Charles PHIPPS (1863–1916)
Charles Phipps was born in Iffley in 1863, the son of James Phipps (born in Cowley and baptised at St James’s Church on 26 March 1837) and Ann Gibbons (born in Ipsden in c.1835).
His parents were married at Littlemore on 19 February 1859 and had the following children:
- Elizabeth Maria Phipps (born in Littlemore and baptised at SS Mary & Nicholas Church there on 13 November 1859)
- Emily Phipps (born in Littlemore and baptised at SS Mary & Nicholas Church there on 5 January 1862)
- Charles Phipps (born in Iffley in 1863, birth registered fourth quarter)
- Rosa Jane Phipps (born in Iffley and baptised at St Mary the Virgin Church there on 8 December 1867).
Charles’s parents were both living in Littlemore just prior to their marriage: his father was working there as a labourer, and his mother as a domestic servant. They remained there after their marriage.
The 1861 census shows them living at Hades Cottages in Littlemore: James (24) and Ann (26) were both working as agricultural labourers, even though they now had a one-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. They were still in Littlemore when their second daughter Emily was baptised in early 1862, but had moved to Iffley by the time of Charles’s birth near the end of 1863, and were still there at the end of 1867 following the birth of their youngest daughter.
By the time of the 1871 census, when Charles was a seven-year-old schoolboy, his parents were living in Sidney Street in east Oxford, and his father was working as a labourer.
In 1881 Charles’s parents were still in east Oxford, but this time in Percy Street. Charles (17) was now himself working as an agricultural labourer (carter), and none of his three sisters was at home; but his nephew Percival C. Phipps (4) and niece Sarah A. Phipps (2), both born in Cowley St John, were living in the household.
♥ In the second quarter of 1890 Charles Phipps married Sarah Warland (born in Islip in 1867, registered Bicester district second quarter) and they had eleven children:
- Florence Harriet Phipps (born in New Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 10 March 1892)
- Herbert Charles Phipps (born in New Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 4 March 1894)
- Percival Frederick Phipps (born at Brickyard Cottages, New Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 2 August 1896; died at the age of two and buried at Headington Cemetery 1 April 1899)
- Beatrice Sarah Phipps (born at Brickyard Cottages, New Marston on 6 June 1899 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 27 August 1899)
- Hilda Emily Phipps (born in New Marston on 29 September 1900 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 16 December 1900)
- Laura Emily Phipps (born in Marston in 1901, registered fourth quarter)
- Reginald James Phipps (born in New Marston on 28 September 1904 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 13 November 1904)
- Elsie Elizabeth Phipps (born in William Street, New Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 10 June 1906)
- Sidney Frank Phipps (born in New Marston, registered in fourth quarter of 1907)
- Winifred Alice Phipps (born in New Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 12 September 1909)
- Doris May Phipps (born in Marston in early 1916, died aged 11 months, buried Headington Cemetery on 4 January 1917).
The 1891 census shows Charles (27) and Sarah (23) living as newlyweds at 2 Tilehurst Cottages on the Marston Road. Charles was then a bricklayer’s labourer, and thus he remained until he went to war over twenty years later. (His parents were now living at 56 Magdalen Road in east Oxford: their children were all gone, but three grandchildren were in the house: Percival Phipps (14) and Sarah (12) were joined by Anne (8), who had been born in Headngton.
Charles’s mother died at the age of 59 in 1894/5 (death registered Headington district first quarter of 1895).
By the time of the 1901 census, Charles (36) and Sarah (33) had settled in William Street, New Marston with their four eldest children. Meanwhile Charles’s father, a widower of 64, was living at 52 Catherine Street with his grandson Thomas H. Wyatt (13).
Charles and Sarah were still at William Street in 1911, now with eight children. The number of their house is then given as 2 William Street, but Charles’s war record states it was No. 3, which matches the current numbering. His father (74) had moved in with his widowed daughter Elizabeth Maria Wyatt at 94 Howard Street. She was working as the matron at James Street Police Station, and her children Robert (24), Rachel Ann (20) and Dorcas Evelyn (18) were at home with her. Rachel Wyatt was now Mrs Howard, and had a one-year-old daughter, Dorothy Elizabeth.
In the First World War Charles Phipps served as a Private in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 5365).
He died back in England at the age of 52 on 27 June 1916.
He is buried in SS Mary & John churchyard on the Cowley Road, Oxford, and is remembered on the New Marston War Memorial on the Marston Road, Oxford.
Left: Photograph of Charles Phipps’s grave in SS Mary & John churchyard, photographed in 2010. This grave is in a poorer state than most war graves, but the text is still legible and reads:
[Emblem of OBLI]
5365 PRIVATE
C. PHIPPS
OXFORD & BUCKS. LIGHT INF.
27TH JUNE 1916
†
Postscript
Charles’s widow
- Mrs Sarah Phipps was still living at 3 William Street in 1936.
Charles’s children
- Beatrice Sarah Phipps (born 1899) married Edwin W. Bristow in the Headington district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church) in the third quarter of 1919.
- Reginald James Phipps (born 1904) married Annetta Harty in the Headington registration district in the third quarter of 1930. He worked as a gardener, and they lived at 26 Farmer Place. Their daughter Sylvia Ann Phipps was born on 30 June 1940 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 25 August 1940.
- Elsie Elizabeth Phipps (born 1906) had an illegitimate son, Edwin Basil Phipps, at her mother’s home at 3 William Street on 10 June 1924, and had him baptised at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 30 June 1924. She married Francis Stephen Slaymaker in the Headington district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church) in the fourth quarter of 1926. He was a quarry labourer and they were living in Headington when their first child William Charles Slaymaker (born 16 November 1928) was baptised at St Nicholas’s Church in Old Marston on 13 January 1913). Elsie’s husband was working as a labourer and they were living at Home Farm in Marston when their next child Eric Frank Slaymaker (born 30 October 1931) was baptised on 6 December 1931; and a plasterer’s labourer when their daughter Jean Margaret Slaymaker (born in August 1933) was baptised on 24 September 1933.
- Sidney Frank Phipps (born 1907) married Phyllis Muriel Allmond in the Oxford registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church) in the third quarter of 1937. He was a lorry driver, and they lived in Marston. Their son Michael Sidney Phipps was born on 6 February 1937 before the wedding and baptised on 10 October 1937 at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston.
- Winifred Alice Phipps (born 1909) married Leslie G. Allmond in the Headington district (probably St Nicholas’s Church) in the fourth quarter of 1931.
See also
- CWGC: Charles Phipps
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 12 July 1916, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of C. Phipps of New Marston, who had just been killed (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- Wikipedia: Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
- Picture of eight of Charles Phipps’s brother Sidney’s children (Florence, Beatrice, Hilda, Laura, Reginald, Elsie, Sidney, and Winifred) in middle age, taken in the 1940s in the scout hall, William Street in Newbigging & Wood, The Changing Faces of Marston, Book 2, p. 24.