Reginald FAULKNER (1892/3–1915)
Reginald Faulkner was born in Oxford in 1893/4, the son of William Faulkner (born in Begbroke in 1869, registered fourth quarter) and Emily Wharton (born in Claydon near Cropredy in 1863/4, registered first quarter of 1864).
His parents were married in the Witney registration district in the fourth quarter of 1890 and had four children:
- William Faulkner (born in Elsfield in 1891, registered Headington district third quarter)
- Reginald Faulkner (born in Sunnymead, Oxford in 1893/4, registered first quarter of 1894, and baptised at at St Michael & All Angels Church in Summertown on 4 February 1894)
- Amy Elizabeth Faulkner (born in Charlbury in 1897/8 and baptised at St Mary the Virgin Church there on 30 January 1898)
- Albert John Faulkner (born in New Marston in mid-1900 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 19 August 1900; died aged 2 years 4 months, and buried in the churchyard on 29 November 1902).
At the time of the 1891 census Reginald’s parents were living with his widowed grandmother, Mrs Mary Faulkner, at Elsfield Road, Elsfield, and his father was working as a gardener. They had moved to Sunnymead, Summertown by 1894, and to Charlbury by 1898.
By 1900 they had settled in New Marston, and the 1901 census shows them living at Ferry Road. Reginald (7) was then at school.
The family was still at Ferry Road in the 1911 census. Reginald (17) was then working as a porter, and his brother William (19) was a gardener like his father.
By 1915 the family had moved to 46 William Street.
Reginald Faulkner volunteered to serve in the First World War and was a Rifleman in the 2nd Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps (Service No. 11741).
He died of wounds at the age of 21 on 27 January 1915 in Pas de Calais, France.
He is buried in the Beuvry Communal Cemetery (Grave 20), and is remembered on the New Marston War Memorial on the Marston Road, Oxford.
Left: Photograph of Reginald’s Faulkner’s grave in Beuvry, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
[Crest of the King’s Royal
Rifle Corps, with motto
“CELER ET AUDAX”]
11741 PRIVATE
R. FAULKNER
KING’S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS
27TH JANUARY 1915 AGE 21
†
HE EVER LIVETH
IN THE HEARTS OF THOSE
THAT LOVE HIM
Postscript
Reginald’s parents
William and Emily Faulkner continued to live at 46 William Street, New Marston for a period after the war.
- The Emily Faulkner who died at the age of 78 and whose death was registered in the Oxford district in the fourth quarter of 1942 is probably his mother, and the William Faulkner who died at the age of 84 and whose death was registered in the Oxford district in the second quarter of 1953 his father.
See also
- CWGC: Reginald Faulkner (address given as 48 William Street, which appears to be wrong)
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 24 February 1915 , “Heroes of the War”: photograph of Rifleman R. Faulkner of New Marston, who had died the previous month (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- Wikipedia: King’s Royal Rifle Corps