Richard David MATTHEWS (1880–1919)
Richard David Matthews was born in 1 Tilehurst Cottages, Marston Road in 1880, the son of Richard Francis Matthews (born in Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 3 March 1855) and Clara Trinder (born in Headington in 1854, birth registered second quarter).
His parents were married at St Clement’s Church on 14 July 1878 and had twelve children (the first one nearly two years before their wedding):
- Ada Annie Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Clement’s Church on 31 December 1876)
- Clara Florence Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Clement’s Church on 29 September 1878)
- Richard David Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages on 5 February 1880 and baptised at St Clement’s Church on 27 June 1880)
- Emily Louisa Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 27 November 1881)
- Henry William Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages in c.1882 but not baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston until 14 February 1886, along with his next brother)
- Mark Ernest Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 14 February 1886)
- Alice Victoria Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages on 13 March 1887 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 13 March 1887; died aged 11 and buried at St Nicholas’s churchyard on 4 April 1898)
- Martha Annie Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages on 30 November 1888 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 3 March 1889)
- George Herbert Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages in 1890, registered fourth quarter)
- Jane Elizabeth Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages in 1892, registered second quarter)
- Joseph Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 4 March 1894; died soon after birth)
- Joseph William Matthews (born at 1 Tilehurst Cottages and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 4 March 1894)
In 1871 Richard’s father, Richard Matthews senior, was a 15-year-old agricultural labourer living with his parents on the Marston Road; by 1881 he was a married man of 25 with three children of his own (including one-year-old Richard) living at 1 Brick Kiln Cottages (also known asTilehurst Cottages) on the Marston Road. He was then working as a gardener.
The family was still living at Tilehurst Cottages in 1891, when there were nine children, with Richard now an 11-year-old schoolboy.
In 1901 Richard was not at home with his parents on census night, but in 1911, when he was 31, he was still a single man living with them on the Marston Road. He and his brother George(20) were working as jobbing gardeners, Mark (25) was a brickyard labourer, Joseph (15) was a cricket ground boy. Four of his sisters had already married and left home, and the fifth, Jane (19), was staying with her sister Mrs Harriet Webb.
In the First World War Richard David Matthews served as a Private in the 10th (Shropshire & Cheshire Yeomanry) Battalion of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Service No. 31925). He died in Egypt at the age of 39 on 31 May 1919.
He is buried at the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery (P.29), and is remembered on the New Marston War Memorial on the Marston Road, Oxford.
Postscript
Richard’s parents
- Richard F. Matthews died at the age of 67 in 1921 (Headington district, fourth quarter)
- Clara Matthews died at the age of 77 in 1932 (Headington district, first quarter)
Richard’s siblings
- Ada Annie Matthews (born 1876) married Frederick Charles Burborough (who himself was killed in the First World War and is also on the New Marston war memorial) in 1903. They had one child: Cyril Frederick Burborough (born 1904); his son was Francis Charles Burborough (born 1932); and Francis’s son was Peter Francis Burborough (born 1959).
- Clara Florence Matthews (born 1878) married William H. Burborough in the Headington registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston) in 1912.
- Emily Louisa Matthews (born 1881) married Harold William Webb in the Headington registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church, Marston) in 1910. They had three children registered in the Headington district: Francis G. Webb (1913, third quarter) and twins, Phyllis N. Webb and Sydney C. Webb (1918, fourth quarter).
- Martha Annie Matthews (born 1888) married Bernard Haynes in the Headington registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church, Marston) in 1915. They lived in Ferry Road and their son John George Haynes (born 3 July 1920) was baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 5 September 1920.