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First World War in Headington & Marston

All Saints’ parish, Highfield

Please follow the pointer above if you would like to see a biography of all the men on the memorial

The ecclesiastical parish of Highfield had a total population of 1,636 at the time of the 1911 census, and it lost 54 young men and one woman in the First World War. The names below are listed on a board inside the church.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN EVER GRATEFUL
MEMORY OF THOSE FROM THIS PARISH WHO LAID DOWN
THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR
   (Thomas) Harold Allen1 Henry Goodgame William Neville   
  Harry Allen Harold Grain Stanley Norgrove  
  George Atkinson James Griffin Ralph Nutt  
  Frank Bateman2 Frank Hathaway1 Albert Oliver  
  William Bateman2 William Higgins Charles Reeves  
  John Bellamy, Lieut. Edwin Hudson Joseph Rushton  
  Richard Bridgewater William Irving Ernest Schofield  
  Frederick Brooks Ernest Jacob Herbert Smith  
  Edwin Bryant (Francis John) “Jack” Jacobs        Leonard Smith  
  (Herbert) Alfred Cull1 Raymond Jacobs Frank Taylor  
  Hugh Davenport, Capt.3 William Jacobs Harold Taylor1  
  Leonard Davenport, Lieut.3 Frank Jeffreys1 George Vyles  
Harold Dennis1 Thomas Keen (Albert) William Webb, Lieut.1    
  William Dipper Frederick King Arthur Westell  
  (Frederick) James Durham4      Reginald Miles Herbert White6  
  Frank Gardner5 Frederick Morris William White6  
  Jack Gardner5 Donald Murray Arthur Williams  
  Harry Godfrey Albert Neville John Durham4  
 

Marguerite Woodcock

Marguerite is not listed on the All Saints board, but she died while serving in the Women’s Royal Air Force and has an official First World war grave and a listing on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. She is probably the only Headington woman to die as a result of the First World War

Another missing person appears to be George Henry Baker of Stapleton Road, found on the CWGC site

 
Notes
  1. St Andrew’s Church also claims Thomas Harold Allen, Alfred Cull, Harold Dennis, Frank Jeffries, Frank Hathaway, Alfred Taylor and William Webb as its own.
  2. Frank Bateman and William Bateman were brothers.
  3. Hugh Davenport and Leonard Davenport were brothers, and lived in Davenport House.
  4. James Durham and John Durham were brothers.
  5. Frank Gardner and Jack Gardner were probably brothers.
  6. Herbert White and William White were brothers.

The above names are in the order in which they appear on the wooden board (below), which is in strict alphabetical order until the last name. There are other men with Highfield origins who are not listed on the memorial: see for instance the information about the death of Alfred Radburn (CWGC), formerly of New High Street, in The Changing Faces of Headington, Book 2, p. 21.

Board listing the dead in All Saints’ Church

A wooden war memorial cross on a stone base was put up in the garden of All Saints’ Church, but this has no names. The base of the original cross rotted over the years and fell over in August 2008 (below), but a new stone cross is now in place.

All Saints cross

Below: This card with the text “From All Saints’ Parish, Highfield” under the picture,
was sent at Christmas by members of the congregation of that church
to men of its parish serving abroad in the First World War
All Saints’ Christmas card

In 1917 Sergeant-Major Frederick Brooks of Windsor Street was the first man in the Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry to win the Victoria Cross in the First World War. He survived.

All Saints’ parish was only four years old in 1914. It was created in 1910, and took over nearly all of the old St Andrew’s parish that lay to the south of the London Road. To the north, the London Road marks a clear boundary, with the houses on the north side being in St Andrew’s parish, and those to the south in All Saints’ parish. To the west it includes the houses at the top of Headington Hill near the reservoir; and to the south it includes Old Road.

To the east, the boundary is less obvious. For the most part it runs along the centre of Windmill Road, but just to the north of Bateman Street it turns east to incorporate both sides of Windmill Road, and the west side of Holyoake Road.

Back to War Memorials page on Headington Community Website