William John PLUMRIDGE (1889–1915)
William John Plumridge was born in Oxford in 1889, the son of Harry Plumridge (born in St Thomas’s, Oxford in 1865/6, registered first quarter of 1866) and Annie Ada Holliday (born on the Cowley Road, Oxford in 1868, baptised Cowley St James Church on 26 May 1868).
His parents were married in the Headington Registration District in the fourth quarter of 1888 and had three children:
- William John Plumridge (born in St Clement’s, Oxford before the end of 1889, registered first quarter of 1890)
- Ada Annie Plumridge (born in Headington in 1892, registered fourth quarter)
- Lilian Grace Plumridge (born in St Ebbe’s, Oxford in 1903, registered second quarter).
At the time of the 1891 census William’s parents were living at Gordon Cottages, New Marston (probably William Street). William’s father was a bricklayer’s labourer, and William was one year old.
In 1901 their house is specified as being in William Street, New Marston: William (11) and Ada (9) were then at school. Also living with them was William’s grandfather, John Plumridge, a widower of 72 still working at home as a boot & shoe maker.
William’s parents were still at William Street in 1911 with their two daughters, but William was not at home. In William’s army records their house is named as “South View”, which is the present No. 49.
William John Plumridge volunteered to serve in the First World War, enlisting in Liverpool. He was a Bombardier in the “D” Battery of the 84th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (Service No. 24311).
He died at the Somme in France at the age of 26 on 31 December 1915 when a German fuse he was examining exploded.
He is buried in the Corbie Communal Cemetery (Plot I, Row C, Grave 12), and is remembered on the New Marston War Memorial on the Marston Road, Oxford.
Left: Photograph of William John Plumridge’s grave in Corbie, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
24311 BOMBARDIER
W. J. PLUMRIDGE
ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
31ST DECEMBER 1915
†
[Emblem of Royal Field Artillery
with “UBIQUE QUO FAS ET
GLORIA DUCUNT” motto]
FOR EVER WITH THE [?LORD]
Postscript
William’s parents
- Mrs Annie Ada Plumridge died at the age of 64 in 1932/3 (registered Oxford district of 1933).
- Harry Plumridge died at the age of 84 in 1950/1 (registered Oxford district first quarter of 1951).
See also
- CWGC: William John Plumridge
- Oxford Chronicle, 7 January 1916, p. 8: Local Roll of Honour: W. J. Plumridge
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 12 January 1916, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of W. J. Plumridge, who had just been killed (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- Wikipedia: Royal Field Artillery