First World War in Headington & Marston
Roll of Honour of St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington

John Richard NEWELL (1890–1918)

John Richard Newell was born in Headington in 1890, the son of Thomas Newell (born in Stanton St John and baptised there on 16 June 1861) and Mary Ann Creed, known as Annie (born in Headington and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 October 1866).

His parents were both living in New Headington when they married (evidently in haste) at St Andrew’s Church on 2 September 1888, and they had eight children:

• Rhoda Ann Newell (born in Headington on 13 November 1888 but not baptised at St Andrew’s Church until 28 September 1890, together with her next sibling)
• John Richard Newell, sometimes recorded as Richard John Newell (born in Headington on 5 August 1890 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 September 1890)
• Rose Newell (born in New Headington on 26 September 1892 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 November 1892)
• Amy Primrose Newell (born on 19 April 1895 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 16 June 1895)
• Sarah Elizabeth Newell (born in New Headington on 15 September 1898 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 November 1898)
• Mary Ann Newell, known as Annie (born in Headington in 1901/2)
• Thomas James Newell (born in Barton on 17 June 1904 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 2 October 1904, died at Barton aged five, buried at Headington Cemetery on 8 November 1909)
• Richard Newell (born in Barton on 5 July 1908 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 5 July 1908).

John Newell’s father Thomas was a labourer, and both he and his future wife were living in New Headington at the time of their marriage in 1888.

At the time of the 1891 census John’s parents were living in Lime Walk: his father was a builder’s labourer, and his mother was a laundress as well as having to look after her first two children: Rhoda (2) and John himself, then an eight-month-old baby.

By the time of the 1901 census the family was living in New High Street (in the house now numbered 63). John was now ten years old and had three younger siblings. His father was working as a woodcutter.

By the time their seventh child was born in 1904, the family had moved to Barton, and they are shown there in the 1911 census. Both John’s father and John himself (now 20) were working as farm labourers. John’s four younger siblings were also still at home.

♥ On 23 July 1912 at St Andrew’s Church, John Richard Newell married Caroline Annie Jacobs (born in Barton on 16 May 1885 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 June 1885). They had three children:

• Wilfred John Newell (born at Bath Cottages, New Headington on 9 August 1912 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 October 1912)
• Beatrice Caroline Newell (born at 4 Bath Cottages, New Headington on 1 October 1914 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 December 1914; died at Barton at the age of 3 and buried at Headington Cemetery on 1 June 1918)
• James Richard Newell (born at Barton on 25 September 1916 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 5 November 1916).

The couple began their married life at Bath Cottages (also known as Mattock’s Row) on the south side of Wilberforce Street, but had moved to Barton in the parish of St Andrew’s by 1916. John was a farm labourer when his first two children were baptised, but is described as a soldier at James’s baptism in 1916.

In the First World War John Richard Newell served as a Private, first in the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Service No. 27987) and then in the 10th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment (Service No. 25743). He died in Italy at the age of 29 on 8 August 1918, and is buried in the Montecchio Precalcino Communal Cemetery extension (Plot 5, Row C, Grave 6). He is listed on the roll of honour of St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington.

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Postscript

John’s mother

• Mrs Annie Newell died at the age of 62 at St Andrew’s Road, and was buried at Headington Cemetery on 17 September 1925.

John’s widow

• Mrs Caroline Annie Newell (born 1885) had an illegitimate daughter, Phoebe Joan Newell, in Barton on 20 June 1921, and had her baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 7 August 1921.

John’s son

• Wilfred John Newell (born 1912) married Florence Lilia Harvey at St Andrew’s Church on 28 May 1945. He was in the army and she was a shop assistant, and they were both living at 27 Fettiplace Road in Barton at the time of the marriage.