First World War in Headington and Marston
Roll of Honour of St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston

George Herbert CUMMINGS (1892–1916)

(Cummings is also listed on the New Marston War Memorial and thus appears twice in the “tour”)

George Herbert Cummings was born in Old Marston in 1892, the son of Henry George Cummings (born in Old Marston in 1859/60 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 8 January 1860) and Julia Ann Ward (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 2 August 1863).

They were married in haste at St Nicholas’s Church on 9 April 1882 and had the following children:

• Julia Elizabeth Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 3 July 1882)
• Ada Amelia Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 7 September 1884)
• Hilda Ethel Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 17 January 1886)
• Ida Lucy Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 13 January 1890)
• George Herbert Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 22 May 1892, but birth not registered until the third quarter of 1892)
• Clara Louisa Cummings (born in Old Marston and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church in April 1895)
• Thomas Frederick Cummings (born in Old Marston on 21 January 1900 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 25 February 1900)
• Albert Edward Cummings (born in Old Marston on 3 June 1902 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 27 July 1902).

At the time of the 1891 census, shortly before George’s birth, his father was an agricultural labourer, living in Old Marston with his wife and their first four children.

The 1901 census shows George was a schoolboy of 9, living in Old Marston with his parents and four of his siblings Ada (17), Ida (11), Clara (6), and Thomas (1). His father is described as a cattleman on a farm, and his mother was then working as a laundress.

In 1911 the family were still living in Old Marston: George (18) was a hay tier and his father Henry (51) was still an agricultural labourer. George’s three younger siblings were still at home, and even though the house only had four rooms altogether there were two grandchildren staying: Herbert Cummings (9) and Eva Cummings (2). Herbert’s grandfather, known as George Cummings senior (born in Old Marston in 1829/30 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 28 February 1830) was living on his own elsewhere in Old Marston and still working as a farm labourer at the age of 81.

♥ In the fourth quarter of 1915 George Herbert Cummings married Edith Ellen Titcomb (born in Marston in 1896/7, birth registered first quarter of 1897) in the Headington registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church). They settled in Ferry Road in New Marston. They had one daughter, born exactly two weeks after George’s death and all three of her forenames were evidently in his honour:

• Georgina Hero Frances Cummings (born on 28 August 1916 and baptised 8 October 1916 at St Nicholas’s Church).

In the First World War George Herbert Cummings served as a Lance-Corporal in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 4706). He was killed in action at the Somme in France at the age of 24 on 14 August 1916.

He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 10A and 10D); on the New Marston War Memorial on the Marston Road, Oxford; and on the Roll of Honour of St Nicholas’s Church, Old Marston.

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Postscript

George’s widow

• Mrs Elizabeth E. Cummings married William H. Smith in the Headington registration district (probably at St Nicholas’s Church) in the fourth quarter of 1927. They lived at Cherwell Cottages in New Marston, and their daughter Joan Ellen Smith was born on 24 April 1929 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church on 19 May 1929.

George’s daughter

• Georgina Hero Frances Cummings married John I. Pether in the third quarter of 1937 in the Ploughley registration district. She died in 1995.