William Ambrose DIPPER (1898–1917)
William Ambrose Dipper was born in New High Street, Headington in 1898, the son of William Dipper senior (baptised in Standlake on 9 July 1865) and Emma Hollier (born in Sydenham in 1864, registered last quarter).
His parents were married in the Headington Registration District in the second quarter of 1893 and had just two children:
- Elsie Dipper (born at 23 Magdalen Road, Oxford on 24 March 1894 and baptised at SS Cowley & John Church on 26 April 1894)
- William Ambrose Dipper (born in New High Street, Headington on 16 January 1898 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 3 April 1898).
William’s father was a carpenter and joiner. He and his wife lived at 23 Magdalen Road in east Oxford from their marriage in 1893 to 1897, but by time of William’s birth at the beginning of 1898 they had moved up to New High Street in Headington.
By the time of the 1901 census, they had moved to Latimer Road, and William was then three years old. They were still there at the time of the 1911 census, when Elsie (17) was working as a dressmaker, and William (13) was still at school.
In 1914 the Dipper family moved to 16 Stapleton Road (the house then named “Glyn-Neath”) in Highfield parish.
In the First World War William Dipper was originally in the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars (Service No. 3455). Later he served as a Private in the 14th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Service No. 34971) and was killed in action in Belgium aged 19 on 26 October 1917.
His grave is unknown, but he is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial (Panel 23 to 28 and 163A) as well as on the board in All Saints’ Church.
Left: Photograph of W. A. Dipper’s name on the Tyne Cot Memorial, kindly supplied by the British War Graves project
Above: grave of William Dipper’s father in Headington Cemetery
Postscript
William’s parents
- William Dipper senior died on 27 May 1946 and was buried at Headington Cemetery.
- Mrs Emma Dipper only remained at 16 Stapleton Road for a few years after her husband’s death. She made no mention of her only son on her husband’s grave (above).
William’s sister
- Elsie Dipper (born 1894) married Corporal George Montague Wyatt of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 7 August 1916 at All Saints’ Church. Their daughter Una V. E. Wyatt (born in 1920, registered Headington third quarter) was married to Stanley R. Holt in the Oxford district in the second quarter of 1943.