Roll of Honour of St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington

Eric Joseph WOODS (1895–1917)

Eric Joseph Woods was born at Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire in 1895.

He was the son of the Revd Francis Henry Woods, who was born at Sully in Glamorgan on 22 May 1850 and was matriculated at the University of Oxford as a scholar by Jesus College on 25 October 1869, who gained a First Class degree in Theology in 1873 and was then ordained Deacon in 1874 and Priest in 1875. He was elected a Fellow of St John's College in 1876, and gained his B.D. in 1881.

On 2 August 1883 at Christ Church, Cheltenham, Eric's father married Frances Edith Pritchard, who was born in South Luffenham, Rutland in 1859, the third daughter of the Revd C. E. Pritchard. They had five children, the first two born in Oxford:

• George Constantine Woods (born at 24 Walton Street, Oxford on 9 January 1885 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 8 February)
• Katharine Seymour Woods (born at 46 Wellington Square, Oxford on 17 September 1886 and baptised at St Giles's Church on 24 October)
• Olga Margaret Woods (born at the Vicarage in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire in 1889, reg. second quarter)
• Frances Alice Woods (born at the Vicarage in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire in 1891, reg. second quarter)
• Eric Joseph Woods (born at the Vicarage in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire in February 1895).

In 1888 Eric's father gave up his Fellowship at St John's College when he was appointed Vicar of Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire, and the 1891 census shows him living in the vicarage there with his wife and their first three children: George (6), Katharine (4), and Olga (1), plus a cook, housemaid, and nurse. Eric himself  first appears in the 1901 census, aged six, living at the vicarage with his parents and sisters Olga (11), Frances (9), and their governess, cook, and Swiss nurse. His two eldest siblings were away at boarding school: George (16) was at Winchester, and Katharine (15) was at the Corran Collegiate School in Watford, which was run by Eleanor Frances Jourdain, who was later to become Principal of St Hugh’s College.

In September 1907 Eric went away to board at Uppingham School, where he was in Meadhurst House.

By 1911 Eric’s father had been appointed Rector of Bainton near Driffield in Yorkshire. He and his wife spent census night in the rectory there, but all five of their children were away: George (26) was a master at a boarding school at 50–52 Torrington Square, London, where his sister Frances Alice (19) was then boarding as a pupil; Olga (21), who was a kindergarten teacher, was paying a visit to the Vicar of Royston in Yorkshire; and Eric himself (16) was boarding at Uppingham School. Katharine (24) was living at the Rectory, Northrepps, Norwich where she was working as a governess to the two daughters of the Revd Alan Gwyn Blyth.

In July 1913 Eric Woods left Uppingham School and in 1914 was matriculated at the University of Oxford by St John’s College, where his father had been a Fellow.

On 1 February 1915 Eric's father Francis Henry Woods died at Bainton Rectory in Yorkshire at the age of 64. His effects came to £8,239 14s. 11d., and his son George, who was now a schoolmaster, and his daughter Katherine were his executors.

 

Eric's widowed mother Frances Edith Woods then moved down to Headington, and lived at Rogate at 110 (formerly 36) London Road (right). Their house is on the left of this pair, both of which were demolished to make way for the present block of shops that include Iceland. She moved here so that her eldest daughter, Katharine Seymour Woods, who was now aged 27, could attend the University of Oxford, but her son Eric was no longer at the University as he had just enlisted in the army.

 

In the First World War Eric Woods volunteered for action and commenced service on 10 April 1915 as a lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own). (The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states that he was in “B” Company of the 9th battalion, while the University Roll of Service states that he was in the 17th battalion.)

He was killed in action at Poelcapelle near Passchendaele in Belgium at the age of 22 on 9 October 1917, but his death was not confirmed until January 1918 and probate not granted until 2 June 1919.

Eric Woods has no known grave, but is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing (Panel 42 to 47 and 162) in Belgium; at Uppingham School on both the memorial board in his boarding house (Meadhurst) and in the chapel; and on on the roll of honour of St John's College Oxford and St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington.