George TRAFFORD (1897–1918)
This seems most likely to be the George Trafford named on the Holy Trinity War Memorial. There is, however, another George Trafford, the son of George & Emma Trafford, who is a possibility. (George Henry Trafford, who was also around in Quarry at the relevant time, can be eliminated.)
George Trafford was born at Shotover Hill Place in Headington Quarry in 1897, the son of George James Trafford (with Jacob sometimes substituted for James, born at Shotover Hill Place and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 30 December 1877) and Sarah Bushnell (born in Abingdon in c.1871).
His parents were married in the Headington Registration District in the second quarter of 1897 and had the following children:
- Henry Trafford (born at Shotover HIll Place and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 26 September 1897)
- George Trafford (born at Shotover HIll Place and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 27 November 1898)
- Sarah Patricia Trafford (born at Shotover HIll Place and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 15 April 1900).
George’s father was a bricklayer until 1898, but when his daughter was baptised in April 1900 he was described as a Private in the Royal Engineers. Within a year he had died while serving in Natal, and the 1901 census shows Sarah (29) living on her own means in Shotover Hill Place with her three young children. George was then two years old.
By 1911 Sarah (39) was having to work as a laundress to make ends meet, and her three children, including George (12), were at school. Also living with her was her widowed father Henry Bushnell.
George Trafford volunteered to serve In the First World War, and was originally
in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 3021).
He then served as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Princess Charlotte of Wales (Royal Berkshire) Regiment (Service No. 220407).
He died of wounds in France at the age of 20 on 23 March 1918 and is buried in the Beaulencourt British Cemetery at Ligny-Thilloy (I.E.27).
He is listed on the stone plaque in the porch of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry.
Left: Photograph of George Trafford’s grave in Beuvry, France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
[Crest of the Royal Berkshire
Regiment,
showing the “China Dragon”
awarded
for the Regiment’s service
in the First Opium War.]
220407 PRIVATE
G. TRAFFORD
ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT
23RD MARCH 1918
†
Postscript
George’s mother
- The Sarah Trafford who died at 38 Pitts Road at the age of 93 and was buried in Holy Trinity churchyard on 31 October 1964 was probably George’s mother: if so, she had been a widow for about 65 years.
See also
- CWGC: G. Trafford (confirmed by FindMyPast as George Trafford, born in Headington Quarry)
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 29 May 1918, p. 6: photograph of George Trafford in the “Heroes of the War” section
- Wikipedia: Royal Berkshire Regiment
Back to Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry roll of honour