Harold Thomas GRAIN (1898–1917)
Harold Thomas Grain was born in New Headington in 1898, the son of Thomas Grain (born in Headington and privately baptised by St Andrew’s Church on 30 May 1872) and Ada Martha Coppock (born in Headington Quarry and baptised at Holy Trinity church on 6 July 1873).
His parents were married at St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington on 10 March 1894 and had the following children:
- Harold Thomas Grain (born in New Headington on 26 December 1897 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington on 6 February 1898)
- Ernest Frank Grain (born at London Road, Headington on 19 February 1900 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington on 15 April 1900)
- Florence Nelly Grain (born in Oxford in 1904, registered fourth quarter)
- Dorothy Stella Grain (born at the Butcher’s Arms, Headington on 9 July 1909 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington on 12 September 1909)
- Bernard W. Grain (born at the Butcher’s Arms, Headington and baptised at All Saints’ Church on 3 November 1912).
Harold’s father was by trade a leather cutter or clicker, and the couple began their married life in Headington. The 1901 census shows the family living at 1 Belle View Terrace on the London Road (where the Iron Bed Company now has its shop). Harold was then just three.
They then moved down to Oxford briefly, and Kelly’s Directory for 1904 lists Harold’s father at 76 Princes Street, St Clement’s.
In 1906 the Grains took over the Butcher’s Arms in Wilberforce Street (then called William Street), which was taken into Highfield parish in 1910. This pub (right) was originally this was just a beerhouse, and at first Harold’s father continued to work as a shoemaker there; but by the time of the 1911 census he was a full-time licensed victualler, his wife was assisting in the business, and they had a live-in servant.
At the time of the 1911 census shows the Grains living over the pub with their first four children: Harold (13), Ernest (11), and Florence (6) were at school, and Dorothy (1) was still the baby of the family.
In the First World War Harold Thomas Grain served as a Private in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 203370).
He died of wounds in France at the age of 19 on 27 August 1917 and is buried in the Wimereux Communal Cemetery. (II. R. 15). He is listed on the Roll of Honour of All Saints’ Church, Highfield.
Right: Photograph of Harold Grain’s grave in Wimereux, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
†
203370 PRIVATE
H. T. GRAIN
OXFORD & BUCKS. LIGHT INFANTRY
27TH AUGUST 1917
[Emblem of the OBLI]
TILL WE MEET AGAIN
The grave of Harold Grain’s parents (below) has the following words added:
ALSO OF HAROLD
DEARLY LOVED ELDEST SON
OF THE ABOVE
WHO DIED AT WIMEREAUX [sic]
AUG 6. [SIC] 1917. AGED 19 YEARS.
Postscript
Harold’s parents
- Thomas Grain died at the Butcher’s Arms on 31 July 1927 at the age of 55 and was buried at Headington Cemetery.
- Mrs Ada Grain took over the licence on her husband’s death and continued running the pub for another 26 years until her own death at the age of 79 on 9 March 1953.
Harold’s siblings
- Ernest Frank Grain (born 1900) married Ada L. Arnold in the Headington district in the third quarter of 1925. Their daughter June M. Grain was born in that district in 1928 (registered second quarter)
- Florence Nelly Grain (born 1904) married Leslie Patterson in the Headington district in the third quarter of 1932. Their daughter Gwenda J. Patterson was born in 1935 (registered first quarter)
- Dorothy Stella Grain (born 1909) married Herbert J. Woodcock in the Headington district in the fourth quarter of 1930. (He had lost his sister in the First World War.) Their son David J. Woodcock was born in the Oxford registration district in 1933 (registered fourth quarter) and their daughter Jennifer M. Woodcock in 1939/40 (registered first quarter of 1940)
- Bernard Grain (born 1912) married Rose M. Hawes in the Oxford district in the third quarter of 1933. Their daughter Barbara H. Grain was born in 1933 (regsitered third quarter) and their son Harold T. Hawes in 1935 (registered third quarter). Bernard Grain took over the Butcher’s Arms after his parents’ death and ran it until the 1970s.
See also
- CWGC: Harold Thomas Grain
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 3 October 1917, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of Harold Grain of Headington, who had died just over a month earlier (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- See a report of the fighting on 27 August 1917 (the day Harold Grain was killed) in the War Diary of 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry: Vols. XXVII (July 1917) and XXVII (August 1917)
- Wikipedia: Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
- History of the Butcher’s Arms pub (with photograph of Harold’s father)