and his wife Louise. He had two sisters. His parents moved to 31 Edith Road in Grandpont in 1916 or 1917, and although he may not have lived there himself, that is why William is commemorated on the St Matthew's war memorial.

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Reginald Vivian ROBINSON

Reginald Robinson's signature on his US naturalisation papers, 27 June 1918.

His family lived at 43 Western Road.

Briefly a Private with the Royal Army Medical Corps, before the First World War.

Died of bronchial pneumonia as a result of Spanish influenza, on 2 November 1918, aged 30, in Seattle, Washington State, USA.

Buried at Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle, USA.

Reginald Robinson is an interesting case: he shouldn't be on the war memorial because he didn't fight in the First World War.

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Henry ROUGH

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 13 June 1917, p.6.

Lived at Riverside House, near Long Bridges on the Thames towpath.

Private with the 7th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment, service no. 14476.

Killed in action on 24 or 25 April 1917, aged 21, in Greece.

Buried at the Doiran Military Cemetery in Greece.

Henry Rough was born in March 1896 into a well-known boat-building family based at Long Bridges, on the River Thames between Folly Bridge and Donnington Bridge. In the 1890s and early 1900s his father Frederick became a leading racing boat builder and the supplier of many of the boats used in the Oxford-Cambridge boat race. In 1913 his workshop at Long Bridges was burnt down by suffragettes, an incident from which he was said never to recover. He died the following year, in December 1914, aged only 56. His son Henry was killed 2½ years later.

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Leonard James RYMAN

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 22 September 1915, p.4.

Lived at 46 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 9th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, service no. 11120.

Died on 10 August 1915, aged 27, at Gallipoli.

Commemorated on the Helles Memorial on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. He has no known grave.

Leonard Ryman was born in Oxford in early 1888, the youngest of the six children of Mark and Elizabeth Ryman. Mark Ryman was a bootmaker, who died in 1900, when Leonard was twelve. By 1911 the family had moved to 46 Marlborough Road in Grandpont and Leonard was working as a tailor.

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Harry Francis SAUNDERS

Harry Saunders's grave at the Pozieres British Cemetery in northern France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Grew up at 256 Marlborough Road.

Corporal with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 2851.

Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 30, at the Battle of Pozieres on the Somme in France. Richard Cherrill, William Ingram, Percy Palmer (above) and Arthur Whiteley (below) were all killed in the same battle on the same day.

Buried at the Pozieres British Cemetery at Ovillers La Boisselle in northern France.

Harry Saunders was born in Oxford in April 1886, the second son of Samuel (a house painter from Cornwall) and Lydia Saunders. He was educated at the National [Anglican] School in the village of South Hinksey. At the age of 14 he was working as an errand boy but by 24 he had risen to become a printer with the firm Alden & Co, on Cornmarket. He was a keen footballer and was on the winning team for the Oxford City Junior Football Cup in 1907-8. Harry's two younger brothers also fought in the War but survived.

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Horace Samuel SCRAGG

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 24 October 1917, p.9.

Lived at 23 Buckingham Street and 24 Marlborough Road; his family subsequently lived at 21 and 24 Western Road.

Staff Sergeant with the Royal Army Medical Corps, service no. 435585.

Missing, believed killed, on 9 October 1917, aged 28, in Belgium.

Commemorated on the Wall of Remembrance at the Tyne Cot Memorial in West Vlaanderen, Belgium. He has no known grave.

Horace Scragg was born in late 1889 to a tailor, Samuel Scragg, and his wife Ellen, a dressmaker. Samuel died just over a year later, when Horace was still an infant; the couple's second son, Reginald, was born after his father's death. Horace became a college servant at All Souls in around 1904, when he was about 15. He and his brother both enlisted in the Royal Medical Army Corps before the War, and Horace later served in Gallipoli, Cairo, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Belgium. During the First World War he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field.

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George Edwin (or Edward) Lovell SIMPSON

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 August 1916, p.7.

His family lived at 30 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 4317.

Killed in action on 19 July 1916, aged 20, at Fromelles, on the Somme in northern France. John Smith (below) died at the same place four days later.

Buried at Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, France.

George Simpson was born in October 1896, the son of William and Elizabeth Simpson. William was a bricklayer's labourer and later a carter and grocery porter, and they had nine children. In 1911 George was working as a grocer's errand boy and the family was living on Osney Island. In 1915 they moved to 30 Marlborough Road in Grandpont.

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Albert Cavell SMITH

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 20 June 1917, p.6.

Lodged at 44 Western Road.

Lance Corporal with the 5th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 32878.

Killed in action on 3 May 1917, aged 25, at the Battle of Arras in France. Percival Edens and Albert Oliver (above) were killed on the same day in the same battle.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial at Pas de Calais, France. He has no known grave.

Albert Smith was born in the summer of 1893 in the Blything area of Suffolk. He was the only son of Albert Smith, a brass founder, and his wife Alice. In 1911 Albert and his father were living in Great Yarmouth, but he subsequently moved to Oxford and in February 1917 he married Edith Edginton at St Aldates church; he was lodging at 44 Western Road at the time. Albert was killed in France only three months later.

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Edward Saunders SMITH

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 9 December 1914, p.7.

Lived at 57 Western Road and in 1914 or 1915 his family moved to 102 Marlborough Road.

Rifleman with the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, service no. 2702.

Killed in action on 4 November 1914, aged 29, in Belgium.

Buried at Le Touquet Railway Crossing Cemetery, Belgium.

Edward Smith was born in early 1886, the eldest of the six children of Edward and Charlotte Smith; he was the brother of John Smith (see below). In 1901 Edward was working as an ironmonger's apprentice but by 1911 he had joined the army and was a cook in the Rifle Brigade, stationed at Winchester in Hampshire.

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John Wright SMITH

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 30 August 1916, p.7.

Lived at 57 Western Road and in 1914 or 1915 his family moved to 102 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 3619.

Died of wounds on 23 July 1916, aged 26, at Fromelles, on the Somme in northern France. George Simpson (above) was killed at the same place four days earlier.

Buried at Aire Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

John Smith was the third of the six children of Edward and Charlotte Smith and the younger brother of Edward Smith (see above). John was born in Oxford in early 1890 and from October 1913 worked as a college servant at New College.

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Ronald William STEVENS

Image from the Oxford Chronicle, 22 September 1916, p.7.

Lived at 8 and then 16 Western Road.

Lance Sergeant with the 4th Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 1700; later Second Lieutenant with the 8th Battalion of the Worcester Regiment, service no. 200152.

Died of wounds on 31 October 1917, aged 24, near Vimy in northern France.

Buried at the Sucrerie Cemetery, Ablain St Nazaire, France.

Ronald Stevens was born in July 1893, the only child of William Henry and Sarah Stevens. Ronald's father had begun his working life as a grocer's assistant but eventually became a grocery business manager. By 1911, when he was 18, Ronald and his parents had moved from 8 to 16 Western Road and Ronald was working as a counting house clerk at Elliston & Cavell, the well-known department store on Magdalen Street (which later became Debenhams). He enlisted with the Territorial Army in November 1912 and was awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in August 1916.

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Horace James TALLETT

Image courtesy of Jim Tallett.

Born at 19 Buckingham Street and subsequently lived at 60 Abingdon Road.

Rifleman in the 7th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, service no. S/28577.

Died of wounds on 11 April 1917, aged 19, at Arras in France.

Buried at Hibers Trench Cemetery, Wancourt, Pas de Calais, France.

Horace Tallett was born in November 1897 at 19 Buckingham Street, and was baptised at St Matthew's church. He was one of the four sons of Albert Tallett and his wife Emma. Albert died in 1909, when the boys were still small. Both Horace and his younger bother Kenneth served in the War, but Kenneth survived.

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Albert George TAYLOR

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 19 December 1917, p.6.

Lived in Newton Road (possibly at no. 23).

Sergeant with the 132nd (Oxfordshire) Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery, service no. 291926.

Killed in action on 1 October 1917, aged 28, at Ypres in Belgium.

Buried at the Huts Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Albert Taylor was born in Shabbington in Buckinghamshire in March 1890. His parents were Joseph, a farm labourer and stockman, and Maria; he was the fifth of their eight children. Albert joined the Oxford City Police in August 1911 as PC 39. Forty one Oxford policemen fought in the War and four were killed; they are named on the Oxford City Police memorial which is in the church of St Michael at the Northgate on Cornmarket. Three of the policemen who died (including Albert) had enlisted together on the same day.

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Thomas Henry Spiers TOWNSEND

Image courtesy of Annabel Panting. Click here to see the whole photo.

Lived at 35 Western Road, then at 24 Buckingham Street and then at 17 Western Road.

Gunner with the 59th Division of the Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery, service no. 811026.

Died of wounds on 10 December 1917, aged 40, in Flanders.

Buried at Grevillers British Cemetery at Pas de Calais, France.

Thomas Townsend was born in November 1877, one of the 14 children of a college servant at Brasenose. Thomas himself worked at Worcester College. In 1900, when he was 22, he married Eliza Sherlock in St Matthew's church. The couple moved to 24 Buckingham Street and had a son, Reginald. In an interview in 1973, Reginald remembered his father with deep affection and as a 'great outdoors man', very fond of swimming (at Long Bridges bathing place) and of punting and rowing - he rowed for the Oxford College Servants' crew. He was also a connoisseur of red wine.

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(Charles) George TYRRELL

Image courtesy of Geoff Tyrrell.

Lived at 15 Cobden Crescent.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 3527.

Killed in action on 31 December 1915, aged 20, at Hebuterne in France.

Buried at the Hebuterne Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.

There is a marble memorial to him on the northern wall of St Matthew’s church. Its design is identical to that of the memorial to William Reginald King (see above).

Charles Tyrrell (known as George) was born in August 1895, the son of Charles Tyrrell, a clerk at the local St Ebbe's gasworks, and his wife Sarah. George was a member of the 20th Oxford Scout Troop and was heavily involved with the St Matthew's Sunday School. He was educated at the Oxford Wesleyan School and at New College School, and became a chorister at The Queen's College in 1905. On leaving school George worked as a junior clerk for James Langley, a solicitor with offices on Cornmarket, and a year later he got a job at Barclays Bank on the High Street [now the site of the Old Bank Hotel]. George's brother Richard also fought in the War, but survived.

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Walter TYRRELL

Image from the Oxford Chronicle, 20 September 1918, p.7.

Lived at 44 and then at 80 Chilswell Road.

Second Lieutenant with the 17th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Died of wounds on 4 September 1918, aged 30, at the Somme in France.

Buried at the Varennes Military Cemetery, at the Somme, France.

Walter Tyrrell is not named on the St Matthew's memorial, but he lived with his family on Chilswell Road until the outbreak of War, so we feel that he should have been. He was born in the summer of 1888, the youngest of the ten children of Thomas Tyrrell, a house decorator, and his wife Alice, both of whom had been born in Rugby. In the summer of 1914, when he was 26, Walter married Flora Brewer, a draper's assistant from East Oxford. They had two children during the War who were only 3½ and less than 9 months old when their father died.

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Frederick Hedley Lawrence UPFOLD

Image courtesy of Michael Jones.

Corporal with the 2/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 1973.

Died of wounds on 14 July 1916, aged 18, at Fromelles, on the Somme, northern France. Alexander Rennie (above) died in the same place two weeks earlier.

Buried at Merville Communal Cemetery in northern France.

Frederick (known as Frank) Upfold was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent in late 1897. He was the son of James Upfold, a Salvation Army preacher, and his wife Sarah, a music teacher. The couple had six children and moved around the country a good deal. According to the Tunbridge Wells Roll of Honour Frank enlisted in Oxford; however, according to the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry records he enlisted in Tunbridge Wells, but gave his place of residence as Oxford. Perhaps he was lodging in Grandpont, and that's why he is named on the St Matthew's memorial.

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Vernon Wilson VENABLES

Vernon Venables's name on the Thiepval Memorial in France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Lived at the Elms, 158 Abingdon Road.

Able Seaman with the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division (service no. Z/720); then Second Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion (attached to the 2nd Battalion) of the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire) Regiment.

Died of wounds on 18 October 1916, aged 23, at the Somme in France.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Vernon Venables was born in Oxford in August 1893, one of the seven children of Richard and Frances Venables. The family was quite well-to-do: in 1901 they had two live-in mother's helps and Richard was described in the census as 'living on own means', in other words, he had a private income or a pension, and did not need to work. Vernon was educated at the City of Oxford Boys’ High School in George Street, where he was a contemporary of Albert Lucas (see above).

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Arthur Joe WALCROFT

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 2 February 1916, p.6.

His family lived at 4 Jubilee Terrace.

Private with the 1st Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 9691.

Died of pneumonia on 26 December 1915, aged 21, in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).

Buried at the Amara War Cemetery, Iraq.

Arthur Walcroft was born in 1894 in Wallingford (then in Berkshire), the son of Henry and Eliza Walcroft. In 1911 he and his older brother Percy were running a greengrocer's at 17 Great Clarendon Street in Jericho and they, their parents, brother and sister were living above the shop.

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Arthur Charles WALLIS

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 8 November 1916, p.6.

Lived at 27 Buckingham Street and later at 6 Kineton Road.

Private with the 8th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, service no. 9683.

Killed in action on 7 October 1916, aged 19, at the Somme in France.

Arthur Wallis was born in late 1896 in Oxford. He had a younger sister, Florence, and their father was originally a blacksmith but later a cycle-maker. Their mother died when the children were only six and four respectively. By 1906 they had moved to 6 Kineton Road; Arthur's uncles Thomas and Albert lived next door at nos. 4 and 2 and were cycle-makers as well.

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Ernest WEBB

Image courtesy of Bill MacCormick. Click here to see the whole photo.

Lived at 19 Edith Road.

Private with the 1st/14th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Scottish), 'C' Company, service number 6406.

Killed on 1 July 1916, aged 27, at the Battle of Gommecourt on the Somme, France.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Ernest Webb was born in the summer of 1889 in Oxford. He was one of ten children; his father Frederick was a blacksmith. By 1897 the family had moved to 19 Edith Road. Webb is a common surname in Oxford and there were at least three other Webb families living in Grandpont around this time, in Marlborough Road and in Western Road, (as well as others in New Hinksey), possibly all related. Ernest worked as a coal merchant's assistant. Two of his older brothers, William and Jesse, also fought in the War, but survived.

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Arthur Lindal [or Lindley] WHITELEY

Arthur Whiteley's grave at Pozieres British Cemetery on the Somme, France. Image courtesy of Simon Haynes.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 2473.

Died on 23 July 1916, aged 38, at the Battle of Pozieres on the Somme in France. Richard Cherrill, William Ingram, Percy Palmer and Harry Saunders (above) were all killed in the same battle on the same day.

Buried at Pozieres British Cemetery, Ovillers La Boiselle, on the Somme, France.

Arthur Whiteley was born in 1877 in Great Horton near Bradford in Yorkshire. When he was 14 he started work for the Post Office. A year later he joined the Midland Railway as an assistant porter at Ashwell Station on a wage of 6 shillings a week. He and his wife Amy lived in London and then on the Isle of Wight and had two children. It's not clear when (or indeed if) they moved to Oxford, nor why he is named on the St Matthew's war memorial (though he did serve with the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry).

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Edward [Edwin] Albert WHITING

Edward Whiting's signature on his attestation (sign-up) papers for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, September 1915.

Lived at 37 and later 122 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 14th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment), service no. 120750.

Died on 26 September 1916, aged 35, at the Somme in France.

Commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial near Arras in France.

Edward Whiting was born in early 1881 in Oxford. He was the son of a tailor, Edward Whiting, and his wife Flora, a shirtmaker, who had eight children. Edward junior was a college servant. In 1911 he married Florence Hymus and had a daughter Eileen; they sailed to Canada in July 1913 and settled in Quebec.

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Frederick Arthur WOODLEY

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 11 July 1917, p.6. The caption says that Pte Woodley was 'Missing' but in fact he had been killed 11 months earlier.

His family lived at 236 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 201415.

Missing, presumed killed in action, 13-15 August 1916, aged 22, at the Somme in France. His brother William (see below) was also killed at the Somme, on the same day, serving in the same battalion of the same regiment.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France. He has no known grave.

Frederick Woodley was born in St Ebbe's in October 1893, the son of a rag sorter, William Woodley, and his wife Mary. He was the younger brother of William Woodley (see below). Frederick and William joined the same battalion within a few months of eachother in 1915, and died together at the Somme.

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William John WOODLEY

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 11 July 1917, p.6. The caption says that Pte Woodley was 'Missing' but in fact he had been killed 11 months earlier.

His family lived at 236 Marlborough Road.

Private with the 1/4 Battalion of the Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry, service no. 202332.

Killed in action, 13-15 August 1916, aged 32, on the Somme in France. His brother Frederick (see above) was also killed at the Somme, on the same day, serving in the same battalion of the same regiment.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France and buried at the London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France.

William Woodley was born in St Ebbe's on 15 January 1884, the second of William and Mary Woodley's 13 children. He was the older brother of Frederick Woodley (see above). On leaving school he joined his father in the rag dealing trade, but by 1911 they had both become general labourers. Frederick and his brother William enlisted with the same battalion within a few months of eachother in 1915, and died together at the Somme.

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Arthur WRIGHT

Image from the Oxford Journal Illustrated, 19 January 1916, p.6.

Lived at 49 Marlborough Road.

Officer's Steward 3rd Class in the Royal Navy, service no. L/6016.

Killed on 30 December 1915, aged 19, in an explosion aboard HMS Natal in the Cromarty Firth in Scotland.

Commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

Arthur Wright was born in St Aldates in March 1896, the seventh of the eight children of John and Mary Wright, and one of two brothers killled in the War (see Ernest Wright, below). Four of the couple's other children died in infancy. Even though they lived in Grandpont, the family were very much connected to St Aldates church and Arthur sang in the choir there and later joined the bell-ringing team. He was also a keen athlete and a good runner. When he left school he followed his older brother Ernest into the printing trade and became a compositor.

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Ernest John WRIGHT

Image courtesy of Clive Browning.

Lived at 49 Marlborough Road.

Lance Corporal in the Army Services Corps (Motor Transport), in the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, service no. 131588.

Died of small pox on 22 November 1918, aged 31, in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).

Buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq.

Ernest Wright was the oldest brother of Arthur Wright (above). He was born in February 1887, the first of the eight children of John and Mary Wright. By the time he was 14 he was working as a porter in a bookshop. He later moved into the printing trade and worked as a compositor. On Boxing Day 1910, when he was 23, Ernest married Ethel Silvester and in February 1915 their son Reginald was born. In October that year Ernest enlisted with the army and joined the Mechanised Transport section of the Army Service Corps.

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