First World War in Headington & Marston

All Saints’ parish, Highfield

Please follow the pointer above if you would like to see a biography of all the men on the memorial

The ecclesiastical parish of Highfield had a total population of 1,636 at the time of the 1911 census, and it lost 54 young men and one woman in the First World War. The names below are listed on a board inside the church.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN EVER GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE FROM THIS PARISH WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR
	(Thomas) Harold Allen1	Henry Goodgame	William Neville
	Harry Allen	Harold Grain	Stanley Norgrove
	George Atkinson	James Griffin	Ralph Nutt
	Frank Bateman2	Frank Hathaway1	Albert Oliver
	William Bateman2	William Higgins	Charles Reeves
	John Bellamy, Lieut.	Edwin Hudson	Joseph Rushton
	Richard Bridgewater	William Irving	Ernest Schofield
	Frederick Brooks	Ernest Jacob	Herbert Smith
	Edwin Bryant	(Francis John) “Jack” Jacobs	Leonard Smith
	(Herbert) Alfred Cull1	Raymond Jacobs	Frank Taylor
	Hugh Davenport, Capt.3	William Jacobs	Harold Taylor1
	Leonard Davenport, Lieut.3	Frank Jeffreys1	George Vyles
	Harold Dennis1	Thomas Keen	(Albert) William Webb, Lieut.1
	William Dipper	Frederick King	Arthur Westell
	(Frederick) James Durham4	Reginald Miles	Herbert White6
	Frank Gardner5	Frederick Morris	William White6
	Jack Gardner5	Donald Murray	Arthur Williams
	Harry Godfrey	Albert Neville	John Durham4
	Henry Walter Edward Stone Henry Stone (later known as Harry Morris) was born at the Royal Standard, where his father and later his mother was landlord, but was omitted from the All Saints’ War Memorial because he and his mother had moved away from Oxford. Here is a PDF of a synopsis of his biography prepared from researches by Andrew Stone, great-great-grandson of Edwin and Ellen Stone. Marguerite Woodcock Marguerite Woodcock is not listed on the All Saints board, even though she lived in All Saints’ parish and her family had connections with its church. She died while serving in the Women’s Royal Air Force and has an official First World war grave and a listing on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. She is probably the only Headington woman to die as a result of the First World War, so here is her biography Other people who lived in the parish but are missing may have been nonconformists

Notes

1. St Andrew’s Church also claims Thomas Harold Allen, Alfred Cull, Harold Dennis, Frank Jeffries, Frank Hathaway, Alfred Taylor and William Webb as its own.
2. Frank Bateman and William Bateman were brothers.
3. Hugh Davenport and Leonard Davenport were brothers, and lived in Davenport House.
4. James Durham and John Durham were brothers.
5. Frank Gardner and Jack Gardner were probably brothers.
6. Herbert White and William White were brothers.

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The above names are in the order in which they appear on the wooden board (below), which is in strict alphabetical order until the last name. There are other men with Highfield origins who are not listed on the memorial: see for instance the information about the death of Alfred Radburn (CWGC), formerly of New High Street, in The Changing Faces of Headington, Book 2, p. 21.

A wooden war memorial cross on a stone base was put up in the garden of All Saints’ Church, but this has no names. The base of the original cross rotted over the years and fell over in August 2008 (below), but a new stone cross is now in place.

Below: This card with the text “From All Saints’ Parish, Highfield” under the picture,
was sent at Christmas by members of the congregation of that church
to men of its parish serving abroad in the First World War

In 1917 Sergeant-Major Frederick Brooks of Windsor Street was the first man in the Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry to win the Victoria Cross in the First World War. He survived.