First World War in Headington & Marston
Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield

George William ATKINSON (1884–1915)

George William Atkinson was born in Oxford in 1884, the son of James Atkinson (born in Liverpool in 1840, registered second quarter) and Rachel Smith, born in Kirtlington in 1841/2, registered first quarter of 1842).

His parents were married in the Durham registration district in the second quarter of 1870 and had eleven children:

• Mary Ann Kate Atkinson, known as Kate (born in Oxford in 1871, registered third quarter)
• James Robert Atkinson (born in Oxford in 1873, registered second quarter); died aged 17 at the Radcliffe Infirmary and buried at SS Cowley & John Church on 28 July 1890
• Fanny Lavinia Atkinson (born in Oxford and baptised at SS  Mary & John Church on 6 April 1875)
• Eleanor Atkinson (born in Oxford in 1876, registered fourth quarter)
• Annie Margaret Atkinson (born in Oxford and baptised at SS  Mary & John Church on 19 August 1880)
• Ada Margaret Atkinson (born in Oxford in 1880, registered third quarter and baptised at SS  Mary & John Church on 19 August 1880)
• Ethel Florence Atkinson, known as Florence (born in Oxford in 1882, registered third quarter)
• George William Atkinson (born in Oxford in 1884, registered fourth quarter)
• Gertrude Evelyn Atkinson (born at 11 Randolph Street, Oxford and baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 26 January 1887)
• Sidney Charles Atkinson (born at 11 Randolph Street, Oxford on 27 June 1889 and baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 19 December 1889)
• Joseph James Atkinson (born at 11 Randolph Street, Oxford on 18 December 1891 and baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 31 March 1892).

At the time of the 1871 census George’s father James Atkinson (30) was boarding with Charles & Temperance Williams at Penson’s Gardens, St Ebbe’s.

By the time of the 1881 census, James and Rachel Atkinson were living at 12 Randolph Street in east Oxford and had six children: Kate (9), James (7), Fanny (6), Eleanor (misrecorded as Helena, 4), Annie (2), and Ada (8 months). James was now described as a carpenter.

They were still living there in 1891. Kate, James and Fanny were not at home; Eleanor (14) was now going out to work as a general servant; Annie (12), Ada (10), Florence (8), and George himself (6) were at school; and there were also Gertrude (4) and Sidney (2).

By the time of the 1901 census, Annie had also left home. Ada (20) and Florence (18) were going out to work as domestic servants; George (16) was a carman; and the family was now complete with Gertrude (14), Sydney (11), and Joseph (9).

George’s mother, Rachel Atkinson, died at 11 Randolph Street at the age of 63, and was buried in SS Mary & James churchyard on 16 December 1905.

♥ On 9 July 1910 George William Atkinson (25) married Ada Morris (21) at St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington. Although Ada had been born in Littlemore and was baptised there on 25 August 1889, her father was originally a Barton man, and she had grown up in New Headington: back in 1901 when she was 11, she was living at the present 15 Windsor Street (then No. 3 Windsor Terrace) with her father Thomas Morris, who was a shepherd, and her mother Zilpah (formerly Butler).

The couple had two children, the first born just three months after the wedding:

• Stanley George T. Atkinson (born in Headington in about October 1910)
• George William Atkinson (born in New High Street and baptised at All Saints’ Church on 19 July 1914, died aged three months, buried in Headington Cemetery on 16 September 1914).

George Atkinson was described as a labourer at the time of his marriage, and the couple started their married life living with Ada’s family in Old High Street. Just two months later George’s mother-in-law, Zilpah Morris, died at the age of 61: she was buried at Headington Cemetery on 24 September 1910.

At the time of the 1911 census George Atkinson and his wife Ada can be seen living as “boarders” with Ada’s father in his Old High Street home: George was then described a porter (probably at the Workhouse, as the Master of the Workhouse had been a witness at his wedding), and Ada was employed as a cook. There are three other “boarders” in the house, including their six-month-old baby, Stanley Atkinson.

By the time of George junior’s birth in 1914, the family had moved to New High Street in Highfield parish. George was now an attendant at the Warneford Asylum.

Meanwhile George Atkinson’s father was living at 21 Randolph Street with his eldest daughter Kate (39) who kept house for him; his youngest son Joseph (19), who was working as a college servant; and his grandchildren Harley (8) and Mabel (7), who were born in Banbury and Oxford respectively.

George Atkinson volunteered to serve in the First World War, and was a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Service No. 6338). He died in France at the age of 31 on 15 May 1915 and has no known grave. He is remembered on the Le Touret Memorial and on the Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield.

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Postscript

George’s widow

• Mrs Ada Atkinson married her second husband Charles Kyte, another serving soldier, near the beginning of 1917, and their first child, Lilian Jean Kyte, was baptised at All Saints’ Church six months after the wedding. They began their married life at 171 Howard Street, but came back up to Headington and were living at 59 New High Street when their next three children were baptised at All Saints’ Church: Arthur Charles Kyte on 21 March 1920, Basil Andrew Kyte on 28 May 1922, and Francis Gordon Kyte on 21 March 1926. Charles worked as a labourer after the war, and they later lived at 33 Chestnut Avenue.

George’s father

• James Atkinson died at 1 Leopold Cottages at the age of 78 and was buried in SS Mary & James churchyard on 20 April 1925.

George’s son

• Stanley George Atkinson (born 1910) became a milk roundsman, and he and Rose Eleanor Collins were both living at 33 Chestnut Avenue when they were married at St Andrew’s Church on 24 June 1933. Stanley’s father is described in the marriage register as a “deceased servant”, and there is no mention of his war service. The couple were living at 53 Latimer Road when their daughter Audrey Margaret Rose Atkinson was baptised at St Andrew’s on 5 May 1935, and at 2 The Croft when Pauline Anne Atkinson was baptised on 3 March 1940.

George’s siblings

• Ada Margaret Atkinson (born 1880) gave birth to an illegitimate son Cecil Atkinson in Cowley St John in 1909/10, and was lodging with him in the house next door to her father, 19 Randolph Street, in 1911.