John Wesley Woodward and Headington
John Wesley Woodward (1879–1912) was born in West Bromwich, the youngest of the nine children of Joseph and Martha Woodward.
At the time of the 1891 census John (11) was still at school and living with his widowed mother Martha (52) and his older siblings Mary, Martha, Thomas, Frederick, Herbert, and Roland at 26 Hawkes Lane, West Bromwich.
By 1899 the family had moved down to 265 Cowley Road, Oxford, and John's brother, Thomas William Woodward, was listed as the householder in Kelly's Directory for 1899. At the time of the 1901 census, however, John's mother was described as the head of that household, living at 265 Cowley Road with three of her sons: Thomas (32), who was a professional singer and lay clerk; Herbert (28); and and John himself (21), who was described as a musician.
John Wesley Woodward was a 'cello player, and in 1909 he joined the White Star Line. He played in the band on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and at the age of 32 died (along with all the other musicians) when she sank on 15 April 1912. His home was then in Windmill Road, Headington, at No. 2 The Firs (now 24 Windmill Road).
A brass plaque on the wall of All Saints Church, Headington, reads as follows:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF
JOHN WESLEY WOODWARD
BANDSMAN ON THE S.S. TITANIC
WHO WITH HIS COMRADES
NOBLY PERFORMED HIS DUTY TO THE LAST
WHEN THE SHIP SANK
AFTER COLLISION WITH AN ICEBERG
ON APRIL 15 1912.
BORN SEPT: 11, 1879.
"NEARER MY GOD TO THEE."
Page on John Woodward on Titanic website
John's family after the sinking of the Titanic
- John's brother Herbert Edward Woodward was living alone at Lynwood, 24 Windmill Road, at the time of the 1911 census and working as a gardener, and was still there in 1935.
- John's brother Thomas William Woodward, who was a tenor with Magdalen College choir, was staying with his father-in-law, William Mansfield, in Wolverhampton at the time of the 1911 census, but shortly afterwards moved to Oakthorpe Road in Summertown. He is probably the man of that name who was living at 14 Norham Road in 1935.
- In 1911 John mother, Mrs Martha Woodward, was staying in Walsall with her son Samuel and his family.
