Richard John KIMBER (1899–1917)
Richard John Kimber was born in Titup in 1899, the son of Richard Kimber (baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 14 May 1872) and Anne Elizabeth Coppock (baptised at the same church on 31 October 1875).
His parents were married at Holy Trinity Church on 30 July 1898, and had the following children:
- Richard John Kimber (baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 2 April 1899)
- Eric Jack Coppock Kimber (baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 26 May 1901)
- Doris Annie Kimber (baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 28 December 1902)
- Cicely Rebecca Jane Kimber (born at Headington Quarry on 2 February 1905, baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 23 April 1905)
- Harry Thomas Joyce Kimber (born at Headington Quarry on 27 April 1906, baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 27 May 1906)
- Herbert Arthur Kimber (born at Headington Quarry on 23 June 1909, baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 1 August 1909)
- Charles Ernest Kimber (born 10 March 1912, baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 7 April 1912).
The family lived on the Titup area of Old Road. The 1901 census describes Richard’s father as “Yard Foreman in Oxford (Corporation worker)”, and Richard was then a child of two. The 1911 census shows the growing family living at Wood View, Titup. Richard was then a schoolboy of 12, and his father was a drainage foreman.
By the start of the war, Richard was working for Oxford University Press as a feeder in the Machine Room (Miehle).
In the First World War Richard John Kimber enlisted on 2 April 1917, just after his eighteenth birthday, and served in England as a Private in the 95th Battalion of the Training Reserve (Service No. TR7/13498) for a brief period. He died in Tidworth Hospital of cerebrospinal fever at the age of 18 on 11 May 1917.
He was buried at Holy Trinity churchyard (SF 8), and his parents must have paid for his gravestone, which is a cross on a plinth, with a surround. He is also listed on the stone plaque in the church porch.
The text on the plinth (shown below) reads:
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
RICHARD JOHN
ELDEST SON OF
RICHARD & ANNE E. KIMBER
WHO DIED MAY 11 1917 AGED 18 YEARS
Postscript
Richard’s parents
- Richard’s parents continued living at Wood View in Old Road, which was then numbered 51 but is now numbered 125. His father Richard Kimber died there at the age of 64 at Old Road and was buried in Holy Trinity churchyard on 2 May 1936. His mother Anne Elizabeth Kimber died at the age of 74, and was buried with her husband on 2 November 1949.
Richard’s siblings
- Eric Jack Coppock Kimber (born 1901) became a motor fitter and married Margaret May Bowerman at Holy Trinity Church on 9 August 1924.
- Doris Annie Kimber (born 1902) became a domestic servant and married Edwin Arthur Caleb Harris at Holy Trinity Church on 1 August 1925.
- Cicely Rebecca Jane Kimber (born 1905) worked as a shop assistant and married Edward Arthur Hinton at Holy Trinity Church on 21 September 1929.
- Harry Thomas Joyce Kimber (born 1906) was still living at 125 Old Road in 1976.
- Charles Ernest Kimber (born 1912) was Churchwarden of Holy Trinity Church, and died in 1999.
Richard’s cousin
Richard’s cousin was William Kimber, the famous morris-dancer.
The picture on the right shows Richard’s youngest brother Charlie Kimber (1912–1999) when he was Churchwarden of Holy Trinity Church, beside William Kimber’s grave, which shows a concertina on top of a pair of bells pads (worn by morris-dancers around the shins).
© Trevor Coppock, 1994
See also
- CWGC: Richard John Kimber
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 1 August 1917, “Heroes of the War”: photograph of Richard Kimber of Headington, who had died about three months earlier (shown above with kind permission of Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre)
- War Record of the Oxford University Press (1923), entry for KIMBER, R. J.
Back to Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry roll of honour