Roll of Honour of Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry

Alick Stuart MARSHALL (1889–1916)

Alick Stuart Marshall (whose first name is wrongly spelt Alec in his army service records) was born in Headington Quarry in 1889, the son of David Marshall (born in Dundee, Scotland in c.1852) and Harriet Selina Coppock (born in Headington Quarry in 1860 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 23 September).

Alick’s father David Marshall came to England in about 1871 at the age of 18 when he trained to be a teacher at the Collegiate Institute in Chester.

His parents were married at Holy Trinity Church on 29 September 1879 and had three children:

• Daisy Harriet Marshall (born in Bedfield, Suffolk on 24 June 1880 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry on 12 September 1880)
• Edgar James Marshall (born in Headington Quarry on 20 August 1881 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 29 October)
• Alick Stuart Marshall (born in Headington Quarry and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 30 June 1889).

Alick's parents appear to have started their married life in Bedfield, Suffolk, where their first child Daisy was born in 1880; but by September of that year they were living in Quarry, and it is possible that David Marshall taught at Headington Quarry National School, as he was still described as a teacher at Daisy's baptism. But at the time of the 1881 census he was described as an unemployed teacher, living with his wife and their first child, Daisy, near the Six Bells in the house of Harriet’s parents, William and Eliza Coppock. He never returned to the teaching profession, and at the baptism of his next two children In 1882 and 1889 he was described as a timekeeper for a builder. Their next child Edgar was born in 1882, and Alick himself, who was their youngest child, in 1889.

At the time of the 1891 census Alick (2) was living at Beaumont Terrace in Quarry with his father David (38), who was now a gardener (domestic servant), his mother Harriet (31), and his older siblings Daisy (10) and Edgar (8). His widowed grandmother Eliza Coppock (74) was still living with them, as well as his mother's nephew George W. Coppock (19), who was a bricklayer's labourer.

In 1901 Alick (11) was at school (almost certainly Headington Quarry National School) and living near Quarry Manor House with his father David (49), who was now working as a painter; his mother Harriet (39) and sister Daisy (20), who were both working as laundresses for someone else; and his brother Edgar (18), who was a bricklayer's labourer.

In 1894 David Marshall was employed as a timekeeper for John Parnell & Son, who were erected the present Town Hall in Oxford.

Alick’s father David Marshall died at the age of 54 on 27 August 1908 and was buried at Holy Trinity churchyard.

By the time of the 1911 census, Alick (22) had moved away from home and was a chauffeur, boarding at Hazlewood, St John’s Road, Abingdon with the family of John Sandell, the manager of a butcher’s shop. His mother Harriet was still a laundress, living in Beaumont Road (then called Post Office Road) in Quarry with her unmarried son Edgar (28), who was a bricklayer’s labourer. Alick's sister Daisy was already married.

By the time of the First World War, Alick was chauffeur to Dr Hebb of Islip.

In the First World War Alick Stuart Marshall volunteered to serve at Reading on 10 November 1914. On 27 March 1916 he was appointed a Corporal in the Mechanical Transport, 17th Ammunition Sub. Park of the Army Service Corps (Service No. M2/035041). He was killed in action at Carnoy, near Montauban at the Somme in France on 1 October 1916 at the age of 27 when a shell burst close to the lorry that he was driving.

He is buried in the Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban (A.20), and his war grave there has the added words “HE BRAVELY ANSWERED HIS COUNTRY'S CALL  / AND GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ONE AND ALL”. (Only 40% of war headstones bear an inscription such as this near their base: the main inscription was free, but families had to pay 3½d per letter for a personal message.)

He is remembered on the stone plaque in the porch of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry, and on the Islip War Memorial (left), with his first name spelt Alec.

 

 

 

 

His parents' gravestone in Holy Trinity churchyard (below) has the following words added:

AND OF
ALICK STUART MARSHALL
KILLED ON THE SOMME OCT 1ST 1916
IN SILENCE WE REMEMBER

His mother Harriet Marshall gave her address as Castle Cottage, Headington Quarry in 1919 for the receipt of Alick's plaque and scroll.

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Postscript

Alick’s mother

• Mrs Harriet Selina Marshall was living alone at 5 Beaumont Road in Headington Quarry at the time of the 1921 census. She died on 10 October 1936 at the age of 76, and was buried with her husband at Holy Trinity churchyard. At the time of her death she was living at 90 Old Road (on the east corner of The Slade, then numbered 82).

Alick’s sister

• Daisy Harriet Marshall (born 1880) married the bricklayer Arthur Thomas Kimber at Holy Trinity Church in Quarry on 13 April 1907. They had two children baptised at Holy Trinity Church: Roy Alec Thomas Kimber (born on 24 April 1918 and baptised on 9 June) and Victor Stanley Kimber (born on 16 August 1920 and baptised on 10 October). At the time of the 1921 census Daisy (40) was living in Old Road with her husband Thomas (44), who worked as a bricklayer for Oxford Corporation, and their two young children. Daisy Kimber died at 168 Old Road, Headington at the age of 90 in 1970, and her funeral (cremation) was held at Holy Trinity Church on 24 October.

Alick’s brother

• Edgar James Marshall (born 1882), who worked as a labourer, married Hilda Phyllis Bateman at All Saints' Church, Highfield, Headington on 30 September 1911. They moved into a new house at the top of Lime Walk (the present No. 12), which Edgar named Hildadene after his wife. Their two daughters were born there: Lena Emma Harriet Marshall on 19 April 1914 (baptised at All Saints' Church on 28 June) and Doris Frances Marshall (baptised All Saints Church on 6 June 1920). At the time of the 1921 census Edgar (38), who was now working as a motor driver for the builders Knowles & Son of Holywell Street in Oxford, was living at their Lime Walk home with his wife Hilda (35) and their two children. He and his wife still lived there at the time of the 1939 Register, and he was still working as a builder's lorry driver. Edgar James Marshall died at 12 Lime Walk on 16 October 1964.