Ernest Victor BIOVOIS (1886–1916)
Ernest Victor Biovois, known as Victor, was born in Staines, Middlesex in 1886, the son of Victor Celestin Biovois (born in Oxford in 1862, registered Headington district third quarter) and Emma Bustin (born in Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford on 7 August 1858).
His parents were both living at Fisher Row when they were married on 22 April 1883 at St Thomas’s Church in Oxford. They had had four children:
- Hannah Theresa Biovois (known as Hannah, born at Guildford Street, Staines, Middlesex in 1884, registered second quarter)
- (Ernest) Victor Biovois (born at Guildford Street, Staines, Middlesex on 14 October 1886)
- Percy John Celestin Biovois (born at Guildford Street, Staines, Middlesex on 30 December 1887)
- Adèle Constance Fanny Biovois (born at Parrock Cottage, Stroud Road, Staines, Middlesex on 13 January 1890).
Victor Biovois had French blood: his grandfather, also Victor Biovois, was born in Aire sur la Lys in France. At the time of the 1861 census his grandfather (38) was living at Banbury Road Villa, employed as the servant of Mrs Flavia Dayman, a clergyman’s widow who herself had been born in France. Victor’s future grandmother, Hannah Prew (37), who was born in Steventon, was also Mrs Dayman’s servant and lived in the villa’s lodge.
In the first quarter of 1862 Victor’s grandfather, described a butler, married Hannah Prew in the Headington registration district (which included north Oxford and Summertown), and their first son, Victor Celestin Biovois, was born at Banbury Road on 3 July 1862.
Victor’s grandfather continued working as Mrs Dayman’s servant after his marriage, and lived in Dayman’s Lodge with his wife. They can be seen there at the time of the 1871 census. Victor (48) was then described as a butler and valet, and they had two children.
By 1875 Victor’s grandfather had moved with his family to Old Marston, and the 1881 census shows him as the publican at the Victoria Arms pub (then known as the Ferry Inn). He also looked after the ferry, which became known as Frenchman’s Ferry.
Victor’s father, Victor Celestin Biovois, became a boatbuilder. He originally worked for Salter’s in Oxford, but soon after marrying Victor’s mother Emma in 1883 he moved to Staines, Middlesex, where their four children were born. In about 1890 he came back to Marston to take over his father’s pub and ferry.
Right: Victor’s father, Victor Celestin Biovois, on the Marston ferry. The hawser remained in place until 1960
The family can be found living at the pub in the 1891 census, when Victor was a four-year-old schoolboy, and the photograph (right) of Victor with his three siblings behind was taken around this time. Meanwhile by 1891 his grandparents had retired to 49 Plantation Road in north Oxford.
By the time of the 1901 census, when Victor (14) was still at school, his father had renamed the pub after Queen Victoria.
Victor’s French grandfather died at the age of 83 on 17 September 1907 and was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery. His grandmother, Hannah Biovois, came to live with them.
In 1911 Victor (24), now a carpenter and joiner, still lived at the pub. His grandmother Hannah died at the age of 92 in the fourth quarter of 1914.
By 1915 Victor’s parents had retired, and a William Jennings had taken over the pub. Victor and his parents were now living at Fern Cottage, Old Marston, according to Kelly’s Directory for that year.
In the First World War Victor Biovois joined the 11th Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment as a Private on 15 April 1916, and was transferred to the 8th Battalion on leaving for the Front (Service No. 27809).
He was severely wounded in the leg and was brought from France to the 2nd Southern General Hospital at Westbury-on-Trym near Bristol. After initially making good progress he died there at the age of 30 on 2 December 1916. He was engaged to be married at the time of his death.
His body was brought back to Old Marston to be buried in St Nicholas’s churchyard, and he is remembered on its Roll of Honour.
Left: Grave of Victor Biovois in St Nicholas’s churchyard, Old Marston. The stone cross has broken off, and is propped up behind the grave. The text reads:
IN
LOVING MEMORY
OF
ERNEST VICTOR BIOVOIS,
11TH GLOUCESTER REGT.
DIED DECEMBER 2ND 1916,
OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN FRANCE
AGED 30 YEARS
AT REST
Postscript
Victor’s parents
- Mrs Emma Biovois died at 33 Islip Road, Oxford on 9 April 1935 at the age of 76.
- Victor Celestin Biovois ceased to be publican of the Victoria Arms in about 1919, and is described as a boat-builder when his daughter was married from 33 Islip Road in 1920. He died at the home of his daughter in Henley-on-Thames at the age of 74 on 28 October 1936.
Victor’s siblings
- Hannah Theresa Biovois, known as Theresa (born 1886) married Herbert Edward Ward at St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston on 27 April 1911, and their daughter Adèle Theresa Ward was born at Old Marston on 30 May 1912. Theresa died at 413 Marston Road at the age of 56 on 21 February 1941 and was buried in Victor’s grave; her husband was also buried there when he died at the age of 86 on 12 October 1966.
- Percy John Celestin Biovois (born 1887)became a photographer. He married Ada Lucy Rawlins in the Oxford district in the fourth quarter of 1913. They lived at 33 Islip Road, Sunnymead when their son Victor Percival Celestin Biovois was born on 2 March 1915 and baptised at Marston on 4 April 1915; he married Winifred M. Hall in the second quarter of 1940 in the Oxford district. Percy died in about 1964.
- Adèle Constance Fanny Biovois (born 1890) married William Ewart Brain, a policeman, on 17 April 1920 at Summertown Church. She died at “Cranmer”, Elsfield Road, Old Marston on 7 February 1963.
See also
- CWGC: Victor Biovois
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 10 January 1917, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of Victor Biovois of Marston, who had died five weeks earlier (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- Wikipedia: Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
- Newbigging & Wood, The Changing Faces of Marston, Book 1, p. 54