First World War Memorial, St Margaret’s Church, Oxford

George Frederick ALLEN (1898–1917)

George Allen was born in the Woodstock Road in Summertown in the second quarter of 1898, and registered as Frederick George Allen; but when he was baptised at St John the Baptist Church in Summertown on 31 July 1898 he was named as George Frederick Allen. He was always known as George, and was the seventh child of Thomas George Allen (born in Summertown and baptised there on 11 July 1863) and Emma Prickett (born in South Leigh in c.1863).

Back in 1881 George’s mother Emma Prickett (17) had been working in a blanket factory in Witney, but ten years later in 1891 she was housekeeping for her unmarried brother Joseph (29) in Summertown; Walter Mitchell Prickett (10), described as Joseph’s nephew, was also living with them, and may well have been Emma’s illegitimate son. Meanwhile George’s father Thomas Allen (29) was a widower, living with his own parents at Black Horse Yard in Summertown, where he obviously met Emma. The couple were married in Summertown on 7 September 1891, and they had ten children:

• Thomas George Allen (twin; born in Summertown on 25 April 1892 and baptised there on 5 May 1892; appears to have died in infancy)
• Alice May Allen (twin; born in Summertown on 25 April 1892 and baptised there on 5 May 1892)
• Thomas William Allen (born in Summertown and baptised there on 6 August 1893)
• Annie Elizabeth Allen (born in Summertown and baptised there on 20 July 1894)
• Henrietta Rose Allen (born in Summertown and privately baptised there on 30 July 1895; appears to have died in infancy)
• Emily Muriel Allen (born in Summertown and baptised there on 10 January 1897)
• George Frederick Allen (born in Summertown; registered in second quarter of 1898 under name Frederick George Allen, but baptised at Summertown as George Frederick Allen on 31 July 1898)
• Alfred Sidney Allen (known as Sidney) (born in Summertown and baptised there on 4 February 1900)
• Joseph Allen (born in Summertown and baptised there on 19 May 1901)
• Agnes Vinnie Allen (known as Vinnie) (born in Summertown and baptised there on 13 July 1902).

George’s place of birth is given in the baptismal register as 3 Woodville Cottages, Woodstock Road. By the time of the 1901 census the family’s address is recorded as 258 Woodstock Road (three houses to the north of South Parade), and is likely to be the same house. In that census, George was three years old, and his father was a brickmaker’s labourer.

In about 1910 the family moved to 40 Hayfield Road in St Margaret’s parish, where they can be found in the 1911 census, with George’s father still a brickyard labourer. George (who was then 13, but recorded by his mother on the census form as 12) was working as a “morning boy (domestic)” as well as being at school. Notices were read out at school stating addresses at which morning boys were required, and boys could choose a family and then do several jobs (such as getting in coal, cleaning the shoes, and chopping wood) each weekday on the way to school, with the going rate in north Oxford in 1911 being a shilling a week.

 

In the First World War, George Allen served as a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire) Regiment (Service No. 23052).

He was killed in action in Flanders, Belgium at the age of 19 on 7 June 1917, and is buried at the Messines Ridge British Cemetery (II.E.17). He is listed as George Allen on the St Margaret’s Church War Memorial, Oxford.

 

Left: Photograph of F. G. Allen’s grave in Belgium, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:

[Emblem of the
Wiltshire Regiment]

23052 PRIVATE
F. G. ALLEN
WILTSHIRE REGIMENT
7TH JUNE 1917  AGE 19

†

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD
WHICH DIE IN THE LORD
FOR THEY REST
FROM THEIR LABOUR