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

Frederick BROOKS (1897–1918)

Frederick Brooks (sometimes known as Frederick Currill) was born in Oxford in 1897, the son of Mrs Ellen Brooks née Trinder (born in Oxford, registered last quarter of 1859). Frederick’s father was probably Mark Currill or Currell (born in Garsington in c.1853), who lived in Barton, Headington.

Frederick’s mother Ellen Trinder grew up in Charles Street in East Oxford, but her father William was born in Headington and her parents lived there until just before her birth. She married George Brooks (born in Oxford in c.1851) in the fourth quarter of 1879, but although Frederick usually carries this man’s surname, he is not his father.

George & Ellen Brooks had four children, half-siblings of Frederick:

• Ellen Clara Brooks (born in Oxford in 1883, registered third quarter)
• George William Brooks (born in Oxford in 1887, registered second quarter)
• Beatrice Violet Brooks (born in Oxford in 1891, registered second quarter)
• Daisy Annie D. Brooks (born in Oxford in 1894, registered second quarter).

At the time of the 1881 census George and Ellen Brooks (aged respectively 30 and 22) were living at Princes Street in east Oxford. George was a milkman, they had no children yet, and there were two lodgers.

By the time of the 1891 census, Frederick’s mother was described as a shirt ironer, and their first three children had been born. Beatrice was only two days old, and a monthly nurse was staying at the house.

Frederick’s father, Mark Currill, was still living in Garsington with his parents at the time of the 1881 census, when he was an unmarried agricultural labourer of 28. By the time of the 1891 census he was living in Barton with his Headington-born wife Emma  and their children Mark (5), Charles William (2), and Jane Elizabeth (1).

When her fourth child was born in 1894, Ellen Brooks was presumably still living with her husband. Mark’s wife Emma appears to have died at the age of 37 in 1895/6 (registered Headington district first quarter of 1896), although there is a slight discrepancy with her age compared to that in the census). Ellen Brooks got pregnant around the end of that year, and probably then moved to Barton to live with Mark Currill. Her last son was born there, and it is almost certain that Mark was the father:

• Frederick Brooks (born in Barton, Headington in 1897, registered third quarter); also known as Frederick Currill.

At the time of the 1901 census, although still described as married, George Brooks was bringing up his four children on his own down in Oxford, while his wife Mrs Ellen Brooks (42) was living in Barton with Mark Currill (50), who was then a groom and described as a widower. Ellen, who was then working as a laundress, was described as his “sister-in-law”, and her status as single. Mark Currill’s three sons were living with them: Mark (14), Will (12), and George (8), but his daughter Harriet (6) was staying with her aunt, Mrs Harriet Clarke (54), widow of James Clarke, at Wallingford. Ellen’s son Frederick (3) was also in the house, and recorded as Freddie Currill rather than Brooks.

In 1911 Mrs Ellen Brooks (49) was still living in Barton with Mark Currill and two of his children: Will (22) and Harriet (16), recorded as “Tullie”. Mark now recorded that Ellen was his “housekeeper” on the census form and described “Fred Brooks” as his son, but then scratched this out and changed it to “lodger”, even though he was only 13 and still at school. Meanwhile Ellen’s husband George Brooks (60) was still living at Princes Street, working from home as a dairyman. He stated on the 1911 census form that he had been married for 30 years and had four children, proving that he did not believe that Frederick was his son. His grown-up son George was living with him, together with his wife Nellie and their children George (3) and Alfred (1).

Around the time of the First World War Mark Currill and Ellen Brooks moved together to 65 New High Street in Highfield parish, taking Frederick with them. They were unable to marry, as Ellen’s husband George Brooks lived to be 89 and outlived them both: his death was registered in the Oxford district in the March quarter of 1940.

 

In the First World War Frederick Brooks served as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment (Service No. 51798).

He died of wounds in France at the age of 22 on 28 August 1918 and is buried in the Ligny–St Flochel British Cemetery at Averdoingt. He is listed on the Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield.

 

 

 

Left: Photograph of Frederick Brooks’s grave in Averdoingt, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:

51798 PRIVATE
F. BROOKS
WORCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT
28TH AUGUST 1916

†
[Emblem of the Worcestershire Regiment with the Regimental motto of FIRM over the Royal Crest and the words “Honi soit qui mal y pense” encircling a lion]